Belfast Festival

Belfast Festival

Late October through early November

A two-week-long arts event held annually since 1962, the Belfast Festival is organized primarily by Queen's University in Belfast. The festival offers a broad selection of artistic genres, including classical music, jazz, comedy, literature, and popular music. The festival program features local and international artists. Luminaries who have appeared throughout the festival's long history include comedian Rowan Atkinson, musicians Jimi Hendrix and Dizzy Gillespie, and actors Laurence Olivier and Billy Connolly.
Founded by Michael Emmerson, a Queen's University student, the festival started as a humble affair but continued to expand over the decades, eventually becoming Northern Ireland's premier arts festival.
By 2006, the program featured 36 venues and audience totals of more than 100,000 people. Around that time, government funding for the festival began to decline. The Save the Belfast Festival Campaign, launched by the Belfast Telegraph, successfully recruited a new major funding source and ensured the festival would remain in operation for at least the next few years.

CONTACTS:
Queen's University Belfast
University Rd.
Belfast, Northern Ireland BT7 1NN UK
www.belfastfestival.com