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Here’s a lovely one for the weekend: Carlisle Memorial Church is throwing open its doors, and you get a say in what happ...
10/09/2026

Here’s a lovely one for the weekend: Carlisle Memorial Church is throwing open its doors, and you get a say in what happens next 🏛️

Belfast Buildings Trust are inviting people in on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th September, 11am to 3pm, for a look around the building and a chat about the work going on there. The best bit is the ask: if you could design stained glass for Carlisle Memorial’s striking windows, what would you put in it? Drop by and share your ideas. Yours could end up in the final design. Not many buildings hand you that kind of invitation!

It’s all part of European Heritage Open Days, Northern Ireland’s biggest celebration of built and cultural heritage, hosted by the Department for Communities. Hundreds of sites across the region open up free of charge across the weekend, with guided walks, talks, workshops and family activities running throughout. Last year drew over 65,000 visitors across more than 370 events.

This year’s theme, Heritage at Risk: Revive, Resist, Reimagine, fits Carlisle Memorial perfectly. It’s about the traditions and memories that give a place meaning as much as the stonework, and how all of it gets carried forward.

Free, no booking needed.

Belfast’s disability arts festival is back at its best this autumn. Bounce 2026 lands from Wednesday 30th September to S...
28/08/2026

Belfast’s disability arts festival is back at its best this autumn. Bounce 2026 lands from Wednesday 30th September to Sunday 4th October, produced by University of Atypical, the disabled-led charity that’s been backing d/Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists here since 1993. This year it’s all about one big idea: Arts and Activism. ✨

And what a programme. Emer Maguire brings the laughs, The Black Box hosts a knockout sight-loss music night, Stage Beyond reimagine Brecht and there’s a documentary on trailblazing Deaf actor Marlee Matlin. Add drag cabaret from the brilliant Tito Bone, an Arts and Activism Symposium headlined by Graeae’s Jenny Sealey, and Susanne Horsch’s immersive soft-sculpture installation at the Atypical Gallery.

Access is all part of it, with BSL, ISL, audio description, captioning and relaxed performances throughout, plus free companion tickets. Prices are kept low and include booking fees, so there’s nothing stopping you. 🎟️ Grab the full programme and tickets:

https://universityofatypical.org/bounce/

Saddle up, Belfast. Critical Mass returns this Friday! 🚲One of the city’s coolest ever initiatives (there, we said it) i...
24/08/2026

Saddle up, Belfast. Critical Mass returns this Friday! 🚲

One of the city’s coolest ever initiatives (there, we said it) is back this Friday 28th August. Critical Mass rolls out again from Native Coffee at 6.15pm, finishing up at Boundary with Bang Bike, right in the heart of the city.

Belfast’s legendary bike murmuration returns, good times guaranteed, with S. Sentif on the decks and the craic set to be mighty. Whatever you’re on - bike, board, whatever’s fuelled by your dinner and powered by your legs - you’re welcome.

Meet at Native Coffee from 6.15pm, roll off at 6.30pm.

For three Wednesdays this August, a room at North Queen Street Community Centre has been given over to stories, and ther...
24/08/2026

For three Wednesdays this August, a room at North Queen Street Community Centre has been given over to stories, and there’s one more to come!

Delivered by ImageNation NI as part of Belfast City Council’s Bank of Ideas, Where Our Stories Meet brings people together for an evening of live storytelling and conversation, with tea and snacks inspired by different cultures ✨

Leading it all is renowned Irish storyteller Liz Weir, alongside writer and broadcaster Lata Sharma: two people who know better than most what a well-told story can do for a room full of strangers.

The final gathering is this Wednesday, 26 August, from 6.30pm to 8pm. Entry is free and everyone is welcome - just pull up a chair 🫖

The Fleadh's best stories won't all be told on a stage 🌲🌳On Monday 3rd August, Belfast Hills Partnership leads Flora, Fa...
28/07/2026

The Fleadh's best stories won't all be told on a stage 🌲🌳

On Monday 3rd August, Belfast Hills Partnership leads Flora, Fauna & Folklore of Colin Glen, a guided walk through the forest park in the west of the city, uncovering the hidden stories behind Belfast's native trees and plants as part of the neighbourhood fringe. That one's already fully booked, which tells you everything about the appetite for this side of the Fleadh.

The good news: the outdoors isn't sold out yet. On Wednesday 5th August, NI Science Festival hosts Maps, Memories & Music on the Lagan at Lagan Valley Regional Park, 1pm to 3.30pm: a musical exploration of the mountains of Ireland, the maps that defined them and stories preserved in song, drawn from 200-year-old Ordnance Survey archives. It's free, family friendly and drop-in, and they're asking you to bring your instruments and picnic blankets. No booking or ticket, just turn up on the towpath.

Any festival can fill a hall. This one fills forests and towpaths too.

