About Us

Tradition as practice, memory, possibility.

The Living Tradition Lab explores how community cultural spaces can function as living laboratories for heritage transmission, artistic experimentation, and collaborative research.

Our Story

Working at the intersection of ethnomusicology, performance, and digital media, the Lab supports projects that document living traditions while also creating opportunities for artistic experimentation and public engagement. Activities include heritage events, performance-based research, workshops, digital documentation initiatives, and collaborative projects with artists, cultural organisations, and local communities.

The Lab approaches tradition not as something fixed in the past, but as a dynamic process shaped by people, place, and performance. By connecting scholarly research with creative practice and community participation, it aims to develop new ways of understanding, sustaining, and sharing intangible cultural heritage.

Our Projects

Roots to Revelations

The Story of Folk Theatre in North Kerry

A podcast sharing the music, dance, stories, and people behind a unique local theatre tradition. Through conversations and archival moments, it brings listeners inside a creative community where heritage, place, and performance continue to inspire new generations.

Produced by Susan Motherway

Co-Presented by Jamie Flannery

Co-Edited by Niamh O'Brien