The Center for Irish Music

Help us Hand Down the Tradition!

The Center for Irish Music is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, but in many ways, it feels like a whole new school! With a growing faculty of 27 fantastic teachers, and more than 4,000 square feet of exceptional new classroom, performance and community spaces, CIM is thriving as never before. Thanks to the generosity of our community, and the creativity and commitment of our teaching staff, CIM’s enrollment has grown by nearly 30 percent since 2020. 

Now, we want to keep that momentum going! Your tax-deductible donation provides critical support to all of CIM’s music programs throughout the year, helping the Center for Irish Music to: 

• Make Irish music more accessible with affordable rentals of hard-to-find (and repair!) instruments like uilleann pipes, Irish flutes, harps, and concertina. This program enables players to start their lessons on good quality traditional instruments for just $10 or $20 a month.
• Extend financial aid for students in need. From family discounts to need-based scholarships, your support makes music lessons more affordable for more than 80 students every year.
• Expand CIM’s ensemble programs, teaching more musicians of all ages the power of playing together. 
• Host exceptional events, from the Youth Ensemble Concert coming November 18, to the Minnesota Irish Music Weekend on June 6-9, that support our youngest learners and celebrate our best tradition bearers.

Support from our like-minded community of Irish music lovers has helped the Center for Irish Music grow into a true cultural treasure. Thank you for all you do to help us celebrate and hand down the highest caliber of traditional Irish music right here in Minnesota.

History & Mission

The Center for Irish Music is a thriving community music school dedicated to handing down the tradition to the next generation of musicians in our community. With a year-round course schedule that serves nearly 500 individual students each year with private lessons on 16 traditional Irish instruments (including song in Irish Gaelic), performing ensembles and cultural music classes for all ages.

The only music school of its kind in Minnesota, the Center for Irish Music also hosts the Minnesota Irish Music Weekend, an all-ages  workshop-centered festival that invites world-renowned master artists such as Mary Bergin, Bríd Harper, Joanie Madden, and Billy McComiskey to teach and perform. 

We’re proud of our work helping to put Minnesota on the map for the wider Irish music community. We’re equally committed to becoming an essential player in our city’s cultural landscape, providing high-quality music instruction to students from every walk of life, and high-energy performances that share our commitment to arts education.

Thank you for helping us to hand down the tradition!