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A colourful and engaging indoor display showing the word 'Belfast' surround by green leaves, flowers and creative imagery.
Embracing our creativity B icon O icon

The programme

Our ambitious programme will give people the opportunity to celebrate our city in new and exciting ways. Together we want to imagine, dream and invent; to speculate and investigate; to learn and experiment; to imagine a new future, new spaces, a new balance with nature, new stories and new experiences.

Ultimately, this programme is a celebration of our people and our place, as we look towards our city’s future.

We’re currently working on a wide range of opportunities with key programme partners such as Eden Project, BBC NI, Oliver Jeffers and Nerve Centre. This will add to our Belfast 2024 portfolio of exciting projects, initiatives and spectacle events.

Colourful photo of a wide range of people painting

Creative Me

by Belfast City Council

Belfast 2024 is a call out to the people of the city, to take part in gatherings, events, initiatives, ideas, fun and games. It’s time to bring this programme to life with your creative contribution. We will have many different ways to get involved and loads of types of creativity to celebrate.

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Colourful photo of an illustration of Belfast City centre

Bank of Ideas

Do you have an idea for something creative you would like to make happen in your local area, or even the initial spark of an idea?

If you submit an idea, you can be in with the chance to get up to £2,000 to make it happen, as well as other benefits like new volunteers, collaborators and connections.

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Outstretched hands holding a self-built miniature boat made with small sticks and blue tack

Water Works

by PS2

Come join Belfast’s biggest Boat Building experiment! This mass participation project will reimagine our maritime traditions for the future with citywide events, workshops, and an ambition to build 10,000 boats for Belfast. From life-size skiffs, to milk-bottle rafts, Coke can dinghies and shoebox yachts.

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A black and white image of a woman posing with her fingers outstretched

Touch, Hear, Feel

by Helen Hall and Belfast International Arts Festival

Touch, Hear, Feel is an immersive and multisensory installation created with visually impaired communities led by artist Helen Hall, that explores touch through original choreography, fabrics, audio and video narratives.

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A night-time city scape

Nobodaddy

An Droichead and Michael Keegan Dolan

Mar chuid den chlár Béal Feirste 2024, cruthóidh An Droichead agus Teaċ Daṁsa píosa amharclannaíochta ildisciplíneach úr faoi stiúir Michael Keegan Dolan.

An Droichead will create a new multi-disciplinary piece of dance theatre along with Teaċ Daṁsa, led by Michael Keegan Dolan.

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Bright coloured room with pinks and purples

The Wiggle Room

by Boom Clap Play

Step into The Wiggle Room - a new immersive experience made by Belfast’s explorers of all ages! The Wiggle Room will bridge the gap between the conventional playground and the realm of immersive, intellectually stimulating experiences. Where play is interwoven with the contemporary digital world.

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A colourful digital image of the city of Belfast with streets and skyline, crossed by images of photo film and people.

The Hearth

by Belfast Film Festival

Belfast Film Festival is making a film about you, with you, the people of Belfast! This co-created filmmaking project between the people of Belfast, Belfast Film Festival and filmmakers will engage communities to watch, learn and create a new perspective of our city.

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Colourful photo of dancers in studio environment

The Art of Reconciliation

by Féile an Phobail, in partnership with Belfast International Arts Festival and EastSide Arts

Féile an Phobail, in partnership with Belfast International Arts Festival and EastSide Arts presents an international story of art and reconciliation, showcasing international experiences of the transformative role of the arts in dealing with complex issues around legacy, conflict and reconciliation.

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A black and white image of an urban city street with children walking across pavement

Sound Links

by Ulster Orchestra

Townsend Street will be transformed for a one-day festival of dance, song and fun for all ages! This collaboration with Ulster Orchestra and Townsend Enterprise Park aims to continue the revival of a fascinating but overlooked street in west Belfast with a rich history and exciting future.

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A pink and white graphic showing the project logo

Show Some Love Greenhouse

by Another World Belfast, CIC

Welcome to the Show Some Love Greenhouse —a new city centre space for learning, connection, and resource-sharing. Powered by Becky Bellamy and Connor Kerr from Another World Belfast CIC, opening in April 2024, Show Some Love Green House is to be a collaborative artist studio, sustainable fashion hub, creative shared space, inclusive community workshops and events venue.

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Large scale image of Titanic dry dock with large shadows projected onto the walls and children/families observing

Shadowdock

by Studio Sykes and Three's Theatre Company

This September you are invited to journey 40 feet below sea level to the iconic dock where Titanic was launched, where you will experience immersive display of light, shadow, colour and sound! Shadowdock will be immersive experience at Thompson Dry Dock. A display of light, shadow, colour and sound, audiences will see and feel the world around them from a new perspective.

