b'as music generation reaches its fourth birthday,we look back on the terric achievements of this agship initiative ofcommunitiesseizinganopportunityandworkingtogether for music education in Ireland and celebrate how the philanthropic to make something happen, the immense importance of this investment of U2 and The Ireland Funds has led to sustainable programme is to be found in the daily minutiae. The individual long-term local and national funding.moments and experiences of the young people, teachers, parents,By 2016, the investment by local Music Education Partnerships school principals, youth workers makes up the vast tapestry of andGovernmentisexpectedtobeonaparwiththe7mmusicalactivitythatistakingplaceeveryweek,inschools, donation from U2 and The Ireland Funds. The Department ofbuildings and parishes all across the country. Education and Skills will commence funding the initiative on a Illustrated in the column inches of local and national papers, phased basis from July 2014. Music Generation is a great example inthevideosandphotographs,socialmediaandinthe of how when we put our heads together we can deliver reallywords, deeds and actions of children and young people who areexciting education programmes in new and innovative ways.learning and participating and helping each other to improve andRuair Quinn, former TD, Minister for Education and Skills. to progress, the daily stories generated by Music Generation paintSpeaking in 2010, U2s Bono said: What we want to do is really a very rich picture of the impact Music Generation is having onsimple. We just want to make sure that everyone, whatever their the lives of children and young people throughout Ireland.background, gets access to music tuition. Thats the idea.U2andTheIrelandFundsphilanthropicgifthashadand And the idea is being achievedin spades! The impact of the will continue to have a transformative eect on not only the musiclargest ever single philanthropic donation to music education in education landscape in Ireland but on the lives of children andIreland in the history of the state is remarkable. While the scale of young people and the communities in which they live. achievement and success tell an extraordinary tale of exponentialgrowth of music education provision, of musician employment, connect2014 | 38'