27/07/2026

You've not missed it. EastSide is only warming up!

We caught up with festival manager Neal Campbell last month at the programme launch to hear what's in store for the 15th EastSide Arts Festival, now running across east Belfast until Sunday 2nd August.

Seven more days and nights of it. Over 100 events, all of them Uniquely East.

Still to come: the Anthony Toner Trio play Templemore Baths on 28th July, EastSide Choir team up with writer Jan Carson for A Love Song to Lough Neagh on 29th July, Belfast TradFest bring With Pipe & Drum to the Great Hall at Stormont on 30th July, and Tia Bow performs Blackberry Path at the Sanctuary Theatre the same night.

Saturday 1st August brings Gareth Dunlop to Titanic Distillers for a night of songs and the stories behind them, ParkFest to Orangefield Park with Belfast Circus, and the Nightingale Singing Session to Boundary Taproom for I'll Tell Me Ma.

It all closes on 2nd August with Gig in a Garden from Áine Gordon and Niall McDowell, and Thin Lizzy founder Eric Bell back in his native east Belfast at the Skainos Centre.

Full programme and tickets: https://www.eastsidearts.net/eastside-arts-festival-2026/

Until Sunday 2nd August

🎥 by
🎶 by - Snakes Crawl (East Village Mix)

Choose a Sunday at the pictures. Ormeau Community Cinema has announced Rip It Up, a four-film season celebrating British...
24/07/2026

Choose a Sunday at the pictures. Ormeau Community Cinema has announced Rip It Up, a four-film season celebrating British youth culture on screen, running at Pigment Space on Sunnyside Street from this Sunday, 26th July into September, part of a UK-wide BFI Film Audience Network season marking 75 years of youth culture on film.

The line-up is a run of era-definers: Human Traffic kicks things off this with a graffiti workshop from 5.30pm and the film at 7pm, followed by East Is East on 30th August, This Is England on 12 September in its 20th anniversary year, and Trainspotting closing on 26th September, 30 years on from its release.

Every screening comes with a creative workshop inspired by the films, from zine-making to a stick-and-poke-inspired temporary tattoo session, all in the hands of a volunteer-led cinema that’s made it its business to bring accessible film nights to the city.

Tickets and details: https://www.ormeaucommunitycinema.com

From today until 2nd August, one of the city’s best-loved festivals takes over east Belfast. Now in its 15th year, EastS...
24/07/2026

From today until 2nd August, one of the city’s best-loved festivals takes over east Belfast. Now in its 15th year, EastSide Arts Festival returns under the theme Uniquely East, with over 100 events in the venues, parks, churches and independent businesses that give this part of the city its character.

It all begins tonight, with Mercury-nominated SOAK bringing their raw indie-folk to Titanic Distillers Pumphouse. Tomorrow, the Night Institute takes over Bullhouse East, C.S. Lewis Square and Banana Block for a day and night of electronic music, with Todd Terje and a Leftfield DJ set among the highlights.

And that’s just the opening weekend. Look out for George’s House As Never Before, a site-specific installation at George Best’s childhood home built around Matthew Nolan’s score for a long-forgotten avant-garde film, and Love Song to Lough Neagh, which sees EastSide Choir mark its 10th year alongside author Jan Carson. ParkFest rounds things off on 1st August with an expanded free family programme delivered with Belfast Circus.

Wherever you start, there’s ten days of it. Full programme here:

https://www.eastsidearts.net/eastside-arts-festival-2026/

Banana Block is launching its first ever film festival this October, and submissions are already open!Indie and student ...
22/07/2026

Banana Block is launching its first ever film festival this October, and submissions are already open!

Indie and student filmmakers across Belfast are invited to exhibit their work at the inaugural Banana Block Film Festival on Thursday 1st October, with a panel of judges picking a best film winner on the night. The winning filmmaker takes home a prize plus a free podcast/DJ workshop at Spinners Mill.

The details:

Films up to 10 minutes, any genre welcome
£10 submission fee per film
Over 18s only on the night
Free pint on entry courtesy of sponsors Rí-Ra

A brilliant new platform for homegrown filmmaking in the east of the city.

To enter or find out more, e-mail [email protected] 🍿

Crumlin Road Gaol after dark is a rare thing. Here’s your second chance at it.North Blöck returns on Friday, 7th August ...
16/07/2026

Crumlin Road Gaol after dark is a rare thing. Here’s your second chance at it.

North Blöck returns on Friday, 7th August with a Lúnasa edition of its night market, landing right in the middle of the Fleadh and marking the second of a four-part seasonal series created with Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival.

Expect curated stalls, street food, live music, vintage finds and local makers as the Gaol is transformed once more for a night of community and celebration, this time marking the harvest and the turn towards autumn 🌾

Brought to you by Little Fox Belfast.

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