Friday, 26 May 2017 – Yesterday, Thursday 25 May, An Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD, and the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Heather Humphreys TD announced the roll out of 31 Local Authority Culture and Creativity Plans for 2017, as part of the Creative Ireland Programme, at Dublin Castle. To celebrate this significant occasion, Music Generation Carlow Young Ambassadors Reelig were invited to treat a packed house of local and national government representatives to a superb set, which was met with tremendous acclaim!
Reelig are an accomplished collective of young traditional Irish musicians, formed just three years ago under the direction of Programme Director Paula Phelan and musicians Ciarán Somers and Áine Donohoe. Watch a snippet of their performance below:
This dynamic ensemble is committed to performing exciting, diverse and challenging repertoire. Previous local and national performances include collaborations with Music Generation Cork City at UCC, the Carlow Pan Celtic Festival, and The Worldwide Ireland Funds’ Conference, which included collaboration with the esteemed flautist Sir James Galway. Locally, Music Generation Carlow is supported and co-funded by Kilkenny Carlow Education & Training Board and Carlow County Council.
Creative Ireland is an all-of-Government five-year initiative, from 2017 to 2022, which places creativity at the centre of public policy. It is built around five pillars: Enabling the Creative Potential of Every Child; Enabling Creativity in Every Community; Investing in our Creative and Cultural Infrastructure; Ireland as a Centre of Excellence in Media Production; Unifying our Global Reputation.
The vision of Music Generation, to transform lives through access to high-quality performance music education, aligns with the goals of Creative Ireland to enable the creative potential of Ireland’s children and young people.
The development of Culture Plans for every county is a cornerstone of Pillar 2 of the Creative Ireland Programme – Enabling Creativity in Every County. Since the launch of Creative Ireland in December 2016, every Local Authority has established a Culture Team which includes arts officers, heritage officers, librarians, museum and gallery curators, led by a local Creative Ireland coordinator. Each Team has now put together a plan for their county to encourage communities and citizens to engage, participate and enable their creative potential.
Speaking at the event, An Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD, said: “These plans illustrate the extraordinary range of creativity in our communities and they get to the very heart of what Creative Ireland is all about: community, local empowerment, participation, collaboration. These are not abstract words or ideas – these are the building blocks for a better society, and a better quality of life for everyone.”
Each of the 31 Local Authority Culture and Creativity Plans are available to download at creative.ireland.ie
For further information about Music Generation Carlow, contact:
Music Generation Carlow, Kilkenny and Carlow Education and Training Board, Athy Road, Carlow
t: +353 59 913 8532
e: pphelan@kcetb.ie
musicgenerationcarlow.ie
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