Philanthropy and Irish music education: performance music education in Ireland

Music Generation is the title of one of the most significant national initiatives in music education in Ireland. It seeks to put in place a countrywide infrastructure for instrumental and vocal music education. It has long been awaited. Over the last 30 years numerous reports and initiatives have highlighted the geographic inequity of the lack of access to high quality and affordable music tuition outside major urban centers.(1) In the ensuing years many ambitious plans and proposals have been made, including those commissioned by Government.(2) Funding to realize these plans however was always elusive. It is significant that they are now made possible not by a national government-led initiative, but as the result of philanthropy. This essay examines the context in which a philanthropic gift by the Irish rock group U2 and the philanthropic organization The Ireland Funds has enabled the development of a much needed nationals system of vocal and instrumental music education. Furthermore, it explores how philanthropy has shaped the development of this new national infrastructure and influenced the guiding principles.