Funding boost to celebrate best of Belfast in 2006

16 February 2006

Belfast City Council has awarded a second round of funding to support events being organised for Celebrate Belfast 2006.

A total of £230,000 has been awarded to 13 culture and arts organisations through the Council`s special `Celebrate Belfast 2006 Enhancements of Culture and Arts Programming’ funding programme.

Coinciding with the centenary of the City Hall, Celebrate Belfast 2006 is showcasing the wealth of cultural excellence in our city and raising the profile of Belfast as an international cultural destination. The 15-month programme features some 700 cultural and sports events taking place all over the city.

Festivals will continue to represent a major part of the Celebrate Belfast 2006 programme, and several major festivals have therefore received enhanced funding from the Council.

Belfast Community Circus School plans to stage a five-day international street theatre festival in the city centre which will bring together top street artists from Belfast, England, Australia, USA, France, Holland, Denmark, Belgium and Kenya. They also will be organising a weekly programme of street theatre from May to August featuring local and European artists in Custom House Square. Meanwhile, the Beat Initiative will be producing large scale summer and winter carnival spectacles, featuring international performers, and will engage community groups across the city.

The Belfast Festival at Queen`s, “Wall Talk” will see stories from people from all over the city made into soundtracks, which in turn will be transformed into audio-visual projections onto the front of Belfast City Hall. The public will be encouraged to send in portraits or text messages via their mobile phones or the internet for projecting onto the walls of City Hall during the 17-day event, which takes place during late October and early November.

The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival will introduce a new strand to their annual extravaganza. “A World at Your Door” brings a ten-day celebration of world cultures to Belfast, housed in a specially dressed marquee in Custom House Square. The event will reflect the changing face of the city and celebrate its increasing diversity and bring a taste of all five continents to both local and visiting audiences.

The 6th Belfast Film Festival will this year feature the first ever large scale outdoor film screening on top of Cave Hill. The screening will include a short film commentary from local communities about their hopes and dreams for Belfast.

Next September, the Linen Hall Library presents `Celebrate Literary Belfast 2006’ - an exhibition, events programme and a complementary website, produced in conjunction with CultureNorthernIreland, to celebrate Belfast’s rich literary heritage.

The Amozozo luminarium is set to become one of the largest temporary architectural structures in the world when it is exhibited at Custom House Square from May 26 as part of Young at Art`s international Belfast Children`s Festival.

Funding will also enhance the ongoing `Celebrate Belfast’ theatre programme. Tasked with delivering a new performance space for the Cathedral Quarter, The Black Box Trust will implement `The Black Box Marketing Initiative’ – a plan for developing an audience for the city`s newest theatre performance space.

Professional children`s theatre company, Cahoots NI, will present `Believe,’ a spectacular piece of children`s theatre for children over the age of five, and their parents/carers. The production will transform the Queen’s Drama Studio into a designated children`s arts space for a week.

The Grand Opera House will celebrate the opening of its new ACT II extension with a programme of events to celebrate the best of Belfast theatre. As well as providing opportunities to stage more first class theatre, Act II will enable people with disabilities, and youth and community groups, to participate in education and outreach projects.

Kabosh Theatre will continue to bring drama to the people by presenting their `Access All Areas’ programme for public spaces in Belfast. `Access All Areas’ will commission works by, and create partnerships with, local arts practitioners and artists. This two-part production will take place as part of the city`s Halloween celebrations and will feature a ghost story in four separate locations across the city, and also a Ghost Tour.

Red Lead Arts will present `The Liverpool Boat Project’ - a play by Belfast playwright, Marie Jones, and Liverpool playwright, Maurice Bessman. It tells of the experiences of Irish emigrants over the centuries: why they left Ireland and what happened to them when they arrived in Liverpool. Performances will take place in Belfast during November and December 2006, and in Liverpool during January and February 2007.

Paragon Artists Studios will be sending a `Space Shuttle’ on missions to outdoor locations around Belfast between March and November 2006, where it will be used by artists and community organisations as a platform for urban creativity and social interaction.

ENDS

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