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."^[1] Belfast is evenly 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 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.^[2]

For over two hundred years, Belfast has been a cultural and academic centre giving it the nickname the Athens of Ireland.^[3] 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".^[4]

In 2003, Belfast had a 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."^[5] 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.^[6]

Imagine Belfast spent £1.2 million of public money and £100,000 of private funding in developing their bid.^[7] 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".^[7] 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.^[8]

As Belfast becomes more prosperous and its citizens have more disposable income, culture and the arts are becoming economically important to the city. Belfast City Council has promoted culture with the goals of encouraging creativity, bringing communities together to facilitate reconciliation, and creating new jobs. In 2004-05 culture and arts initiatives created the equivalent of 413 full time jobs (37% more than the previous year).^[8]

A combination of relative peace, international investment and an active promotion of arts and culture is attracting more tourists to Belfast than ever before. 5.9 million people visted Belfast in 2004-05 (up 10% from the previous year) and spent £262.5 million.^[8]

Queens University hosts the annual international Belfast Festival. The Festival covers all art forms including theatre, dance, classical music, literature, jazz, comedy, visual arts, folk music and popular music, and attracting over 50,000 visitors, making it the largest of its kind in Ireland.^[9] 2007 will see the 45th anniversary of the festival.

Féile an Phobail is an annual festival of Irish and International culture that takes place in and around the Falls Road in Belfast. Tennents ViTal is popular music festival held in Botanic Gardens in August each year.

Belfast has one major theatre, The Lyric. It is the only full-time producing theatre in the country.^[10] The Lyric theatre is where film star Liam Neeson began his career and local playwrights Martin Lynch and Marie Jones have both written plays for the theatre. Kenneth Branagh, another British film actor, was also born in Belfast. The Old Museum Arts Centre is a 19th-century building in the city centre which runs a programme of music, theatre, comedy, dance workshops, and a ground floor art gallery with regular exhibitions.^[11]

Belfast has several venues for performing arts. The Grand Opera House was completed in 1895 was bombed several times during the Troubles but has been restored to its former glory. The Ulster Hall (1859-1862) was originally designed for grand dances but is now used primarily as a concert and sporting venue. Lloyd George, Parnell and Patrick Pearse all attended political rallies there.^[12] It holds 13 paintings of Belfast History. The Mulholland organ costing 3000 guineas was donated and named after a local wealthy industrialist.^[13] The Waterfront Hall was opened in 1997 as part of the redevelopment of the Laganside and already has become an icon of modern Belfast.^[12]

The Belfast Film Festival is a growing annual film festival in the city which started in the mid 1990s. Belfast has been taking full advantage of a new tax deal which makes Northern Ireland more attractive as a film location. Hollywood actress, Heather Graham was recently in the city shooting a new film.^[14]

Belfast has produced some significant artists. Sir John Lavery (1856-1941) was best known for his portraits of rich and famous of his day, while William Conor (1881-1968) and Paul Henry changed how the rest of the world viewed Ireland at the time. Belfast has numerous art galleries especially along South Belfast's Lisburn Road. The University of Ulster's Art and Design Campus in Belfast's Cathedral Quarter is planned to undergo a £30 million development programme^[15].

Sections of the city contain numerous sectarian murals, political street art reflecting the political and religious allegiances of the communities living there. Areas such as the Shankill Road contain murals that are almost entirely Protestant, depicting republican violence, loyalty to the British Crown, the Ulster Volunteer Force and Ulster Defence Association. Conversely, murals in areas such as the Falls Road, which is almost entirely Roman Catholic, feature political themes such as a united Ireland and the Provisional IRA, as well as traditional folklore and the Irish language. The Gaelic folk hero Cúchulainn has appeared on both republican and loyalist murals, representing the heroic Celtic past for the former and legendary battles between Ulster and the other provinces for the latter. In recent years some paramilitary murals have been replaced, in both loyalist and republican areas, with less controversial images. These include murals to the writer C. S. Lewis and the late Belfast footballer George Best.^[16]

In recent years, the development of world class venues like the Waterfront Hall and the Odyssey has meant that Belfast now regularly attracts big name stars who previously would have played in Dublin or Glasgow.

Van Morrison, one of the most influential vocalists in the rock and roll history^[17], came from Belfast. His prolific and ongoing career spans over four decades.^[18] Belfast is also home to Brian Kennedy, a popular singer-songwriter and the punk group, The Stiff Little Fingers. Derry rockers, The Undertones were regular visitors to the University of Ulster's student union building. They made their name when Belfast record shop owner Terry Hooley released the Teenage Kicks EP on his Good Vibrations label in September 1978.^[19] Belfast has a growing club scene. David Holmes has represented the city as a DJ, musician and composer and Colin Murray is a regular DJ on BBC Radio 1.

In the classical arena, the Ulster Orchestra, Northern Ireland's only professional symphony orchestra, marks its 40th anniversary in 2007.^[20] Belfast musicians, Sir James Galway, The Man With the Golden Flute and Barry Douglas, a classical pianist have both made an impact on the world stage.

Councillor Diane Dodds, Chair of Belfast City Council Tourism said that “Belfast has undergone a dramatic metamorphosis in recent years, and cultural tourism is one of the fastest growing aspects of the industry”. Culture creates a vibrancy that enriches the lives of our citizens by encouraging ever growing numbers of tourists to come here (currently more than 6.4m visitors, spending in excess of £285 million every year).^[21]

C. S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia, was born in Belfast and attended Campbell College for several years. Poet John Hewitt and novelist Brian Moore were also born in Belfast.

• Culture of Northern Ireland
• Culture of Ireland
• Culture of the United Kingdom
• Notable Belfast people