Report on the Harping Tradition in Ireland

4.10 Harp-making
A comprehensive database of harp teachers, a nationwide harp-rental scheme, and
better resourced harp organisations should have a positive effect on harp-making in
Ireland, but ensuring that harp-makers capitalise on these developments is still key.
Harp-makers could be encouraged to apply to Arts Council schemes and awards to
obtain support for
• specific promotional activities such as creating promotional materials or attending
national and international harp events;
• the development of professional websites;
• the purchasing of necessary harp-making equipment;
• mentoring apprentices who can assist in increasing productivity;
• carrying out research into early Irish harp-building techniques;
• collaboration with professional harpers, other harp-makers and Na Píobairí
Uilleann’s PipeCraft Centre with a view to improving skills and standards;
• the establishment of an Irish instrument-makers’ association that can campaign
for Government policies which will assist in the development of the sector.
Recommendation
4.10.1 The Arts Council could encourage harp-makers to apply for its range
of schemes and awards in order to promote their work, increase
productivity and develop the harp-making sector.
4.11 Resources
As mentioned in the brief history of the harp at the beginning of this report, the work
of Edward Bunting is of great import to harpers, as are other collections of early Irish
music, and it is essential that such works continue to be widely available.
There is still a great deal about early harpers and the early Irish harping tradition, and
even the harp in the nineteenth and twentieth century, that we do not know, and
which needs to be researched. The Arts Council could continue to support proposals
for research and publication in this area.
Recommendation
4.11.1 The Arts Council should seek to support research and publication on the
subject of the early Irish harpers, the early harping tradition, and the harp
in Ireland in the nineteenth and twentieth century.
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