The Minister for the Arts Sile de Valera has announced the establishment of an Academy of the Performing Arts. The school will be based in Dublin but will also have centres in Limerick and Cork.
Although it will have its headquarters on a site provided by Dublin City University at Glasnevin, the academy will be independent of university control and will have its own board and president. The aim of the academy will be to develop education and training to achieve the highest quality of performance and that, as a centre of excellence, will reflect the contribution Ireland can make to the performing arts.
The Glasnevin campus will provide for undergraduate and, eventually post-graduate programmes in music and drama. Study programmes from the Gaiety School of Acting and the Royal Irish Academy of Music will be incorporated at appropriate levels. A second campus will be developed at the existing Irish World Music Centre at the University of Limerick and an under-graduate professional dance facility will be based at the Firkin Crane Dance Development Agency in Cork.
