ABOUT CULTURE NIGHT BELFAST... Culture Night Belfast spectacularly animated the Cathedral Quarter and highlighted the area as a thriving cultural hub. On Friday the 25th of September over eighty galleries, artist’s studios, venues, cultural organisations, historic buildings, churches and creative businesses opened their doors and invited the public to experience what they have to offer throughout the year. Culture Night Belfast participants produced events which gave audiences a behind-the-scene view of cultural production, encouraged interaction with artists and cultural practitioners and offered a chance to ‘have a go’ at various art forms and activities. Around 15,000 families, individuals, tourists and locals alike swarmed the streets which were alive with music, outdoor film screenings, walk about performers, choirs, exhibitions, circus performances, giant puppets and more ... THANKS... A very warm gigantic all-encompassing 'thank you' to everyone whocontributed so generously to the success of Culture Night Belfast 2009!And a very special 'thanks' to Culture Night Manager Kresanna Aigner forpulling the whole thing together in a tight timeframe with such energyand enthusiasm. Culture Night 2009 went a long way towards proving justhow culturally rich, diverse and downright exciting our city can be. Looking forward to next year! The planned date is Friday 24th September. Culture Night Belfast Committee Sean Kelly - Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival Kieran Gilmore - Open House Festival Conor Shields - New Belfast Community Arts Initiative, Cathedral Quarter Steering Group Patricia Freedman - Cathedral Quarter Steering Group WHAT THEY SAID...   I just got in and want to say a HUGE Thank you!!!! to you and everyone at Culture Night for the most FANTASTIC day and evening here! I am proud, delighted, touched, moved and inspired by what happened tonight. The best of everything on display - the crack was just the best and the atmosphere was phenomenal. Loved every moment and there were some AMAZING moments. The sheer randomness at times was hilarious. Well done on a great event .... let's have more!!!! thank you so much Nuala McKeever   Thank you thank you thank you! All the thanks to yourselves and the artists, technicians, organisers, directors, volunteers who created the whole shebang. It was a fantastic night, where I'd have loved to stay on after hours, but it was really a family night for us, and the kids are still talking about the fun and mad stuff. Even our reluctant teenager loved the night, and actually thanked us for "making" her go... Win! I moved to Belfast 12 years ago, at a time where going into the city centre at night was still a bit daunting (for me anyway). It just felt so brilliant, about half a generation on, to walk our kids around such an eclectic collection of fun. Even the drunks were lovely. I would have some constructive criticism, but as you say, bigger and even better next year - do you need any precise/focused feedback? Congrats to all, thanks, and more+bigger of same next year. May the funding next year, if not match, at least reflect the direction culture in this city wants to go! Mary Jordan Congratulations !!! What an amazing, fantastic, exhillarating night Friday night was ! A brilliant success by any yardstick and well done to everyone involved. It was obvious a lot of hard work went into the night and the turn out of people and artistes was testament to that. It made me so happy. The night was proof of how far we have come since I first showed Dick McKenzie (deputy Permanent Secretary at The DOE) around the district when it was a derelict, depressed, forgotten part of Belfast city centre (and it was dark and raining) - and he thought I was mad when I told him I thought the district lent itself to becoming a cultural quarter. This is not just for Cathedral Quarter but it says something brand new about our city. The notion of large numbers of people turning up on an appointed night to celebrate and partake in arts and culture - in a city that too-often previously shunned the notion of arts and culture - would have been unthinkable for the previous 150 years. Again, well done everybody. Take a bow. Best Wishes and here's to the next one. Martin Lynch A night when many citizens of Belfast experienced for the first time the history, music and tranquillity of Belfast Cathedral. The quietness of this holy place in the midst of the CN noise and excitement led many to stay longer and feel the uniqueness of the Cathedral. Belfast Cathedral It was a huge success, it was great to see the Cathedral Quarter buzzing with activity, it gave us the opportunity to reach a wider audience than from our normal late night openings due to the sheer volume of visitors constantly coming and going. Belfast Print Workshop It was a great honour for us to be part of Belfast’s first Culture Night. Audiences and participants at our events absolutely loved it. It was great to be part of a whole which was connected throughout Cathedral Quarter. Community Arts Forum The buzz created by this evening was fantastic and I am sure it did much to convince the public that Belfast and Cathedral Quarter are thriving cultural hubs. An outstanding success Belfast Circus School I was amazed and delighted to see hundreds of people sitting on beanbags along an alleyway in Belfast watching movies! The popularity of the event far exceeded our expectations – lets have another culture night in the summer??!! Belfast Film Festival I would just like to say well done to all the organisers. It