We are Aimee Magee of Pollen Studio Belfast and Grace Fairley of the Take Up Space project at Connswater, founders of Arts Fest, a new experimental community arts project based in Belfast.

Arts Fest was born from a desire to raise awareness of the extremely talented and under represented artists emerging in Belfast. We aim to create a safe environment for music and arts where is everyone is welcome to encourage solidarity amongst artists and bring our community closer together.

Our first show was hosted by Arts for ALL at Cityside Retail Park on Friday 6th March 6-9pm.

We had 36 artists showcasing work with musical talent and dj performances on the opening night.
Our exhibition launch invitation read -
"Come check out our group show of fresh and funky artists bursting on to the scene in Belfast. Expect digital babes, large scale newspaper sculptures, impossible textiles, atmospheric photography and pertuative painting. We will dazzle and delight you, ignite your senses, make you boogie the night away and leave you feeling lovely."

The exhibition ran for 2 weeks and was a roaring success with over 300 guests attending the opening on Friday 6th March. We are now due to appear in a documentary based on the creative women currently working in Belfast.

We also reached out to local high schools to invite their GCSE and A-Level students to give them the opportunity to interview the artists involved as part of their qualification and gave them portfolio advice, advised them of international and local university courses, local studio spaces, residency and funding opportunities available.

We are continuing this project as a cross boarder initiative to keep giving artists a platform for free through outreach negotiating with art and non-art organisations. Currently we have an Open Call for an online showcase to provide a free platform for artists at any stage of their career during these trying times of

COVID-19. Submissions can be emailed to artsfest@outlook.com

Please see more details here - https://www.instagram.com/p/CBV9FKkg637/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link 

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We are supported by Pollen Studio Belfast, Take Up Space, Arts for ALL and Belfast Visual Arts Forum.