Burdens and Opportunities of Tradition in Artistic Communities: Listening to Narratives of the Arts in Siamsa Tíre’s Sounds Like Folk Podcast Series

Abstract

Like many venues and arts companies across the world, the Siamsa Tíre Th atre and Arts Centre in Tralee, Co. Kerry, Ireland experienced signifi cant disruption to programming and other activities due to COVID-19 between 2019 and 2022. One of Siamsa Tíre’s responses was the development of a podcast series, Sounds like folk. In this paper, I critically reflect on the representation and evocation of two communities of artistic practice internal and external to Siamsa Tíre. I highlight recurring themes that include the value of collaboration in arts practice, the sense of duality between tradition and innovation, and references to the Irish language and its role in current artistic endeavour. The podcasts reflect efforts to engage respectively and creatively with folk culture and intangible cultural heritage, highlighting both the challenges and opportunities presented by the material and the pandemic