b'what is music generation ? music generation , the U2 and Ireland Fundssupported National Music Education Programmeis in full swingmusic generation is a wonderful and helping children and young people throughout Ireland accessvocal and instrumental tuition in their local area. Thanks to youropportunity for thousandssupport,thisuniqueprogramisfullyunderwayandalready making a difference in Ireland.of children and young peopleThe results so far? In just the first year of this ambitious fiveyear initiative,3.3 million has been awarded to the first six to access music education.counties selected for participation, 30 jobs have been created, andtuition has reached more than 1,000 children. irelands new national music Louth, Mayo, and Sligo: Music In the First Three Countieseducation programme, initiated In Louth, Mayo and Sligothe first three counties selected to rollout the programmejob opportunities have been created for localby music network and funded by co-ordinators and musicians practicing in all musical genres, whowill deliver a range of tuition to children and young people up to u2 and the ireland funds, music 18 years. TuitionrecentlycommencedinSligowiththecountys generation is helping children ambitious Discovering Music programme, which aims to open thedoor to music for every one of Sligos 16,500 young people. and young people to accessTuition will commence in Louth and Mayo in spring 2012 andwill see the establishment of choirs, orchestras, kinder music performance music education programmes, bands, rock schools, music labs, and much more.Cork City, Laois, and Wicklow, the second round of counties(vocal and instrumental) inselected for participation, will kick-start 2012 with a recruitmentdrive for musicians and put plans to place to establish a locallytheir own locality. u 2 hasbased workforce that will give thousands more children and youngpeople the choice of access to high quality music education in theirdonated 5 million and thelocal area. ireland funds are raisingPartnerships: Making it SustainablePartnershipsarecentraltoMusicGenerationsapproach. another 2 million in support. Nationally, the programme works closely with Government instrategicallyplanninganddevelopinganationalframework it is a ve-year programmenecessary to achieve a long term sustainable approach. RuairiQuinn TD, Minister for Education and Skills, recently announced (20102015) , which is locally that.Governmentremainscommittedtodevelopingand sustaining the Music Education Partnerships with Exchequerprovided within a national funding in future years when the donations cease.Locally, Music Generation is incentivising the establishmentframework.of Music Education Partnerships across the country in an effort todevelop a better infrastructure for music education in Ireland. The Partnerships are comprised of local agencies, organisations,expert and interest groups that work to plan for a co-ordinatedmusic education service in the local area. Within Music Genera-tions first six months over 75% of the country set up these newPartnerships resulting in local and national structures for vocaland instrumental music education being established the first timeon the history of the state. connect 2012 | 11'