Cross-Community Arts Fund Unveiled For Belfast

Details of a new £900,000 Creative and Cultural Fund for Belfast to promote cros-community arts projects have been unveiled.

The new fund, set-up by Belfast City Council and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, will aim to provide three years of arts and heritage projects within the city.

The first four projects supported through the initiative will include a piece of public art created by Golden Thread Gallery; Baby Day, a new one-day festival for Belfast’s youngest citizens created by Replay Theatre Company; Nine Nights, an outdoor theatre experience by ArtsEkta; and Abhainn bheo na Fearsaide/The Living River Farset, a partnership between the Spectrum Centre on the Shankill and Cultúrlann on the Falls, which will use arts to celebrate the history of the river that gave Belfast its name.

Each of the successful organisations will work with a range of community partners over the next 18 months to develop their projects and create major new arts experiences and events for Belfast.

Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, said: "I am delighted that thousands of people, right across the city, of all ages and walks of life, have the chance to be involved in and be inspired by these flagship projects.

"Creative and Cultural Belfast is the first initiative of its kind. It is the largest amount of project funding ever awarded by Belfast City Council. Alongside our recent increase in the Council’s culture budget of 25 per cent, it underlines Belfast City Council’s strong ongoing commitment to the cultural life of this city."

Roísín McDonough, Chief Executive of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, said: "The Creative and Cultural Fund is about engaging Belfast’s diverse people and communities in culture and arts. All of the funded projects will be on offer to local people, from the young, to the old and everyone in between. We want to encourage people who possibly haven’t engaged with the arts to do so, to explore their creative-side and be part of something truly magnificent. The projects are all unique, innovative and spectacular in scale and the final artworks will be unlike anything seen in Belfast before, reflecting the true creative ambition of this great city."

Almost £600,000 has now been awarded through the Creative and Cultural Fund to support the first four successful projects.

(IT)