International Clan Society Commits to Five-Year Program(August 24, 2010) - The Scottish Harp Society of America (SHSA) is pleased to welcome the Clan Currie Society as Title Sponsor of the National Scottish Harp Championship of America. The Clan Currie has made a five-year commitment to act as Title Sponsor for the Championships through 2014.
“We are absolutely thrilled to have the Clan Currie Society make such a generous and long-term gift,” said SHSA President Jen McGovern Narkevicius. “Part of the success of our National Championship depends upon generous donors like the Clan Currie to ensure we have sufficient funding in place to produce a first class competition. It is especially rewarding when that support comes from a clan with such an ancient and distinguished history of Gaelic poets and musicians.”
According to Robert Currie, president of the Clan Currie Society, this partnership is a perfect fit. “The founders of our Clan were the celebrated MacMhuirich bards of Medieval Scotland and the instrument of the Bard was the clarsach. Over the past several years Clan Currie has sharpened its focus on the arts with our concerts, special events and scholarship program. In addition to sponsoring this prestigious championship, we have also established an annual harp scholarship at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Scotland. We look forward to becoming involved in more of these types of programs in the future.”
The 2010 National Scottish Harp Championship of America will be hosted at The Meadow Highland Games outside Richmond, Virginia and is open to all SHSA members. The adjudicators for the competition are the renowned Sue Richards and SHSA President Jen McGovern Narkevicius. Rules and categories are available on
www.shsa.org. For more information on the 2010 Championship, visit
www.meadowceltic.com.
About the Clan Currie Society
The Clan Currie Society, an American-based, international, non-profit cultural and educational organization, is the preeminent Scottish-American cultural society in preserving and promoting Highland heritage through a growing scholarship program and at Scottish Games and festivals, as well as community groups and classrooms. The Society has over 3,000 members worldwide that gather via the Society’s website (
www.clancurrie.org) and at special events and clan gatherings.
The Society was originally formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1959 to further the knowledge and appreciation of the MacMhuirich (pronounced MacVurich) bardic dynasty. The MacMhuirichs served for over 700 years as professional poets to the Lords of the Isles and later to the MacDonalds of Clanranald among other prominent Highland clans and families. The Red Book of Clanranald, one of Gaelic Scotland’s literary treasures, was penned by successive generations of the MacMhuirich family.
Today, the organization is a respected producer of outstanding programs and events to honor Scotland’s rich culture and ancestry. The Society’s signature events include The Pipes of Christmas (
www.pipesofchristmas.com) – a musical celebration of Christmas performed on bagpipes and brass, harp and fiddle, and organ – and the annual observance of Tartan Day on Ellis Island
www.tartandayonellisisland.com.