was a fantastic event and really gave a sense of what Belfast could be. It was extremely positive and really highlighted the great work going on in communities and cultural organisations across Belfast. It was also fantastic that community arts showcased along side professional performers and companies, etc. There was no sense of hierarchy. Everyone was weighted the same which meant a great deal to our young performers. Culture Night Belfast really brought the city to life and I really hope it becomes a permanent fixture!! We look forward to participating again. New Lodge Arts There can often be a gap between 'cultural' output and people'sperception of culture and this evening certainly reduced that gap. Itdemystified, illuminated and thrilled, and demonstrated that it's just asmuch about the stories behind the stones in the buildings and the publicspaces between them as it is about art and performance. Joseph Nawaz -PR Culture Night Belfast Much of my Culture Night was spent in the Deer’s Head on North Street,where CQAF were hosting Wine, Women & Song featuring local femalesinger/songwriters Jackie Rainey, Emer O’Neill, Mel Wiggins and CamelHartley. The breadth of talent on display was amazing and The Deer’s Headwas a revelation, with its candlelit tables, great acoustics andatmosphere. An impromptu gig organised by DADA followed and raised the tempo in thepacked bar, with primal rock 'n' roll from Mark Braidner and Bill Johnstonand TV/DVD Combo, who raised the roof with some turntables and a set ofdrums. Outside a party atmosphere was taking over Garfield Street withbarbershop quartets, graffiti art, choral singing and free ice cream. Taking time out for a stroll around the Cathedral Quarter was almostoverwhelming, with people thronging into Writer’s Square, dancing toBreag’s Irish reggae, then on to behold crowds on every street witheveryone so full of a shared civic pride. The combination of well co-ordinated, free, family friendly activities andthe unexpected Indian summer made for a euphoric night in Belfast, whichwill live long in the memory of all who participated and surely begs for arepeat. Sean Kelly, director of the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival Tucked away among the buzz and bustle of Culture Night in Belfast, a10-minute short film entitled Living in the Half Light was premiered to apacked room on the top floor of Waring Street's Premier Inn. The film features four unlikely young people living in Belfast, whoseorigins brought them to the city from China, Egypt, India and Zambia.Living in the Half Light, a film I produced and directed, depicts thecomplex identity issues facing these four individuals as children andyoung people, and highlights the confusions and concerns added to theirexpected growing pains as they try to fit in and be accepted as ‘normal’. I came to the United Kingdom as a child and experienced the traumas andisolations of being ‘different’, the complexities of having a dualidentity while trying to fit into two very different cultures. The filmbrings together my varied creative interests, with a strong musicalelement woven into the narratives and stylized animated links. The positive response from the audience during Culture Night includedcomments like 'all schools should show this to their kids and start adialogue'. I'm very happy with the film's debut. Perhaps next year I'lldebut another. Culture Night had something for everyone. Zhenia Mahdi-Nau, filmmaker I had heard about Chilli Fest before, but never experienced it myself,partly because on previous years you had to pay at the door. On Friday,however, Chilli Fest was free until 7.30pm - even the organisers of theOpen House Festival were jumping aboard the Culture Night bandwagon. Outside the two marquees erected in Custom House Square, punters sippedcold beer and dipped little nacho shards into complimentary bowls ofchilli salsa. We bought four of the 'hottest chillis in the world'(according to the slightly tipsy stall holder) and looked forward tohaving people round for dinner - 'So you think you can handle this?!' God only knows how to describe the band we saw in one of the marquees, asthe sun began to set. They sounded Norwegian, guttural and harsh, butplayed like Texans - a strange, uncomfortable mix. We decided to watch the sorry contestants in the chilli eating contest inthe neighbouring marquee. I saw one young man wipe sweat from his brow.Half an hour later, outside with our second beer, I saw him again, headingfrom the toilets to the doors and home for the night - at 6pm. That's whatthe hottest chillis in the world will do to you. We ended our very first Culture Night like so many others - hoping thatnext year's events will be as good as this years. Lee Henry, CultureNorthernIreland WEB DESIGN / PAURIC MCANESPY		WATCH THE VIDEO... Culture Northern Ireland produced a film of the event. Thanks guys!! Click here to listen to the Homely Planet radio show, which was broadcast live on the night.   VIEW THE PHOTOS... (Photo Credit: Helen Sloan). More photos: CAF, Guerilla Lighting, Late Night Art, Belfast Carnival, Code Red, Facebook   VIEW THE 2009 SITE... Click here to view the 2009 website.   SOCIAL NETWORKING... Click here to become our friend on Facebook. Click here to view our Myspace page.   FUNDERS & SPONSORS...   CONTACT US... If you would like more information on Culture Night Belfast please contact: Kresanna Aigner Manager Culture Night Belfast 15 Church Street Belfast BT1 1PG Tel: 028 9024 9195 Email: manager@culturenightbelfast.com Click here to join our mailing list.