KATHERINE IS WEXFORD’S NEW M USIC OFFICER

MUSIC GENERATION has joined the Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board ( WWETB) in announcing the appointment of accomplished arts manager and practitioner Katherine Atkinson from Australia as music generation development officer for Wexford.

In her new post, Katherine, pictured below, will have responsibility for developing and managing affordable and accessible performance music education programmes for children and young people up to 18 years old in Wexford.

This will include the coordination of music tuition services within the county, working in partnership with schools, community music groups and arts services in the formation of choirs, ensembles and performance initiatives across diverse musical genres and styles.

‘As a passionate advocate for the value of performance music education, I’m thrilled to take up the role of Music Generation Development Officer in Wexford’, said Katherine.

‘As a practicing musician and performer I have experienced first-hand the enormous impact that access to the arts and creative encounters can have on children, young people and communities.’

‘ The cultural landscape of Wexford is already so vibrant, and I look forward to working with my colleagues in Wexford Music Education Partnership to grow and enrich that tradition for our next generation of young musicians.’

Originally from Australia, Katherine is an arts consultant, musician and performer who managed youth arts and arts development for the Arts Council of South Australia before moving to Ireland in the early 1990s where she has worked with Create, the national development agency for collaborative arts and the Arts Council. She holds an MA in Public Culture Studies from Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art Design and Technology, a Diploma in Theatre and Drama Studies from NUI Maynooth and a Certificate of Music from TAFE South Australia.

Wexford was among nine new areas of the country selected for participation in phase two of Music Generation last September, following an open national call for applications from music partnerships.T The application for Wexford was led by WWETB, in partnership with Wexford County Council. Programming in Music Generation Wexford will get underway from September of this year. The expansion of the Music Generation initiative to Wexford was made possible by philanthropic donations from U2 and The Ireland Funds, which will seed-fund 50% of the costs of developing the programme during its three-year set-up phase.