The Mayo based business has been accredited with a major accolade from the All-Ireland Business Foundation.

The Accreditation is an outstanding achievement for Centre Stage Vocal Academy as it recognises the hard work and dedication of the team in providing a best in class service to its students.

This is an independently verified standard mark for indigenous businesses, based on rigorous selection criteria. The Accreditation is overseen by the prestigious All-Ireland Business Foundation, whose adjudication panel is chaired by Dr Briga Hynes of the Kemmy Business School at the University of Limerick and Kieran Ring, CEO of the Global Institute of Logistics.

Maureen Lawlor founded Centre Stage Vocal Academy. She began her teaching career 20 years ago out of a passion for helping students to find their voice and love it. Seeing your voice as a unique part of you, similar to your fingerprint, is paramount. Your voice is uniquely yours, it’s your sound and that needs to be explored and developed in a safe and supportive way.

The team at Centre Stage Vocal Academy includes Maureen and past student, Shona. They offer a wide range of classes to their students, in particular, assisting with Junior and Leaving Certificate Music Exam practicals and in preparing for the Royal Academy of Music Exams. These classes are available in person and online. They use Musico for all of their classes.

Each student has their own private Musico account and lesson plans are shared to their timelines and can be enjoyed between class to encourage practice. It essentially acts as a digital folder. Both Maureen and Shona have extensive experience in the field of music. They studied music in college and Maureen has produced numerous concerts, musicals and organised a range of singing competitions.

It’s an honour for us to achieve the All-Ireland Vocal Academy of the Year 2021 Accreditation from the All-Ireland Business Foundation. It recognises the hard work we have put in and the passion and love we have for what we do. We are nearly 20 years in business so achieving this is a huge acknowledgement of all that we have done to bring the business to where it is today, says Maureen Lawlor.

She adds: “The Accreditation is very important for what we do as it is a symbol of trust. We work with children and their parents need to rest knowing they are sending their children to an establishment that provides a best in class service. When we move into new areas, if parents see we are accredited, they will know we are a trustworthy business that works to very high standards. My work means so much to me personally. I tried to have children a number of years ago and unfortunately found out I couldn’t so I cannot emphasise how incredible it is to help so many children with their confidence and finding their voice. It is wonderful to see them thrive and be so proud of what they have accomplished.”

Kieran Ring, Deputy Chair on the Adjudication Board said in support of the announcement: “This certificate verifies that Centre Stage Vocal Academy has achieved AIBF All-Ireland Vocal Academy Of The Year 2021. The Accreditation is in recognition of the academy’s outstanding contribution to quality and standards in the music sector. Furthermore, we wish to recognise Centre Stage Vocal Academy’s conduct in the areas of trust, commitment, performance & customer centricity. Centre Stage Vocal Academy is hereby included in the AIBF Register Of Irish Business Excellence.”

Dr Hynes said the Accreditation, which is now held by over 450 firms, is needed by the thousands of small and medium businesses which operate to their own standards, but have nothing to measure them by.

“We evaluate a company’s background, trustworthiness and performance, and we speak to customers, employees and vendors. We also anonymously approach the company as a customer and report back on the experience. The business goes through at least two interviews and is scored on every part of the process against set metrics”, she says.

The All-Ireland Business Foundation is a national body which accredits best-in-class Irish businesses as Business All-Stars. The Foundation also oversees the All-Ireland Business Summit while promoting peer dialogue amongst our members on an ongoing basis.

To learn more about Centre Stage Vocal Academy, visit their All-Star showcase page here.

The process to select the next group of Business All-Star accredited companies has begun and further information is available at aibf.ie.