Yahoo News Belfast Council looks at options for return of "low-key" alternative to Culture Night this year
Belfast Council is continuing to look at options for an alternative to Culture Night in the city this year.
At a City Hall committee meeting, council officers narrowed possibilities to three options for a "low-key" temporary replacement to the September showcase night.
Council officers said a possible £75K budget had been discussed in terms of funding the event, with potential allocation in June. Culture Night Belfast at its last event in 2019 received £328K from a range of funding sources including the council.
Earlier this month the Deputy Lord Mayor of Belfast said it was “embarrassing” that the city would again not have Culture Night this year, despite the council pushing its big Belfast 2024 cultural programme.
Green Councillor Áine Groogan proposed a scaled down "low key" alternative to the erstwhile September festival, and despite being received coolly by Sinn Féin, the council committee agreed to ask officers to look at options.
A year ago the Cathedral Quarter Trust announced it would cease day-to-day operations after Stormont funding was ended. CQT was previously involved in delivering Belfast's annual Culture Night. Financial pressures facing Stormont's Department for Communities were reportedly behind the decision.
At the latest Strategic Policy and Resources Committee, elected representatives were presented with three scenarios. The first was an extended Late Night Art evening on September 20.
The council report states: “As a pre-existing event in the city, with a defined list of galleries and participants, officers could consult with the organisers of Late Night Art to assess the appetite and feasibility of producing a special night.”
A second model officers suggested involved the potential procurement of an external organisation, to manage an open call for a series of free events in venues across the city. This is the model used by the Dublin Culture Night.
In the council report officers state this contractor would act as a “receiving house, collating various events from willing participants under one banner and presenting them to the public as a cohesive programme.”
The report adds however that “given the required approvals and time needed for a robust public procurement process, there are significant internal time and resource challenges to this approach.”
A third model would be to invite organisations to apply for small grants to develop and deliver events in venues throughout the city. The report states: “There is significant time and human resources required with this approach, particularly given the current workloads relating to delivery of Belfast 2024” and other programmes.
It adds: “This approach would result in the council effectively acting as curators for the night through selecting which projects receive financial support through funding.” Officers say there are 141 cultural venues across the city who could be eligible for support.
Councillors agreed to a further report for next month giving further detail where the funding would come from in council budgets, and costings and further developments of the three options provided.
The Deputy Mayor Councillor Groogan said she would support the Late Night Art option, and the SDLP proposed asking the Stormont Department of Communities if there was any funding could be spared for this.
The DUP said they would "probably" support option three but insisted with Sinn Féin on costings for all three options, and an officers report on their capacity to delive all options.
A year ago the Cathedral Quarter Trust announced it would cease day-to-day operations after Stormont funding was ended. CQT was previously involved in delivering Belfast's annual Culture Night. Financial pressures facing Stormont's Department for Communities were reportedly behind the decision.
Culture Night Belfast started up in 2009, inspired by the yearly Dublin festival, with the first event happening in Belfast in 2010. In 2012/13, the Cathedral Quarter Trust became the custodians of the event, delivering Culture Night in the city until the final event in 2019.
As the largest free shared cultural event in the city-centre, audiences grew to an attendance of over 100,000 for the 2019 event held across two days in September 2019.
The budget for Culture Night ranged from £240K in 2016 to over £328K in 2019. The event received support from the Arts Council NI, The Executive Office, Department for Communities, Tourism NI, Belfast City Council, alongside support from trusts and foundations and the private sector.
However, a review set up by the council in 2020 showed problems developing with the festival. The report, finished in 2022, said: “The audience for the event has grown exponentially whilst the volume and quality in the programme have not. The idea that artists could, would or should give their time for free no longer sits comfortably.
It added: “The audience’s relationship with the event has changed so that family audiences feel pushed out and unsafe. Critically there is confusion over what the purpose of the event is, in what it delivers for the creative sector, and where lies the responsibility for effectively achieving that purpose.”
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