Residents Urged To Offer Ideas For City Creative Project

Belfast residents are being invited to put forward their own ideas for creative projects in their communities, as part of Belfast City Council's Belfast 2024 programme.

The 'Bank of Ideas' is offering up to £2,000 to individuals, schools and community groups keen to do something special in their neighbourhoods during the city's biggest ever creative and cultural celebration.

All ideas are welcome – from recycling and baking to skateboarding and gardening!

To submit an idea, visit belfast2024.co.uk and fill in the short online form by the deadline of 5pm on Friday 17 May. You can also download an application form and submit it by post or email also.

'Idea generating' workshops will also take place over the next few weeks to support individuals and groups to develop ideas and submit their applications. Sessions take place on:

• Tuesday 30 April, 6pm-8pm – Black Box, Hill Street

• Wednesday 1 May, 6pm-8pm – Boundary Brewing Tap Room at PortView Trade Centre

• Thursday 2 May, 3pm-5pm – 2 Royal Avenue

• Friday 3 May, 3pm-5pm – Sandy Row Community Centre

Monday 13 May, 12.30pm-1.30pm – online

Monday 13 May, 7pm-8pm - online

Book your place at belfast2024.co.uk

All participants who submit a suggestion to the 'Bank of Ideas' will be invited to chat about their ideas at a special voting day in City Hall on Sunday 2 June.

Members of the public will vote for their favourite ideas and a minimum of 25 projects will receive support of up to £2,000 each to make their ideas a reality between June and October.

"The 'Bank of Ideas' is at the heart of our Belfast 2024 programme – inviting everyone to get involved in bringing creativity into their own community during this very special year for our city,” explained Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Ryan Murphy. "Whatever your idea for getting your neighbours together, we want to hear it – it could be a movie night for teenagers, a storytelling session about the history of your street over the years, a community swap shop if you're having a summer clearout or even an old-fashioned sports day for local kids!

"Everyone will get the chance to come into City Hall on Sunday 2 June and vote for the projects they want to see delivered, giving communities a direct say in how the £50,000 of funding available through the 'Bank of Ideas' should be spent. Getting involved is really easy and I'd urge as many people as possible to put forward an idea – let's see what creative ideas you can come up with for your community and help make them happen this year.”

The 'Bank of Ideas' is among a wide range of events and initiatives now underway through the Belfast 2024 programme.

'Here's One I Made Earlier' is now open at CastleCourt, where arts organisation PS2 are inviting shoppers to swap their bags for boats in their new first floor unit. Everyone can call in on Tuesdays, 11am-1pm, to try their hand at making a paper boat, colouring in a sail or sharing a message in a bottle, with the results used to create a huge flotilla of 10,000 boats on the River Lagan in early August.

Submissions for The Hearth – a film-making project co-created with the people of Belfast – are also open until Friday 31 May.

Wild Belfast have a number of events coming up where you can explore the city's biodiversity and wildlife, including two bioblitz sessions, this Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 April at Lagan Meadows and Black Mountain, as well as an 'Alley Safari' with 9ft in Common this Saturday 27 April, leaving from the front gates of Ormeau Park at 11am.

From 16-19 May, Little Amal will also arrive in Belfast for four days of free family events with The Walk Productions and ArtsEkta, with tickets available now from artsekta.org.uk

By the end of 2024, Belfast City Council estimates that almost 200 events and activities will have been delivered through the Belfast 2024 programme, in addition to what is already planned by festival organisers and arts organisations across the city, with over 400,000 people visiting Belfast to explore and enjoy the arts and culture here.