Belfast Mela (Mela; Indian - to meet/ gathering) is the annual festival of international culture…read morewhich celebrates traditional arts, dance, music and fun from over thirty countries. Each year the Mela is given different themes which has previously been; Bollywood, Health & Well-Being, Caring for our Environment and Asian Fashion. This year we are being treated to a traditional Indian circus! The event aims to promote the understanding of different cultures and runs workshop and information days relating to this. This year it's being held on Sunday 29th August, 12-6pm on the Great Lawn at Botanic Gardens, Belfast. The festival is organised by ArtEkta (Northern Ireland's leading ethnic arts organisation) and is run entirely by local volunteers. It's hugely popular, having attracted over 50,000 visitors in the past three years. It's a great cause so any support is much welcome. If you wish to find out more information about the festival, email info@belfastmela.org.uk or call 028 9023 1381

Belfast Fringe Festival is being arranged this year for the first time ever! After a round up of…read morepublic support and petitions the Belfast Festival is now including its very own Fringe element. This is in support of local artists/performers/ singers, comedians/ poets, circus performers, anything and everything at all! The aim is to provide a non-censored, accessible, and available to all festival for the people of Belfast and beyond. Hopefully this year we will gather support for the Fringe cause and then be able to set up a permanent society which represents all of the arts. Come show your support for this fantastic cause from 14th-17th October 2010. In their own poetic words; Sample from a buffet of sumptuous offerings, delivered by a collection of Northern Irish artistes given full rein to dish up a portion of their finest creations. You will be dazzled by the unfettered creativity which is unleashed.'

Without a doubt Culture Night Belfast is the best night of the year. Despite recent arts cuts…read moreCulture Night was back in September 2015 even bigger and better than before. It's an annual occurrence consisting of a full day of activities. Over 250 free arts events starting at 1pm and running until late. Belfast comes to life on this one day like no other. There's a leisurely, relaxed, bustling vibe throughout the city with most activities happening in the Cathedral Quarter area. Visual art, music, dancing, sword fencing, magicians, street artists, performance art, circus acts, art exhibitions, fire dancers, roller derbies, jugglers, food and drink. There's a bedazzling array of entertainment and it's for all age groups from babies to centenarians. The streets are closed off to traffic and you can grab a drink, a Culture Night brochure and just wander about exploring what's on. It's a magical night. Forget Christmas, Halloween or any other festivity or festival. Nothing compares to Belfast Culture Night - it's the best - I hope it never stops. Here are some of my favourites from CNB15: INKIE art exhibition ~ Ink Monkey art shop Claire Carpenter art exhibition ~ Cafe 31 Faigy art exhibition ~ Assembly Rooms Yarn bombing by Saturday Knit Fever Fire dancing by FirePoise Lumen by Guerilla Shout & DSNT Hit The North Street Art Festival Urban dance by Cypher Sessions Belfast Roller Derby Irish dance ~ Tir na n-Og Dance Group DeLorean Print Cars ~ Belfast Photo Festival

Culture Night Belfast took place for the first time last year, and it got even bigger this year. It…read morebasically involves every arts organisation flinging its doors open to the public for free and as a result, there's a real buzz about the place. It initially started as a Cathedral Quarter event, but was extended a little to include some of South Belfast this year. My understanding is that they want to eventually have Culture Night take place all over the city, which would be some achievement! The events are massively varied - Belfast Film Festival might put on what they call "Bean Bag Cinema", which is where a film is screened in one of the Cathedral Quarter's alleyways, with the audience sitting on Bean Bags. The galleries in the area might put on special shows, artists take to the streets to create something on the night and almost every cafe or restaurant has some sort of live music going on. It's such a great way to remove some of the barriers that stop people getting involved in the arts. Since it's all so relaxed, it's really easy to just go down, have a wander round and see what grabs your attention!

We went to Belsonic to see Lizzo and the site that it's on is amazing, plenty of places to buy food…read moreand drink. The stage was massive and could be seen from the whole standing area. Sound was perfect. I would definitely come again to watch an artist.

I only give 1 star purely for alcohol beverages. This place is sponsored by Limelite and does not…read moresell any Gin/Tonic or Soda Water ect. The only alcohol they sell is Tennents £7. Red & White Wine, a glass £8. Vodka and Coke ect & Magners. No price because I didn't purchase. Very disappointed.

