“Our bid on the European Capital of Culture in 2017 got to a very late stage, then we were removed from the process because of Brexit,” recounts Erika Clark, Creative Programme Manager at Belfast City Council. After putting energy and resources into the bid, Belfast City Council’s leadership didn’t want all the work in cultural engagement to go to waste.
They decided to draft an exciting new cultural strategy for the city, launched in 2020, that included the creation of a year of culture as a milestone. With the Covid-19 pandemic delaying the city’s ambitions, this year they finally see the light. “Belfast 2024 is our year to celebrate our creativity and culture,” says Clark.
Belfast will also be hosting the upcoming Eurocities Culture Forum, 25-27 September 2024, an opportunity for the city to showcase its achievements on an international stage and to inspire and exchange with other cities facing similar challenges.
A legacy of engagement
The city’s bid for the European Capital of Culture sparked unprecedented public engagement. “We had over 45,000 engagements that year while we built our bid book,” shares Clark proudly. “It was the biggest public engagement on culture we’d ever done in the city.” The cultural strategy and Belfast 2024 have built on this legacy, continuing to take participation very seriously.
The 24 commissions working on the Belfast 2024 programme have been co-created with local people and communities. Every commission had to find at least one partner outside the creative sector to deliver their project. “It encouraged the creative sector to find partners they wouldn’t usually work with,” explains Clark. “It gave us buy-in from across the city because so many partners had a stake in how projects were developed and delivered.” Some of these partnerships are set to continue beyond 2024, indicating a promising legacy for the future.
This special year of cultural celebration also presented an opportunity to work differently with other municipal departments. “With investment, a big ambition, and a very tight time frame, we’ve been able to open a lot of doors,” shares Clark, who hopes this collaborative approach will continue in the future.
For example, the department responsible for Belfast’s parks opened up nighttime access for the Right to the Night initiative, which included bat and stargazing events. “We worked with the department to see how we could give out-of-hours access, and then they decided to give us a key to the park,” says Clark. “That was a breakthrough, showing us that they valued our work and trusted us.”
With investment, a big ambition, and a very tight time frame, we've been able to open a lot of doors
Rooted in essential principles
An important requirement for all commissioned projects was that they align with one or more of the three core principles of Belfast 2024: Our people, our places, and our planet. This condition led to projects like the transformation of the Thompson Dry Dock, which helped to redevelop and activate an underused area while re-examining Belfast’s heritage.
The Thompson Dry Dock, where the Titanic was built, has been unused for years, despite being on the Maritime Mile and close to the popular Titanic Belfast attraction. As part of Belfast 2024 and in partnership with Maritime Belfast Trust, Catalyst and Lightbody Foundation, a theatre company and an architect teamed up to create an immersive show featuring light, sound, and storytelling in the dock. “It’s a really ambitious piece of work, a spectacle on a scale of something I would have seen in London or Paris, and I’m so proud of the creatives in Belfast for doing this,” says Clark.
Beyond repurposing forgotten spaces, Belfast 2024 is encouraging people to view traditional spaces differently. For example, the Lyric Theatre, Belfast’s main producing house, performed a show outside in its garden by the river for the first time. “We’re hoping that will now become a permanent outdoor theatre and performance space,” adds Clark. Using urban spaces creatively throughout 2024 has had a knock-on effect. “People now look at our roads, rivers, and built heritage sites as public spaces,” says Clark.
People now look at our roads, rivers, and built heritage sites as public spaces
Culture as a messenger for the planet
Many Belfast 2024 projects carry the message of caring for the planet. “The scientific message is scaring people,” says Clark. “We think creativity and culture can get that message through in a much kinder and more involved way.” This effort also includes encouraging the arts and cultural sector to be more climate-conscious in their practices – an approach spearheaded by cities through the Eurocities Lille call to action.
