652 awards to individual musicians and organisations
Have been made since the scheme was established 16 years ago
Music Network has today announced the results of the latest round of the Music Capital Scheme. A total of €545,150 in funding from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media has been granted to 109 awardees which will potentially benefit over 7,960 musicians based throughout Ireland, through Awards 1, 2 & 3 of the scheme.
Established in 2008, the Music Capital Scheme is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and managed by Music Network. The Scheme has enabled many thousands of musicians across Ireland to develop their musical potential and participate in the performance of live music, performing in genres including traditional Irish, classical, folk, jazz, electro-acoustic, rock and pop.
This year the scheme has been expanded and will support even more musicians through new award streams designed to address the unique challenges faced by professional classical string players and venues presenting live music. This includes the recently announced Music Network National Instrument Collection (Award 4), which is now accepting applications and will provide exceptional classical string players who are in the early stages of a professional performance career with access to high-quality instruments for a defined period.
Commenting on the initiative, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Catherine Martin TD said: “It was wonderful to be able to confirm record funding of over €1million for the Music Capital Scheme earlier this year, which will not only fund these three awards but also allow the scheme to be expanded to offer even more support for musicians. I would like to sincerely thank Music Network for managing the Music Capital Scheme once again. This funding allows so many deserving organisations and individuals to receive the support they need to purchase musical instruments and, as a former music teacher, that is such a wonderful thing to be a part of.
Prioritisation was established in the previous round of funding for organisations working with older musicians and musicians with disabilities, and I am very happy to see this priority has been retained. These organisations include resource organisations and music schools offering inclusive music classes, and choral and instrumental groups with a wide age-range among their membership.
Since its inception 16 years ago, this capital scheme is one of my Department’s key funding initiatives and I am so happy that we are in a position to financially support the growth of the scheme. Good quality musical instruments are so important to individual musicians and to musical groups, and I have no doubt the benefits of the Musical Capital Scheme funding to the 40 non-professional performing groups and 69 individual musicians in receipt of these awards will be felt for many years to come.”
Music Network’s CEO Sharon Rollston commented: “Since establishing The Music Capital Scheme together with The Arts Council 16 years ago, we have made 652 awards to individual musicians and organisations, providing access to musical instruments for over 59,000 people.
Our mission is to make high quality live music accessible to communities throughout Ireland, and to support professional musicians to excel in the performance and creation of music. The number and range of instruments provided through the Music Capital Scheme year-on-year continue to make a significant impact on the quality of, and access to, music making and live music performance across Ireland.
We’re very grateful for the continued support of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media in funding this valuable resource for the music sector.”
The Awardees
In this round of the scheme these three awards provide funding for the purchase of musical instruments across a number of categories. Award 1 provides funding to non-professional performing groups, Award 2 supports individual established professional musicians and Award 3 is for individual emerging professional musicians.
In Award 1, funding was awarded across the non-professional music sector, providing a range of community and music groups with financial support.
In total 40 concert/marching/samba bands, orchestras and other community and music organisations were awarded a total of €269,795 for the purchase of musical instruments across a wide range of genres including Irish traditional, folk, classical, rock, early music/baroque, popular, musical theatre, jazz and contemporary.
In Award 2, funds of €184,550 were awarded to 46 established musicians performing at a professional level to assist with the purchase of musical instruments and equipment across genres including classical, electronica, Irish traditional, folk, country, world, rhythm & blues, pop, rock and jazz/improvised music.
In Award 3, funds of €90,805 were awarded to 23 individual emerging professional performing musicians to assist in the purchase of musical instruments and equipment across the classical, early music/baroque, electronica, folk, world, pop, rhythm & blues, rock, Irish traditional and jazz/ improvised music genres.
You can see a full list of the 2024 Music Capital Scheme Award 1, 2 and 3 awardees here.