Kylemore Abbey and the University of Notre Dame at Kylemore Abbey proudly marked 10 years of their partnership during the Threshold Festival, a four-day celebration of literature, music, theatre, visual art, scholarship, and hospitality in the extraordinary setting of Kylemore Abbey.
The anniversary was marked with a special presentation from the Benedictine Community of Kylemore to Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame, on Thursday, July 30. The presentation commemorated the first decade of a landmark 30-year agreement between Kylemore Abbey and the University of Notre Dame, which established the University’s global campus within the historic St. Joseph’s Wing of Kylemore Castle.
Since welcoming its first students in 2016, the University of Notre Dame Kylemore has become a vibrant hub for academic study, leadership development, research, retreats, workshops, and international events, developing meaningful connections between Ireland and the Notre Dame community.
This year’s Threshold Festival, themed “The Smiling Public Figure: Wit, Satire and Irony in W.B. Yeats,” brought together leading scholars, artists, performers, and cultural partners to explore Yeats’s work and legacy through performance, conversation, and creative encounters.
Festival highlights included the launch of the visual art exhibition Threading the Threshold: Care, Craft, and Celtic Revival, and an opening banquet celebrating Connemara hospitality. The weekend also featured live music in Kylemore's Gothic Chapel, including a performance by NoCrows and an intimate unplugged set from Steve and Joe Wall of The Stunning.
Academic and cultural programming featured leading voices in Irish studies, including Oxford historian and Yeats biographer Professor Roy Foster, who delivered a lecture on humour and Yeats; Professor Clemens Sedmak, director of the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, who spoke on "Learning from the Benedictines: Dignity, Flourishing, and Integral Human Development"; and Yeats postdoctoral fellow Eilís Smyth, who gave a talk on Shakespeare, Yeats, and the Lyric Theatre.
A major highlight of the weekend was the Abbey Theatre’s contribution to the festival programme. The Abbey Theatre presented a panel discussion, “You Have Disgraced Yourselves Again,” reflecting on Yeats, Lady Gregory, the Irish dramatic movement, and the continuing role of Irish theatre in shaping cultural life. The Abbey Theatre also presented a staged reading of Yeats’s The Green Helmet: An Heroic Farce in the Gothic Chapel, vividly bringing Yeats’s wit, mythic imagination, and theatrical energy to life.
The festival concluded with a special black-tie evening in partnership with Wexford Festival Opera, featuring Wexford Sings: Italy Through the Eyes of Yeats. The performance paired Italian opera by composers including Verdi, Puccini, and Rossini with Yeats’s poetry, creating a distinctive conversation between music, poetry, wit, and place.
Lisa Caulfield, director of Notre Dame Kylemore, said, “It was an amazing weekend in every sense—full of beauty, laughter, conversation, music, theatre, and friendship. I feel so grateful to be surrounded by such good people and such high-calibre artists, scholars, and partners. Their generosity, talent, and spirit made Threshold a very special celebration, and a fitting way to mark 10 years of Notre Dame Kylemore.”
As part of the anniversary celebrations, the Benedictine Community presented Fr. Dowd with a commemorative gift in recognition of the enduring partnership and the shared vision that has shaped the success of the Kylemore campus over the past 10 years. The celebration also included a special anniversary Mass with the Benedictine Community, celebrated by Fr. Dowd, marking 10 years of Notre Dame’s presence at Kylemore Abbey.
Reflecting on the milestone, Kylemore Abbey and the University of Notre Dame reaffirmed their commitment to continuing this unique collaboration, which brings together academic excellence, cultural exchange, and the Benedictine values of hospitality, community, and lifelong learning.
Speaking at the celebration to mark the anniversary, Abbess of Kylemore, Mother Karol O’Connell OSB, said:
“Since the foundation of our Benedictine Community in Ypres, Belgium in 1665, education has been at the heart of our mission. Generations of girls attended our schools, and today, through our Education and Retreat Centre, we continue to make Kylemore a place of learning. Our partnership with the University of Notre Dame is another mark of this commitment to education, and we look forward to the further flourishing of this partnership.”
Fr. Dowd, said:
"We are delighted to mark 10 years of partnership between Notre Dame and the Benedictine Community at Kylemore Abbey. As a global Catholic research university, we are grateful for the ways that the partnership has deepened our connectedness to Ireland and furthered our efforts to educate in ways that build bridges across disciplines, ideas, peoples, and cultures. We are deeply grateful for the vision of Martin and Carmel Naughton and of Mother Máire Hickey OSB who made this unique partnership possible. As we celebrate 10 years, we look forward to the future in a spirit of collaboration and partnership."
We remember the late Martin Naughton, whose vision and generosity were instrumental in bringing the campus to life. In May 2026, our Research Programmes Manager, Emma Kirner, interviewed Naughton about the University of Notre Dame Kylemore. Asked to describe it, he offered the following: “Notre Dame Kylemore is a spiritual place.”
Over the next two decades, Kylemore Abbey will continue to welcome generations of Notre Dame students, scholars, faculty, alumni, and visitors to the unique Connemara estate. Through this partnership, Kylemore will continue to strengthen its role as a place of learning, reflection, cultural exchange, and global engagement.
Media Contact: Lily Mansfield, lmansfi4@nd.edu
Originally published by at kylemore.nd.edu on August 20, 2026.