Laois music school lease approved to the tune of €60,000
The School of Music is based at the former Scoil Mhuire on Church Avenue, Portlaoise. File image
THE Laois School of Music building in Portlaoise will be leased for a song for the next three years.
Laois Co Council has approved a further lease of the former Scoil Mhuire to Laois Offaly Education and Training Board (LOETB), to the tune of €60,000 for the entire three years.
The building has been home to the county’s School of Music since 2019, after the old school on Church Avenue was purchased by Laois Co Council the previous year.
Since then, the LOETB has leased the former Presentation NS building, located inside the Fort Protector walls, for use as a music school.
The renewed lease, which works out at €20,000 a year, was approved at the latest monthly meeting of Laois Co Council, when it was proposed by cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley and seconded by cllr Catherine Fitzgerald.
Established in 2001, Laois School of Music was spread across four different premises before moving to its more permanent current home, where it is ideally based beside the new outdoor event space at The Fort.
The school provides individual, paired and group tuition in a large range of instruments and has a highly regarded Youth Orchestra, with funding from both Laois Co Council and the Arts Council.
In 2011, Music Generation Laois (MGL) was established as a partner project, offering outreach classes to more than 30 local schools and a variety of special programmes and workshops.
There are classes for young people aged eight upwards in piano, guitar, ukulele, bass guitar, violin, electric fiddle, double bass, cello, brass, flute, oboe, saxophone, drum kit, singing, keyboard, Leaving Cert music, music theory, Saturday strings programme, Beginner Orchestra, concertina, trad flute, harp, bodhrán, uilleann pipes, The Music Box for children with special needs, rock and pop bands, trad groups, harp ensemble and trad orchestra.
Classes are held Monday to Saturday throughout the academic year and there is an instrument hire service. More details are available from Laois Music Centre at 057 8681782, email mgl@loetb.ie or see the musicgenerationlaois.ie website.
