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."Imagine Belfast 2008 Official Website (Archived on 22 November 2002) Belfast is split between two rarely-overlapping vibrant cultural communities, a high-culture of opera, professional theatre, filmmaking and the visual arts and a more popular or commercial culture. Throughout the short years of troubles, Belfast tried to express itself through art and music. In the third decade of the twenty-first century, the city has a growing international cultural reputationRediscover NI – Arts and Culture
History In 1798, the first Twelfth parade, alongside other Orange walks were held in Belfast, 3 years after the foundation of the Loyal Orange Institution.
For over two hundred years, Belfast has been a cultural and academic centre giving it the nickname the Athens of Ireland.E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898 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".The Scenery and Antiquities of Ireland with Historical and Descriptive Text by J. Stirling Coyne, N. P. Willis, etc. Volume I Chapter 1. circa 1841
The Ulster-Scots Community Network was established in 1995 to provide a formal, local voice for the Ulster-Scots community whose heritage had previously lacked an official representative body. It operates as a registered charity with its headquarters being at in Belfast's historic Corn Exchange building on Victoria Street, the organization grew to become an umbrella body for over 400 local groups, ranging from marching bands to historical societies. The USCN operates the Discover Ulster-Scots Visitor Centre, also in the Corn Exchange. They host traditional music sessions, Highland dance demonstrations, and Ulster-Scots language workshops.
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."Web Review: The official websites on UK bids for European capital of culture 2008 The Guardian 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.Six cities shortlisted for culture capital bid The Guardian David Ward and Helen Carter Thursday 31 October 2002
Imagine Belfast spent £1.2 million of public money and £100,000 of private funding in developing their bid.Imagine Belfast Audit Report 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.Belfast City Council Cultural Strategy
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).
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 visited Belfast in 2004–05 (up 10% from the previous year) and spent £262.5 million.
Festivals
Orangefest is the Orange Order's official branding for the Twelfth of July celebrations in Belfast city center. It was launched in 2007 and was designed to make the celebrations more inclusive, family-friendly, and tourist-accessible cultural festival. On the 12th of July, the grounds of Belfast City Hall and Royal Avenue are turned into a festival zone with live music, street theater, and street performers. The International Food Market, which is organized by Food NI, this features local produce, cooking, like traditional soda bread making, and international cuisines on the East Lawn of City Hall. The day itself is a Northern Irish bank holiday. If it falls on a Sunday, the celebrations and bank holiday will take place on the Monday.
Orange Heritage Week, organised by the Orange Order, is a celebratory week of heritage, culture and traditions in Northern Ireland. It takes place annually from 21 to 28 September.
The Orange Institution in Belfast also organise parades for commemorating Ulster Day, the Battle of the Somme and Reformation Day. The County Grand Orange Lodge of Belfast is the regional governing body of Belfast Orangeism.
The Eleventh Night is an annual cultural celebration observed on the 11th of July, serving as the traditional precursor to the celebrations of the Twelfth of July. Marking the victory of King William III over King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, the event features the ignition of beacons and massive, towering bonfires, mainly built from constructed wooden pallets in loyalist and unionist neighborhoods across Belfast. The Bonfire symbolises the beacons that were lit to guide King William's ships through Belfast Lough.
Belfast is a fixed host for one of six of the country's Royal Black Institution's major annual cultural days, known as "Last Saturday", or "Black Saturday". Held on the final Saturday of August, this event marks the end of the traditional marching season.
Belfast hosts Ulster-Scots Leid Week in late November. It is run by the Ulster-Scots Agency and promotes the language and heritage of the Ulster-Scots. Representing this, events include poetry recitals, music performances, and historical lectures across the city's libraries, schools and community halls.
The Belfast International Tattoo is a large-scale indoor event in Belfast that showcases a variety of musical and marching displays. The Belfast Tattoo, which has been running since 2013, is a modern interpretation of the traditional military tattoo, similar to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. The event brings together pipe bands, marching bands, Highland dancers, and military performers from both Northern Ireland and around the world. The event runs annual and is a celebration of music, pageantry, and military tradition.
Féile an Phobail claims to be Belfast's largest festival and further claims to be one of the biggest community festivals in Europe.BBC – Féile: 20 Years On It hosts an annual Summer-time festival of Irish and International culture that takes place in and around the Falls Road in Belfast as well as smaller festivals throughout the year, such as Féile an Earraigh, the Spring festival. It has hosted the likes of Altan, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Westlife and Girls Aloud and also hosts political discussions and debates with international guests.
Queens University hosted and funded the annual international Belfast Festival until 2015. 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.Belfast Festival – About 2007 will see the 45th anniversary of the festival.
Tennents Vital is popular festival held in Boucher Playing Fields in August each year. Belsonic is another annual August music festival held in the redeveloped Titanic Quarter.
Performance arts and film Belfast has one major theatre, The Lyric. It is the only full-time producing theatre in the jurisdiction. 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.
Belfast has several venues for performing arts. The Grand Opera House, 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.Historic Buildings of Belfast It holds 13 paintings of Belfast History. The Mulholland organ costing 3000 guineas was donated and named after a local wealthy industrialist.Ulster Hall The Waterfront Hall was opened in 1997 as part of the redevelopment of the Laganside and already has become an icon of modern Belfast.
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.BBC News Northern Ireland – Tax break fuels NI film business
The Crown Liquor Saloon is an iconic bar on Great Victoria Street. The public bar is featured in a number of movies and TV shows, including David Caffrey's 1998 Divorcing Jack and the 1947 film Odd Man Out by Carol Reed.
Parts of the film "Closing the Ring" were shot in Belfast, namely on Cavehill.
Visual arts 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 including Catalyst Arts and the photography gallery Belfast Exposed and is home to the photography magazine Source. The University of Ulster's Art and Design Campus in Belfast's Cathedral Quarter has undergone a £30 million development programme.
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.BBC News