Irish Traditional Music Archives
b'Liam O\\u2019Connor: As a respected musician, collector, researcher and teacher, Liam O\\u2019Connor\\u2019s music activities, qualifications and experience seamlessly align with the values, culture and ethos of ITMA. Liam has gained considerable insight into the internal and external workings of the ITMA having used the Archive for over twenty years in a variety of roles: from transition year work experience as a teenager, to unearthing rare tunes such as The Loom sourced from the collections. Liam has acted as an influential voice for ITMA on various projects and is committed to leading the organisation and staff in the next important stage of the organisation\\u2019s development. The Irish Traditional Music Archive is a national public archive and resource centre for the traditional song, instrumental music and dance of Ireland. ITMA is funded mainly by the Arts Council/ An Chomhairle Eala\\xedon and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, and is housed in State-owned premises at 73 Merrion Square, Dublin. It holds for open public access the largest collection in existence of the materials of Irish traditional music and of information on the music, and actively makes selections from its holdings freely available online. ITMA digitises, preserves and offers free universal access to valuable recordings, photographs, manuscripts, and other archived materials that would otherwise be lost. In doing this, it connects contemporary artists with archived materials in order to inspire new art, helping to build the living archive of the future.'