Leading cultural voices join Belfast 2024 for ‘Our Stories Festival’

Industry names in culture, music and the environment will discuss the vital role of art and creativity in Belfast at the Our Stories Festival, coming up on 21-24 November at venues across the city centre. 

The new festival is part of Belfast City Council’s Belfast 2024 programme, delivered in partnership with Belfast Stories and produced by Nerve Centre and NI Science Festival.

It offers hands-on workshops and exciting exhibitions, hosted by artists, thinkers, designers, musicians, activists and storytellers. Together, they will look back at a year of citywide creative events and activities and discuss its legacy for people, place and planet – the key themes of Belfast 2024 – as well as its role in shaping other emerging projects, including the groundbreaking Belfast Stories visitor attraction.

So far, 35,000 people have taken part in over 500 events, workshops and activities, from major events like Little Amal back in May, to community projects supported by the Bank of Ideas funding scheme. Over 800 contracts have been signed with artists, production staff, facilitators and designers, supporting jobs, engaging local communities and encouraging creativity.

Opening the festival on Thursday 21 November (7pm-9pm) will be acclaimed naturalist and environmental campaigner Chris Packham. He will join local ecologist Conor McKinney and youth activist Anna Kernahan from Fridays for Future Northern Ireland at the Assembly Rooms to talk about youth participation in tackling climate change.

Other events include Story Soup at Brink!, a space for visitors to write their own stories, Power Plants workshops where families can create mini tray gardens with natural and recycled materials, and Eclectic, an exhibition by graduates from Belfast School of Art at 2 Royal Avenue.

The festival’s closing event, on Sunday 24 November (3pm-4pm, University of Ulster) will see world-renowned illustrator Oliver Jeffers returning to his native Belfast to discuss how improving access to creativity can create positive environmental change.

Emmy-nominated musician Hannah Peel will talk about her experience of working on North Star – a original production for Belfast 2024 – and her work as a composer for various TV and film commissions for Netflix and Sky, while Martin Green, Chief Creative Officer of Unboxed, Commonwealth Games and Hull City of Culture will share how Hull used investment into its creative sector to unlock new opportunities for local artists and build enduring partnerships beyond their UK City of Culture experience in 2017.

Co-founder of the Eden Project, Sir Tim Smit, will also join the ‘Stories to Change the Future’ event, highlighting how his organisation has been working with Belfast 2024 to encourage communities to embrace the environment on their doorstep, through innovative projects like 9ft in Common, which has focused on embracing and using the city’s 202km of alleyways as spaces for growing and coming together.

“Throughout 2024, we’ve celebrated our city’s creativity through events, big and small, and used the arts to bring people together, inspire conversations and enable visitors and residents to see Belfast in new ways,” said Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Micky Murray.

“The Our Stories Festival will bring all those elements together, delving deeper into the role of cultural organisations and artists to encourage dialogue, ask questions and provoke discussion around key themes like the environment.

“With a great line-up of speakers, it promises to be a very special weekend of events, an opportunity to look back over this year and its legacy, while also looking forward the future and what’s next for our city.”

“Culture is an ecological transformative force, vital to how we relate to our planet. Belfast’s cultural and creative interventions and programmes make a powerful statement of the city’s confidence in the future,” said Sir Tim Smit.

“We, the Eden project team, have so enjoyed working with Belfast 2024 on their nature inspired projects, such as the wonderful alleyways project by 9ft in Common and ROOTS, the community garden at Black Mountain Shared Space, projects inspiring passion and curiosity for biodiversity and care for our planet through creativity and community connection – creating a long -lasting legacy for this city, putting people and planet at its heart.”

Full listings and ticket details for the Our Stories Festival are available at belfast2024.co.uk