Background

  • The MEND Report 1985, states that, “The young Irish person has the worst of all European musical ‘worlds’.”
  • In May 2001 the Departments of Education and Science, and Arts, Sport and Tourism jointly commissioned Music Network to produce a feasibility study to examine how a national system of publicly supported local “schools of music” might be provided in Ireland.
  • In 2003, Music Network published& its report A National System of Local Music Education Services – Report of a Feasibility Study 2003 and made a presentation of the report’s findings to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Sport and Tourism. The following year, proposals  piloting the model were made to the Department of Education and Science, and funding of €100,000 per annum, per location made available to pilot schemes in County Donegal and City of Dublin.
  • With funding from the Arts Council,  Music Network established a Music Education Working Group in 2007, to raise awareness of the value of music education. The group presented a proposal to the Special Committee on Arts and Education outlining the key recommendations of the 2003 report. A seminar was held in Dublin on 18th April 2007 to focus on issues relating to the development of music education services at local level, to raise awareness of current local music education initiatives, and to provide a platform for the music sector to present a cohesive voice in relation to future developments for music education services. Documents from the seminar available from here
  • An independent evaluation of the pilot projects in Donegal and Dublin, published in April 2009, concluded, “this partnership model provides a workable and replicable framework for development of music education services … on a wider scale throughout Ireland”.
  • In July 2009, U2 and the Ireland funds pledged €7 million to allow the roll out of the report’s recommendations on a phased basis between 2010 and 2015.
  • In January 2011 Music Generation, the U2 and Ireland Funds supported National Music Education Programme, was officially unveiled.