Culture and arts

Belfast is a city with a rich heritage, offering a host of vibrant cultural and artistic experiences.

We recognise that culture makes a very valuable contribution to the life of our city and are working hard to place culture and arts firmly on the urban regeneration agenda for Belfast.

Cultural life makes an important contribution to the economy, offering employment opportunities and developing valuable skills. It also encourages the ever growing numbers of tourists to visit Belfast.

We currently support over 70 cultural organisations ranging from the internationally acclaimed Belfast Festival at Queen's through to smaller community-based projects. We annually invest over £1.5 million in their cultural programming, skills development and audience development.

Find out about our Cultural Framework for Belfast 2012-2015

Festival advice

Festival toolkit for beginners
Do you run a festival? Our short guide will help you to show the value and impact of your work. It's especially for festivals run by volunteers or a small team, but contains practical examples and tools of use to all arts and cultural organisations.
Download eVALUEation: Five steps to making value more visible (PDF - 982KB)

Making Value More Visible: Social and Economic Toolkit for Festivals
Our comprehensive toolkit will enhance your understanding of how to make decisions about investment, policy, governance, effectiveness and efficiency for your festival. It will help you and your stakeholders get the best possible returns on your investment of money, time and talent. As well as detailed guidance, it contains real examples and ready to use exercises.
Download our Social and Economic Toolkit for Festivals (PDF - 1MB)
Download our summary of the Social and Economic Toolkit for Festivals (PDF - 583KB)

Projects

Heritage
Find out about Belfast's heritage and our heritage policy. And our arts and heritage training courses.

Belfast Heritage Forum
Our Heritage Forum is a network where organisations, with an interest in the city's heritage, can meet and exchange information.

Test Drive the Arts
Test Drive the Arts NI is a brand new initiative offering you the chance to get guest tickets to theatre, music, ballet and much more.

Public art projects
Find out about public art projects in Belfast including Brighter Belfast and the Re-Imaging Communities Project.

Festivals Forum
Find out about our Festivals Forum as well as our Festivals Calendar.

Contact us

Tourism, Culture and Arts Unit
Development Department
Cecil Ward Building
4-10 Linenhall Street
Belfast
BT2 8BP
Tel : 028 9050 0512.
Email: culture@belfastcity.gov.uk