Culture of Belfast

The culture of Belfast, much like the city, is a microcosm of the culture of Northern Ireland. Hilary McGrady, chief executive of Imagine Belfast, claimed that "Belfast has begun a social, economic and cultural transformation that has the potential to reverberate across Europe." Belfast is split between two distinct vibrant cultural communities simply described as Catholic and Protestant both of which have made their own contributions to the city's culture. Throughout the troubles, Belfast continued to express itself through art and music. Today, it has a growing international cultural reputation as both communities move into the future and prove the relevance of art in education and healthcare environments as well as using it to heal the divisions of the past and promote social growth for the future.

For over two hundred years, Belfast has been a cultural and academic centre giving it the nickname the Athens of Ireland. In fact in 1841, J. Stirling Coyne wrote about Belfast "so celebrated has this town become for its patronage and love of learning, that it has acquired the proud title of the modern Athens".

In 2003, Belfast had an unsuccessful bid for the 2008 European Capital of Culture. The ambitious bid was run by an independent company called Imagine Belfast and boasted that it would "make Belfast the meeting place of Europe's legends where the meaning of history and belief find a home and a sanctuary from caricature, parody and oblivion." Belfast's bid was based on three main themes: "Through the eyes of a Child", "Made in Belfast", and "To live without walls". These themes of unity and peace and creating a better city for our children became the core of the Imagine Belfast bid. Ultimately the bid may have been wrecked by the city's history and volatile politics.

Imagine Belfast spent £1.2 million of public money and £100,000 of private funding in developing their bid. However, Belfast City Council insist this money was not wasted. The legacy of the failed bid was a new Culture and Arts Plan 2003–2006 to take forward the spirit of the Imagine Belfast bid. The chief executive of Belfast City Council described the bid as "a catalytic event leading to a step change in the development of arts and culture in the city". Indeed, the statistics show this to be true. In 2004–05, culture and arts events in Belfast were attended by 1.8 million people (400,000 more than the previous year). The same year, 80,000 people participated in culture and arts activities, twice as many as in 2003–04.

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