Feature
Inside the music and acting colleges training the stars of tomorrow
The BIMM institute and the Lir Academy were set up just 12 years ago and are now playing a huge part in Ireland’s cultural output, with Oscar-nominated actor Paul Mescal and chart-topping bands such as Fontaines DC and the Murder Capital taking the world by storm
It is almost 5pm on a Thursday evening, but at the BIMM Institute on Francis Street in Dublin’s city centre, the college’s music students are still hard at work. In a large live performance studio on the ground floor, three musicians are jamming on stage. A crowd of 20 classmates perform the role of audience, enacting a choreographed routine in appreciation. Upstairs in smaller studios, students are mixing music on computers while others workshop vocal ...