NUI Galway has enlisted the expertise of musician Dr Charlie Lennon for a new arts diploma in traditional music.
The university has also secured the services of writer Allegra Huston, daughter of the late film director John Huston, for its existing MA in screenwriting.
The new diploma of arts in composition, arrangement and performance of traditional music was announced by NUI Galway on the eve of this year’s 36th annual Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy, the State’s largest traditional music summer school held in memory of the piper in Miltown Malbay, Co Clare.
The course will be administered by the university’s Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge, and will begin in September at Stiúideo Cuan in An Spidéal, Co Galway.
Some 15 student places will be offered, and subjects, which will be delivered through Irish, will include music theory and structure; the history and development of the traditional arts in Ireland; and the archiving, composition, arrangement, recording and performance of traditional music.
Course participants will also produce and perform in an end-of-year concert under the guidance of a professional director, according to the college.
The programme is aimed at musicians, dancers and singers who are interested in a career in music and the arts.
Marianne Ní Chinnéide, the programme’s academic director, said that the course content was practical and would offer students “high quality training from professionals already working in the field”.
In a separate development, Ms Huston has confirmed that she will teach at NUIG in November as part of the Huston School of Film Digital Media writers in residence programme.
Students taking an MA in screenwriting are promised a taste of the “writing salon” which Ms Huston runs in New Mexico.
The one-year, full-time programme offers training in screenplay writing, integrated with courses in film history and analysis, and supported by regular film screenings and workshops.
Ms Huston will take students off-campus to the home of Tim and Máiréad Robinson in Roundstone, Co Galway, for an intensive three-day creative workshop