Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter has been delivered a blow after losing out on vital funding.
In the run up to Belfast’s high-profile year of events to commemorate the anniversary of the Titanic, several of its most high profile festivals – including Pride, Festival of Fools and the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival – have been informed they will no longer receive funding from the Department of Social Development. The funding cut will also affect the Black Box venue and Culture Night among others.
The news was delivered to applicants of the yearly Laganside Events Grant last Thursday, after DSD Minister Nelson McCausland made the decision.
The grant awarded recipients up to £20,000 in funding.
A DSD spokesperson said: “Due to funding pressures within the Department’s budget we have had to close the Laganside Events Grant
from 31 March 2012. We have notified those organisations which usually apply for this grant in order to provide time for them to identify
other potential funders for events planned for later this year.”
(via Slugger O’Toole)
i think this is a disgrace , art and culture is thee most important part of northern ireland as this sector is one of the main things that bring people to ni .. if the governing bodies would open their eyes and see that belfast/ni has the potential to be ‘the next big thing’ they would get the funding back 10fold. think about it !!
yeah put the money into celebrating the ship that sank , just brilliant!
How incredibly short-sighted. Cultural and Arts events like these bring life and vitality to the city. They show another side to Belfast and help create the tourist-friendly atmosphere that the city needs to grow and thrive.
You know its funny….there was a programme on clearly stating that H&W used a lower grade steel to make the rivets that held the steel on the bow of the titanic. This led to a catastrophic failure of them when it hit the iceberg.
Now the go on and on about how great theY were at building it and celebrate but the irony is that it was them that caused it…..mC fucking CAUSE LAND WOULD KNOW ARTS IT HIT HIS SINGLE WARPED MINDED STRAIGHT INTO HIS FACE
Welcome to capitalist fascism
Enjoy people 
it is a shame that recurring, free festivals organised by local organisations for the Northern Irish public suffer so a one-off national, ticketed event organised by outsiders can go ahead. yet another way in which the northernirish government showcases it’s shortsightedness and it’s underappreciation of the local arts organisations