A leading University of Limerick academic is to give a talk recognising the contribution of the late Jim Kemmy to the arts in Limerick city.
Professor Eoin Devereux, Co-Director of UL's Centre for The Study of Popular Music and Popular Culture will examine Jim Kemmy’s life-long interest in the arts.
The special event on September 22 as part of Culture Night is entitled ‘Brick by brick, stone upon stone: Jim Kemmy and the Cultural Life of Limerick city’.
UL’s Kemmy Business School was named after the politician, who founded the Democratic Socialist Party, which merged with the Labour Party in the 1990s, and who passed away in 1997.
Professor Devereux’s talk will focus on Kemmy’s interest in creative writers such as Michael Hogan, The Bard of Thomond, Kate O’Brien, John Francis O’Donnell and Michael Curtin.
Kemmy’s practical support for the arts as well as his own efforts as a poet will also be examined.
Speaking ahead of the event Professor Devereux said: “True to his socialist convictions, Jim Kemmy saw the arts and culture in terms of its capacity to be participatory and to reflect the experiences of ‘ordinary’ working class people.”
The free event will take place in the Council Chamber Limerick City and County Council at 6 pm on Friday, September 22 and all are welcome to attend.
Find out more about Culture Night in Limerick.