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A woman bent down with her knee in water, her hands on a rock.

Safari in the City

by Wild Belfast

Come along to Safari in the City and explore the urban jungle right on your doorstep! This citizen science project will give the opportunity for people to explore and learn about the wildlife we share in the city through creative events which will animate and bring life to urban spaces.

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Photograph of a woman's bare ankles and feet walking across dry soil and grass

ROOTS

by Eileen McClory, Off The Rails Dance Company and Black Mountain Shared Space

ROOTS created by choreographer Eileen McClory with a dynamic collective of artists and expert gardeners will transform an interactive community garden, creating space to grow, dance, and dream. – Join us on the mountain in this new shared space -Culminating in live performances amid the flourishing Garden in August, and an immersive audio trail installation at Black Mountain Shared Space.

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An image of Frederick Douglass in black and white with a colourful background displaying the 'Solab' logo

North Star

by So Lab Collective

On Friday 25th October, come join us for ambitious spectacle live show of music, visual art and literature, all deeply rooted in Black music and cultures. Inspired by Frederick Douglass’ time in Belfast in 1845, North Star will explore belonging through the lens of contemporary black culture asking people, what makes them feel at home in Belfast?

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A purple and blue image showing a dark and mysterious forest with the words 'Midsummer At The Lyric'

Midsummer at the Lyric

by Lyric Theatre

Come experience the Lyric Theatre like you’ve never seen before! Set to illuminate the banks of the River Lagan with an extraordinary festival in July 2024. Midsummer at the Lyric will be a collaborative spectacle igniting the Lyric’s outdoor space along the River Lagan; creating a magical and mythical space for play, theatre and music.

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A photograph of the Little Amal puppet walking through an urban area

Little Amal

by The Walk Productions

A big Belfast welcome will be ready for Little Amal in May 2024. Little Amal, a 12-foot puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee child, will take a journey across our city to see the place we call home and make it her home for a weekend as she explores our places and enjoys experiences with our people. Produced by ArtsEkta in collaboration with Des Kennedy and Amir Nizar Zuabi. Image credit - David Levene and The Walk Productions.

More info
A colourful photograph of the artist playing ping-pong across a yellow and blue digital display table.

Eco Arcade

by Robin Price

Artist Robin Price is teaming up with young minds and local ecologists from the National Trust to create an interactive experience that merges gaming, technology, and environmental consciousness. Eco Arcade will take over the outside of two of Belfast's prominent cultural spaces, the MAC and Ulster Museum, during the dark winter evenings of '24. The arcade games will become fully playable by the general public so everyone can have a go!

More info
Abstract image of several people observing a grey, yellow and white series of shapes

Drift

by OGU Architects and MMAS with Matilde Meireles

Drift is a project exploring Belfast’s relationship with the Lagan as a central and vibrant public space for the city. Designed by leading architects OGU and MMAS with sound artist Matilde Meireles, it will float down the river this summer collecting stories, exploring ideas and providing a space to explore the sensory aspects of our river.

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A photograph of someone holding an iPad, through which they are viewing an augmented reality experience around them

Belfast City Hall Immersive Experience

by Belfast City Council and BT with Jam Creative Studios

Set within Belfast City Hall’s visitor exhibition, this experimental, augmented reality installation conjures up interactive stories and experiences inspired by the city’s rich language, the changing landscape across the centuries and the vibrant life that has filled its streets. A collaborative R&D project between Belfast City Council and BT.

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A yellow and pale blue graphic of the project artwork

Artists in Neighbourhoods

by Household

In partnership with British Council, Belfast 2024 have commissioned artist organisation Household to co-ordinate and curate new works by five international artists responding to the public realm in neighbourhoods across Belfast. The artists will complete residencies in Belfast, exploring public space and the people connected to it.

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A pink image of an old bus with the words 'Are you on the bus' above.

Are You On The Bus?

by Outburst Arts and Kabosh Theatre Company

Outburst Arts and Kabosh present Are You On the Bus? - a ground-breaking collaboration that looks at Belfast’s queer past to collectively imagine the future, featuring stunning new multi-media and audio works by Pea Dinneen and Stacey Gregg that draw inspiration from city transport, time travel and cross-generational queer kinship.

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People walking down an alleyway with flowers in the foreground

9ft in Common: A Manifesto for the Alleys

by Studio idir and Starling Start Consortium

9ft in Common: A Manifesto for the Alleys is a large-scale, city-wide collaborative celebration of the creative potential of Belfast’s alleyways: for growing, making, occupying and connecting. We’ll meet you at the back gate!

More info

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