There's always an air of excitement when Belfast Film Festival begins and this year has been no…read moredifferent. With the Northern Irish film Industry booming it seems like this year's festival will be a celebration of the talent that we have on these shores. The Belfast Film Festival organisers are excellent at promoting local venues and businesses. For instance last night I attended a special screening of Network aptly shown in a BBC studio at Balckstaff House. The venue was a perfect compliment to the movie and this is the beauty of The Belfast Film Festival - it provides a cinematic experience. The local promotion didn't stop there as Fratelli's hosted the pre movie drinks. It's fantastic to see a festival and local businesses work together to promote all Belfast has to offer. Venues include QFT, The Black Box and Moviehouse on the Dublin Road. This is the 15th year of The Belfast Film Festival and it's running from 16th April - 25th April - so if you want to see some local talent in the big screen or just want to see some local venues in a different light then look no further.

Belfast Film Festival takes place every year in April for two weeks…read more The programme is usually very varied, so it's hard to describe it exactly. Basically though, you can expect every kind of film; comedy, sci-fi, art house, horror, classic and there's usually a strong local or Irish feel about it too. The movies are screened in venues all over the city, some conventional cinemas and some more unconventional venues (like on a boat going on the Lagan for instance!) For proper film buffs, there are talks and workshops as well. There's generally something for everyone and it's a great chance to see some interesting films in unusual settings. There are also special events that take place during the rest of the year, so it's always worth keeping an eye on the website to see if there's anything on.

Not just for culture vultures, The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival (aka CQAF) is for everyone. It's…read morean annual celebration of visual art, comedy, theatre, music and literature. A lively and exciting festival with 150 events happening in 30 venues across Belfast but mainly concentrated in the Cathedral Quarter and Custom House Square. I absolutely love it and you'll find both popular and more obscure events happening. One of my favourites from a couple of years ago in 2014 was South Saharan band Tinariwen. A fabulous music concert and a band who I would never even have heard of if it weren't for CQAF. This year the 2016 program looks amazing and I'm already circling dates in my diary for the following events: ~ Vegstock, a vegetarian festival 02/05/2016 ~ Guy Garvey in concert 01/05/2016 ~ Ursula Burns, comedy harpist 04/05/2016 ~ Seeing Through Your Eyes: The Photographs of Peter Dressler 1972-2003, 01/04 - 14/05/2016 ~ Late Night Art Walking Tour 05/05/2016 ~ Monochrome in Cathedral Studios, 6 Artists respond to the theme 'monochrome' 05/05/2016 ~ Wet Plate portraits by Matthew Gordon and Jim Maginn 28/04 - 28/05/2016 ~ Rumpelstiltskin Revisited, knitted paintings by Jacqueline Wylie 29/04 - 10/06/2016 ~ The Death of Orpheus and Other Myths, screen prints by Leo Boyd 28/04 - 28/05/2016 There are a lot more events happening between 28 April and 8 May 2016, so go check the programme out online at http://cqaf.com/2016/

The Cathedral Quarter is a bit of a cultural monster in Belfast at the minute, and the Cathedral…read moreQuarter Arts Festival showcases the variety of arts on offer in Belfast to perfection. It's slightly less mainstream than the Belfast Festival at Queen's, so you might not recognise that many names when you go through the programme (I know I don't, anyway!), but don't let that put you off. Most of the events are very reasonably priced, so take a chance and go see a blues artist, or a stand-up you've never heard of, or a debate on modern architecture in Belfast - you might just be surprised! Belfast is fast becoming a city of festivals - we have one for everything! But the Cathedral Quarter has managed to separate itself from the crowd by providing a programme that is at once populist and alternative, providing support and inspiration for the arts in Belfast, and that can't be a bad thing, right?

This festival is a real gem, and is a welcome addition to the cultural activities of Belfast!It is…read morelocated this year in Botanic Gardens which makes it a central and easily accessible place for all those of Belfast and beyond! To start off, the food is provided by the finest chefs from the restaurants of Northern Ireland. I was there yesterday and I was lucky to sample food from the chefs of La Boca, Mourne Seafood Bar and the Fitzwilliam Hotel. There is a wide range of food to cater to all tastes, including vegetarians. As for the music, it is mainly of the cover band variety, but when the bands are tight and very engaging like Flash Harry and Rumours Of Fleetwood Mac, the lack of originality can be overlooked! There a wide range of pricing plans, ranging from £5 for five sampling tokens and admission in the lunch time hours to the "Premiere Club Taste Fest" package for £50 which gets you entry to every day, 25 food tokens and a free drink of your choice.It is up to you what you need most! I wish this Festival the best of luck and hope it grows stronger in the years to come!

