The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O’Donoghue T.D. launched the cultural programme for Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union at a special function in the National Gallery of Ireland at the beginning of the year. The extensive cultural programme, which will see over 250 Irish artists and hundreds of European artists presenting work across the expanded EU, is one of the central features of the Irish Presidency which runs until June 2004.

Music events taking place over the next six months include the Irish Chamber Orchestra performing in Vilnius, Prague, Budapest, Warsaw and Cyprus; the Crash Ensemble performing in the 25th anniversary of the Estonian Music Days Festival and the National Chamber Choir performing in Prague and in June. The Vanbrugh String Quartet will be performing in Cyprus, and Irish Modern Dance Theatre with composers Jürgen Simpson and DJ Herv will be participating in a weekend of contemporary performing arts entitled ‘Our Dublin’ in the Estonian capital of Tallinn.

Music Network will be organising a series of concerts in Hungary and Estonia featuring Dorian, the Callino Quartet and Finghín Collins and the Callino Quartet will also be performing for the President and Prime Minister of the Czech Republic in a major concert at the historic Waldstein Palace in Prague to celebrate Irish and Czech culture through music. Organist Gerard Gillen will give a special recital in Bratislava Castle, Slovakia, on 30 April.

The ‘Day of Welcomes’ on Saturday 1 May marks the accession of ten new member countries, and ten towns and cities around Ireland have been invited to officially welcome one of the accession states. Bray, Cork, Drogheda, Galway, Kilkenny, Killarney, Letterkenny, Limerick, Sligo and Waterford will each enjoy their own European Fair and Day of Welcomes programme, with artists and performers from the accession countries enhancing the cultural activity in each place.

A music industry seminar on ‘Creative Financing and Music’ to be held in April will focus on investment and financing strategies for the music sector in general and small music enterprises in particular. Its aim is to promote a better understanding between financiers and the music industry in an attempt to improve the music industry's access to finance and to examine possible measures of EU support for the music industry.

A double CD and DVD collection of Irish music and film has been released for presentation to all the visiting delegations coming here during the Presidency. It includes contemporary Irish works by Justin Carroll, Roy Carroll, Rob Canning, Jürgen Simpson, Judith Ring, Jennifer Walshe, Ronan Guilfoyle and Donnacha Dennehy in addition to a wide spectrum of new Irish rock, pop, jazz and traditional music.