{"id":577280,"date":"2026-07-31T14:41:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T14:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/577280\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T14:41:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T14:41:12","slug":"the-ed-sheeran-foundation-expands-into-ireland-with-north-south-sounds-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/577280\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ed Sheeran Foundation expands into Ireland with North South Sounds 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.live95fm.ie\/news\/entertainment\/\" class=\"c-btn c-btn--small c-btn--secondary-fill\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        All Onic Entertainment<br \/>\n    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aiir-c-news-figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6a6ca9d8db37b6c5570.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"aiir-c-news-article__abstract\">\n            The Ed Sheeran Foundation expands its work into Ireland and funds its first-ever Irish cross-border partnership project.\n        <\/p>\n<p>A first-of-its-kind initiative for the Ed Sheeran Foundation,\u00a0North South Sounds 2026\u00a0is a cross-border collaboration between the Ed Sheeran Foundation (ESF), Music Generation Cork City, and the Oh Yeah Centre.<\/p>\n<p>The Ed Sheeran Foundation has announced its first project in Ireland, North South Sounds 2026,\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Running from July to December 2026, the programme aims to connect children and young people in Cork city and Belfast through songwriting, performance, and community engagement.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ed Sheeran commented said: \u201cI\u2019m so happy to be bringing the Ed Sheeran Foundation to Ireland. I\u2019ve spent loads of time in the country over the years. Having family roots there, it\u2019s a place that\u2019s always been special to me. Every child should have the opportunity to learn and take part in music, and we\u2019re continuing our work to help make that a reality. The first project kicks off at The Fleadh on Monday. I played the festival last year and have such fond memories of it. If you\u2019re there, go and check out some of the incredible young talent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6a6ca9d8db605f2a2b5.jpg\" style=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>North South Sounds 2026\u00a0will champion creative curiosity by encouraging young musicians to blend influences and genres, merging elements of traditional Irish and folk music with other genres such as hip-hop, pop, and rock to generate something entirely fresh.<\/p>\n<p>It will celebrate local heritage, social inclusion and self-expression, engaging young people who might otherwise lack access to music creation, instrumental tuition and performance opportunities.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the six month project, the children and young people\u2019s music making will be facilitated by an impressive team of musical educators from Music Generation Cork City in partnership with Creative Tradition and The Kabin Studio alongside the Oh Yeah Centre.<\/p>\n<p>The project will launch with performances by 50 young people at\u00a0Fleadh Cheoil na h\u00c9ireann\u00a0on 3rd\u00a0August at Belfast City Hall, where they will premiere a series of collaborative musical fusions, developed through workshops in the lead-up to the festival.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A highlight of\u00a0North South Sounds 2026\u00a0will be youth-led gigs in both Cork City and Belfast.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/68da98f76f434.png\" style=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All Onic Entertainment The Ed Sheeran Foundation expands its work into Ireland and funds its first-ever Irish cross-border&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,608,611,607,610,609,612,43],"class_list":["post-577280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-limerick-radio","tag-limerick-today","tag-limericks-live95fm","tag-live-95","tag-live95fm","tag-live95fm-homepage","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}