Ok, so positives first:…read more The food! Yummy! There's so much variety and you get to sample food from the best of NI's chefs and restaurants - Belfast's Merchant, Portadown's Yellow Door - they're all there and the food is (generally) divine. The entertainment is also pretty good. Last year when I went it was the Strictly Come Dancing band and two of the dancers (this was great for me - I'm a massive Strictly fan!) and this year, I saw Flash Harry, who are a really very good Queen tribute band. And now the negatives - it's so expensive! You can burn £30 or £40 without thinking, which stings a bit! Actually, that's about the only negative I can think of. I was going to mention the weather, since it was a total wash out, but it seems unfair to use that against them. It's an incredibly well organised event that's well worth going to, even if it will set you back.

Belfast Festival at Queen's was established in 1962 and ran successfully for over half a century,…read moreuntil 2015, when Queen's University Belfast (QUB) announced they could/would no longer fund it. Thus QUB effectively pulled the plug, handed festival staff redundancies and turfed them out into the cold. Undeterred, this dedicated festival team carried on, securing funding from Ulster Bank, Arts Council of Northern Ireland and many others sponsors. They found new offices, a fresh international focus and morphed the Belfast Festival at Queen's into the phenomenon that is now known as Belfast International Arts Festival. Hence a truly great thing was born. Belfast International Arts Festival aims to give all people affordable access to dance, music, film, art, theatre and literature of a contemporary nature and international stature. It's a fantastic three-week-long programme occurring annually in October which offers something for everyone. I never really got into this festival until last year (2015) when I attended the breathtaking AniMotion Show, an outdoor event of music, sound and visual art which totally blew my mind. Being a fan of visual art I also adored Belfast Open Studios where 20 artists studios allowed full access to the general public. Additionally the Annual RUA Art Exhibition is a show I visited numerous times and an absolute treat for the eyeballs. This year I secured my festival brochure as soon as it was available and have circled a long list of events to attend. I love that there are plentiful free and economically priced events. Plus there are many Irish/UK premieres and internationally renowned Artists to enjoy. Belfast International Arts Festival is cutting-edge, brilliant and the granddaddy of them all in Northern Ireland. If you attend only one festival this year, make it this one - it's far too good to miss!

Given that I just picked up the programme for this about an hour ago, it seemed only fitting that I…read moreshould share my thoughts with the Yelping world. The Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen's (to give it it's full, but never used title) is on every year for two weeks in October, and 90% of the time it's made of win. It's the big daddy of the countless festivals in this city, and it's easy to see why. It gives equal billing to music as it does to film, drama, dance and visual arts, and every year they attract a few heavy hitters to pull in the crowds. This year, for example, I'm particularly excited about an evening with Michael Palin and the Dublin Gospel Choir. Possibly the only downside to the Fesitval is that to go to everything that I wanted to would probably involve me selling a kidney! Most of the events are around the £10/£15 mark, but some run as high as £20 or £25. I'm not complaining, I mean, that's just what it costs to have the Festival work, it's just frustrating when you can't afford to see everything!

This is quite an interesting venue. It has so many applications... rehearsal space, offices, cafe,…read moremusic venue, gallery and music museum. It is great that it exists and that Belfast has stuck its neck out and is trying to make the music center work. Its not really a place that you can just go into and hang out, unlike the Black Box where you can just go into anytime and it not be unusual.... It is now looking the part after having a couple of years of being renovated in stages. I think it serves its purpose pretty well as it is just a new venture and is making baby steps to have more of a presence in the local scene.

The Oh Yeah Centre is the brain child/labour of love of Stuart Bailie, former editor of the NME…read more Based in the former home of Oh Yeah Records, a punk label from the 1980s, the centre provides a home for local music. Their main aim is to help support and promote the local music industry and they do that pretty well. The range of activities and events it stages is vast. There are gigs, obviously, some of which are aimed at under 18s (something Belfast sorely needed), rehearsal rooms for hire for bands who need space and equipment, a cafe and space for kids to come in, listen to music and hang out, and their crown jewel - the music exhibition. The exhibition basically charts Northern Ireland music from its traditional roots, to modern heroes like Snow Patrol (say what you like about them, at least they're flying the flag!). Recently, the whole thing was expanded and now features video confessionals from civilians like you and me, recounting their favourite gigs, lyrics, Northern Irish bands and so on. The building is also home to small businesses as well, such as Start Together Studios and Small Town America Records - both of which are success stories in their own right and would find it difficult to get city centre premises otherwise. The exhibition is free and open to the public every day except Sunday, so if you have even a passing interest in anything musical, I'd give it a whirl.