Belfast Festival at Queen's
| Belfast International Arts Festival | |
|---|---|
Belfast Festival at Queen's logo
|
|
| Genre | Arts festival |
| Begins | 11 October 2016 |
| Ends | 29 October 2016 |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Location(s) | Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Years active | 54 |
| Inaugurated | 1962 |
| Patron(s) | Ulster Bank |
| Website | |
| http://www.belfastinternationalartsfestival.com | |
The Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen's is an annual arts festival held in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The 50th Festival took place from 19 October to 4 November 2012. It was announced in March 2015 that the University would not continue with the festival and was going to stop funding the festival. However, the festival has continued with the new name of the Belfast International Arts Festival.
Held annually, usually in November, the festival is primarily run by Queen's University Belfast. It was founded by student Michael Emmerson in 1962.
From small beginnings the festival grew through the 1960s and 1970s, expanding to a two-week-long event. Performers during this time included Jimi Hendrix, Laurence Olivier, Rowan Atkinson and Billy Connolly.
The festival is held at several venues across the city, including the The MAC, Ulster Hall, the Naughton Gallery, the Queen's Film Theatre, the Brian Friel Theatre and the Whitla Hall at Queen's, as well as the Grand Opera House, the Waterfront Hall and An Chultúrlann arts centre.
The 2004 Festival covered the familiar areas of World / Theatre / Dance, Music / Opera Song /, Jazz / Blues / World /, Tours, Folks / Roots, Comedy, Exhibitions, Talks (Sponsored by BT), Sounds, Family and Film.
Among the acts to take place, Alladeen, Jimi Carr, Mark Thomas, Ross Noble, Paul Abbott, Kate Rusby.
The Festival replaced its Box Office software in an effort to improve online sales and catch-up on the trend developing in the city.As the Grand Opera House Belfast had established the first online sales for the arts community in Belfast under the direction of Michael Kelly and Andrew Muir in 2001, Michael Kelly was employed as a consultant to help with a re-brand of the Festival website and online e-commerce which had proved problematic. With funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland a replacement system was installed in the summer months with a view to a major overhaul of the Festivals online presence to come.
...
Wikipedia