Fermoy Concert and Youth Band receive €2,000 grant

Fermoy Concert and Youth Band are among 39 successful organisations to receive a grant under the Non-Mainstream Music Education Bursary Scheme 2021. An allocation of €2,000 was made to the local group.

The Non-Mainstream Music Education Bursary scheme provides a means, by way of a small cash grant, to support music education and music initiatives to continue to cultivate the talent in young musicians. These organisations, groups and individuals provide access to a variety of music education experiences for young people and children in the community outside of school and curriculum provision.

In April of this year, the Department of Education invited applications for grants under the scheme. The total budget available in 2021 is €100,000 and details of the successful applications were announced by Minister for Education, Norma Foley on Tuesday, July 13.

Other Cork organisations to receive funding are Cork Youth Orchestra, Musica Fusion Community Orchestra and Freemount Comhaltas Ceoltóiri Éireann, who all received a grant allocation of €2,000.

City of Waterford Brass also received a €2,000 grant allocation, as did CCE Pheig Uí Riain in Limerick and Loughmore CCE in Tipperary.

The largest allocations went to St Agnes Community Centre for Music and Arts in Crumlin, Dublin, and Whitefriar Street String Project, also in Dublin, who both received €12,000 allocations.

“Music is an important way for people to express themselves and show their creativity. It is vital that we provide these opportunities to our children and young people. I hope that these grants can enable community organisations to continue providing music tuition and classes for the remainder of this year,” Minister Foley said.

“Bursaries available under this scheme will help organisations get resources they need to continue working with children and young people in community settings”.

Criteria used for evaluation of applications included a well-established track record in music education provision, service provision in the area of non-mainstream music education or community music, as well as delivery of non-mainstream music education for young people aged 18 years and younger.

Strong learning outcomes for participants was also listed in the criteria for evaluatio,n while preference was given to those organisations and groups who can demonstrate that they cater for socio-economically disadvantaged groups.