The Eden Project has been a key partner in promoting the themes of climate and biodiversity for the Belfast 2024 programme. For example, they collaborated with architects to build Drift, a pavilion used primarily for wildlife watching, but also for hosting yoga workshops, stargazing, and other cultural events. The pavilion is floating on the river and can be moved across the city to track wildlife hotspots. “We’re hoping it becomes a permanent floating space where we can engage with our river and watch wildlife within the city,” adds Clark.
Another commission for Belfast 2024 is the charity Wild Belfast with their Safari in the City project, which partnered with Cliftonville Football Grounds in North Belfast, a working-class area. “In the ethos of the Belfast 2024 co-design model, they approached the local stakeholders about their biodiversity message but also asked them what they wanted to celebrate and explore from this opportunity,” recounts Clark.
The club expressed a desire to give more visibility to their female team, which led to the creation of a mural of a female player, with bird boxes for nesting swallows integrated into the design. “The connection between the Eden Project, Wild Belfast, a mural artist, and the football club came together to create something really meaningful for the community,” highlights Clark. More murals like this, combining art with biodiversity, are planned across the city in the future.
These aspects of Belfast 2024’s work are closely linked to the Eurocities Lille Call to Action, which brings together cities committed to a more sustainable and inclusive culture. 47 mayors from across Europe have already signed the call, pledging actions for the ecological transition of local cultural policies and events, as well as promoting inclusion in culture and through culture. More mayors will be signing the call in Belfast during the Eurocities Culture Forum.
Innovative elements of a successful year of culture
Belfast dedicated significant resources to engaging the public, fostering collaboration between city departments, and developing original and meaningful partnerships. The city also introduced innovative elements in its tendering process for creative project proposals, which could serve as inspiration for others.
The tender was open to everyone, including individuals, charities, and businesses, which attracted applications from within and beyond the traditional cultural sector. Typically, their tenders allocate 80% of their scoring to quality and 20% to cost, but this time Belfast chose to focus entirely on quality. “There isn’t a cost value point on culture, it’s about the quality of the idea,” argued Clark.
There isn’t a cost value point on culture, it’s about the quality of the idea
The selection process was split into two stages. The first involved expressions of interest with basic information about the idea and how it linked to the Belfast 2024 principles. Shortlisted projects received £2,000 (€2,380) to develop their ideas into full plans, after which final projects were selected. “If you fell out of the process, you still got paid for your time,” explains Clark. “We didn’t want to take advantage of the sector, and we wanted all those ideas to be properly developed so they could be realised elsewhere, through a legacy programme or via other partners.”
Securing the budget for such an ambitious year of cultural celebration was another challenge Belfast tackled head-on. Despite cultural funding in Northern Ireland being one of the lowest per capita in Europe, Belfast City Council prioritised culture. “We think it’s something that our city needs for civic pride, vibrancy, and tourism,” explains Clark.
To fund the initiative, the city raised the taxpayers’ rate by a maximum of 0.5% and saved this for Belfast 2024 over seven years. “It’s a good way of investing long-term without putting too much pressure on other services,” adds Clark.
This is not the end, my friend
With just three months remaining in Belfast 2024, the city will soon focus on its legacy. “It’s a complex part of the process to ensure longevity,” admits Clark. After 2024 ends, the cultural team in the council will evaluate the programme and use the insights, inspiration, and lessons from the successes of Belfast 2024 to plan for the next phase of the cultural strategy implementation up to 2030.
Potential legacy plans include embedding principles like co-design and partnerships into future commissioning and development models. “The most valuable lesson from this process is that we should be seen as a partner and producer as well as a funder. This shouldn’t be a transactional process; our cultural funding should be seen as a partnership approach,” explains Clark.
This shouldn't be a transactional process; our cultural funding should be seen as a partnership approach
Clark is optimistic that some partnerships will continue. “The Eden Project, for example, is looking at how we could work together in Belfast going forward, which is a good sign for legacy,” she says.
Meanwhile, Belfast 2024 will inspire other cities during the Eurocities Culture Forum. By sharing its experiences, Belfast will guide discussions on how culture can drive participation, placemaking, and sustainability.
