Ed Sheeran and Gary Lightbody visit Drake to show their support for Inclusive Music

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Ed Sheeran made a special visit to Northern Ireland on Friday, but this time, it wasn’t for one of his usual sold-out concerts.

The globally acclaimed musician, along with Snow Patrol’s frontman Gary Lightbody, traveled to Belfast as part of the UK-wide launch of his new charitable initiative, The Ed Sheeran Foundation.

Having founded his own charity, The Lightbody Foundation, in 2019, Gary Lightbody welcomed the arrival of Sheeran’s foundation and its commitment to supporting music education.

Drake Music NI expresses deep gratitude for being one of three local music organizations benefiting from the foundation’s support, alongside Hotbox Entertainment and the Oh Yeah Music Centre.

Ed Sheeran emphasized the importance of sustaining music education in Northern Ireland and across the UK:

“But where is the next generation going to come from if there’s no funding and there’s no music teachers in schools? We’ve visited so many cities around the United Kingdom with schools that don’t even have music departments anymore.”

He also reflected on the region’s artistic contributions:

“Northern Ireland is a huge part of my career (…) I love it here, and you should be really proud of the art that you’re putting out to the world. For such a small country to have such a massive impact culturally on the world is really important.”

During a press conference, our CEO Michelle McCormack shared her excitement about the foundation’s support:

“We are delighted to have been joined by Ed Sheeran during one of our songwriting workshops today,” Michelle said.

“Our musicians who participate regularly with Drake Music thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to work with Ed as a singer-songwriter.
We are all very excited for the impact that the generous donation from the Ed Sheeran Foundation will make for our plans to support aspiring musicians.”

Gary Lightbody, a longstanding advocate for Northern Irish music through his foundation and as a co-founder of the Oh Yeah Music Centre, addressed the financial difficulties facing the arts sector and welcomed Sheeran’s involvement:

“The Music and Arts are badly underfunded in Northern Ireland the same way as in the rest of the UK and Ireland, The Republic of Ireland puts £25 pounds per head into the arts, Wales puts £10 per head into the arts, but Northern Ireland only puts £5 per head into the arts.” explained the Co Down-born musician.

“So, when we are talking about getting more funding for the arts, it’s not at the deficit of education, healthcare and infrastructure – it’s to try and at least get some sort of parity. What Ed is doing is an extraordinary thing, because no one else is doing it, not only putting a light on this and putting his considerable weight and fame behind it, but actually putting money behind it as well – a lot of money.”

“I’ve never been more proud to show one of my dear friends around my home city.”


The special visit of the musicians took the city by the storm, receiving extensive media coverage. You can find more articles through the links below:

https://ohyeahbelfast.com/blog/global-music-star-ed-sheeran-makes-surprise-visit-to-ni-in-support-of-belfast-music-charities

https://www.facebook.com/qradio/reel/1032271031993960

https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/whats-on/arts-culture-news/ed-sheeran-visits-belfast-after-30754758

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cgj2vnl16j3o

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/ed-sheeran-visits-belfast-launching-191305866.html

https://www.irishnews.com/entertainment/i-love-northern-ireland-ed-sheeran-visits-belfast

https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/music/i-love-northern-ireland-ed-sheeran-visits-belfast

https://www.iq-mag.net/2025/01/ed-sheeran-launches-uk-music-education-charity/

Drake Music team joined by our partners Ed Sheeran and Garylightbody