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

Síofra Ní Éilí Duggan and Allie O’Neill in action during an armed combat course at the Lir Academy of Dramatic Art. Picture: Fergal Phillips

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 ...