We are delighted to announce that Music Generation Cork City are one of the successful grant applicants from the inaugural RTÉ Toy Show Appeal. The generosity of the Late Late Toy Show audience surpassed all expectations, and it is incredible to think that over 630,000 children and family members across the island of Ireland, will benefit in so many ways.
The Community Foundation for Ireland, who reviewed and assessed all the grant applications, said that the standard of applications was incredibly high. We are overjoyed that our programme here in Cork has been chosen and we look forward to directing these funds into much needed performance music avenues, which we are very eager to expand into.
We are reliably told that the RTÉ Toy Show Appeal will be back this year, and it is hoped that over the years to come, it will help many more children in lots of different ways.
Our very own Mc Tiny and Garry McCarthy (GMC Beats) were chatting on the Ryan Tubridy show as this amazing news was announced – their enthusiasm and passion for their craft reflects so much of what goes on around the city on our programmes! Here’s the link to the player (it’s on around 24mins in!) – https://www.rte.ie/radio1/ryan-tubridy/programmes/2021/0625/1231287-the-ryan-tubridy-show-friday-25-june-2021/?clipid=103706684#103706684
About the Grant Application:
For the winning proposal, Music Generation Cork City proposed to build on their experience gained with community-based music groups, and pledged to initiate a year-long research and development project to partner with groups that work with marginalised children.
Their research proposes to do the following:
- Develop and implement action research projects in schools with children with autism/on the autism spectrum
- Develop and implement research partnership with the STAR project, Cork’s education resource workers for children and young people from the Roma and Traveller communities to address gaps in music provision and identify barriers to participation in existing music programmes
- Action research to identify and address ongoing barriers to music participation for children in Direct Provision and amongst migrant communities
Speaking in relation to the programme proposal, Margaret O’Sullivan, co-ordinator of Music Generation Cork City said:
“Working on the ground in communities in partnership we have learned that combining action research and CPD for musician educators, staff and partners, creates opportunities for children and young people to inform and shape research on their own needs and perspectives. We recognise that children and young people all have their own unique experiences, needs, and that their creative aspirations are reflective of multiplicities of experience within and between cultures, communities, individuals, families, and social groupings. We work hard to develop programmes according to local need and context by working in partnership with community-based music groups to provide responsive and adaptive context-based music learning and participation opportunities”.
“Music Generation Cork City includes a huge web of people in Cork City and in our wider network, so the honour of being selected for this funding is very meaningful for us, given the special place the Toy Show has in all our hearts and the generosity of the Irish public towards the appeal. The award will help us to create more inclusive, creative projects from which we will learn and share to ensure that children and young people can have access to music making and learning experiences that work for them in spite of all the barriers in their way. We are thrilled!”