03 May 2012

Open Source Belfast Pops Up As Culture Hub For The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival

An abandoned space in Belfast city centre has been transformed into a pop-up hub for the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, providing a space for 77 hours of free cultural events.

Open Source Belfast is a performance space, music venue and workshop hub bringing life back into an empty space in Belfast.

Through the course of the festival, this hive of activity will take prime position on Belfast's Royal Avenue, in the elegant Art Deco Sinclair House.

Open Source, a somewhereto_ project managed by Seedhead Arts in partnership with PLACE, supported by McConnell Properties, will be open from noon to 7 pm for the duration of the Cathedral Arts Quarter Festival as a drop in space and BYO-food café. Customers can access information about the Festival as well as learn new arts and communications skills, and enjoy a variety of exciting and unique entertained.

Adam Turkington, partner at Seedhead Arts, said the idea is based on a project that ran in Birmingham a few years ago called Our Tearooms.

"We’ve adapted it to work with all our partners, but essentially the concept is that we take over a vacant property and use it as a cultural hub for people to showcase, network and exchange ideas.

"It’s been like Challenge Anneka - we have sourced the space, borrowed equipment and furniture etc, and recruited volunteers, and put together a programme in just a few weeks, and now we will be open to the public for seven hours a day for eleven days with a fantastic programme of events,"Adam said. "There’s no budget for paying artists or volunteers – everyone has donated their time. People are getting involved with the Open Source because they understand that we are attempting something that is based on an ideology of collectivism and explores an alternative model that could work for the advantage of the whole arts sector," he said.

Conor McCafferty of PLACE said the Open Source shows how new life can be breathed into old buildings. "Pop ups like this can revitalise an area. The recession has left a lot of empty spaces, but with a bit of imagination and energy, these can be transformed into invigorating venues for the community," he said.

The Open Source will open on Thursday, 3rd May 2102 at 12 noon.

(GK)