Historical Context
Founders Sr Bernadette Sweeney and Dr Joanna Crooks originally set up the St Agnes’ Violin Project in 2006, providing free music lessons for every child in St Agnes’ Primary School, now Scoil Úna Naofa. They had a vision of inclusiveness and place making for all those in the Crumlin community. The inspiration came from the words of Mother Mary Aikenhead, Foundress of the Religious Sisters of Charity, that ‘we desire to give to all what the rich can buy for money’ and it became the core motivation of the St Agnes’ Violin Project. Their vision was captured in a four-part TV series shown in 2010 on RTÉ called ‘Music Changes Lives’. They quickly established an intergenerational ethos that continues to be nourished and protected to this day.
Thus, the seeds were sown for the St Agnes’ Community Centre for Music and the Arts (CCMA), established in 2013 and formally opened by our own First Lady, Sabina Higgins, wife of President Michael D. Higgins. Today it is a thriving and innovative hub for those living, working and learning in the Crumlin area and its surrounds, contributing not only to the fabric of the community at local and municipal levels but also influencing at national and international level.
On 11th March, 2024, the CCMA celebrated its tenth anniversary with a concert in the East Quad of TU Dublin, in the presence of Sabina Higgins, with a palpable sense of coming full circle for the nearly 400 people who celebrated this wonderful achievement. Since its inception, the CCMA has engaged with over 40,000 people through instrumental lessons, orchestras, choirs, musical society, music classes, music therapy programmes, baby and pre-instrumental music, summer camps and countless concerts and performances. However, it hasn’t stopped there! It continues to be a consistent response to the needs of the community and the people it serves. The new ‘Sunny Strings Orchestra’ providing an orchestral experience for very young children, and the ‘Sensory Stars Club’ providing a space for children with autism bears witness to such responsiveness.
St Agnes’ CCMA has become synonymous with equality and inclusion tirelessly striving to break down barriers of access, enabling more and more people to enjoy the benefits of music and the arts. It recognises that enriching people’s lives through music is key to organically growing any community. It also recognises that providing a safe and accessible resource is key to enabling expression and creativity. It embraces and lives the International Music Council’s five music rights including ‘the right (for all children and adults) to express themselves musically in all freedom’ and ‘to have access to musical involvement through participation, listening, creation and information’. The CCMA’s four core values of rights to high standard music and arts, diversity/inclusion, sustainability and place making/community building are reflected in every aspect of the organisation and in the CCMA’s Strategic Plan 2024-2029. This plan provides the framework for the next five years.
The success of the CCMA from its infancy to the current day has only been possible through the continuous and generous support of the Religious Sisters of Charity and Sr Bernadette to the project. Operationally, the skills and expertise of the General Manager, committed Board of Directors, music tutors, conductors and professional performance musicians, supported by administrative CE staff, members of the Board and volunteers keep the project going, in addition to the many sources of financial support.
The determination of Sr Bernadette and Joanna that through music and the arts the community would grow and flourish continues to drive the project to this day, fuelled by a boundless commitment to the people of Crumlin and the fact that music does indeed change lives from the cradle to the grave, three months old to ninety years young.