UMass Dartmouth Eisteddfod records

Records indicate that the first eisteddfod was held in 1176 at Cardigan Castle in West Wales where poets and musicians competitively performed for the royalty (eisteddfod is a Welsh word meaning a gathering of bards and minstrels). In 1858, the first public, national eisteddfod was held in Wales at Llangollen. There were very few, if any, eisteddfod festivals during World War I and II; in 1947, however, in an attempt to break down cultural and political barriers, the first International Musical Festival was held. The festival took place in Llandollen where people of many cultural backgrounds (Czechoslovakian, Hungarian, and Yugoslavian to name a few) came together to enjoy one another's cultural and musical traditions, and to perform as well. University of Massachusetts Dartmouth professor and artist Howard Glasser made several trips to Scotland in the early 1960s. The rich, traditional music of the Scottish people so inspired Glasser that he began to form ceilidhs at the Carnegie-Mellon University where he had been instructing (ceilidh is a Scotts-Gaelic word for a gathering of friends). Glasser moved his ceilidhs to the University of Rhode Island in Kingston and then to the Southeastern Massachusetts University (SMU; now University of Massachusetts Dartmouth). The ceilidhs at SMU met on Friday nights attracting traditional musicians from Boston and Providence to informally perform in front of small audiences. In 1971, Glasser founded the first Eisteddfod Festival at SMU. International traditional musicians were now drawn to SMU's campus for the festive event. Though the eisteddfodae are more formal and larger scaled than the ceilidhs, the two events coexisted through the 1970s (the ceilidhs were held on a weekly or monthly basis whereas the eisteddfodae were held for three consecutive days in the early fall). The ceilidhs on campus ceased in 1980, but the annual Eisteddfod festival was held annually in October through 1996. In 1996, the UMD Eisteddfod celebrated its 25th anniversary, however, in May of 1997 campus administration decided to withdraw funding for the annual event. There was no festival held between 1997 and 2000. Funding for the UMD Eisteddfod festival was provided by the Allocations Committee, the New England Foundation for the Arts, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and annual student fees. Organization of the festival is provided by the Eisteddfod Executive Committee. The committee is comprised of professors of traditional music, performers and artists of traditional music, traditional storytellers, broadcasters of folk-radio, and others who may have a great interest in the annual UMD Eisteddfod Festivals.