AS Connswater shopping centre in East Belfast announced its closure five different arts organisations that had found shelter from the storm of arts funding and had units there are now homeless.
The symbiotic relationship between the organisations had built up an arts audience that had often felt removed from what some might perceive as what the arts is all about.
The volunteer-run Platform Arts, which started its studio/gallery life in Queen Street, no longer has the freedom of a unit. Neither does Arts Care, which had two units, one for administration and one for exhibition/dance space.
Open Arts NI, which works with art and disabilities, has helped thousands of children and young people express themselves in their own words since moving into Connswater in 2023. They have put an action plan in place and implemented solutions to maintain their programme despite the loss of their physical place.
East Belfast has had a Late Night Arts all to itself for a while and while the mood was despondent last week when I toured around the spaces in Connswater, it was also hopeful, with many looking on the bright side.
“Maybe our next move will be a space with an outdoor window,” suggested one employee.
Some of the organisations felt it was only a matter of time before the doors closed after an issue with new leases, but others had been keeping their fingers crossed and holding their breath, hoping for a little longer in the spaces.
Arts organisations are attractive to property owners who find it difficult to rent out units because they are usually run with charity status and therefore act as a kind of creative caretaker, keeping the space alive while exempting the owner from paying rates.
It has worked well for some organisations in the past, but as the city shifts and changes, and with there being fewer vacant spaces, the arts organisations are losing out once more. This is on top of ongoing cuts and the extra costs associated with moving and refitting another space – if they can find one.
Why this is happening in the East and not the West might be an indicator of the availability of vacant retail space.
Meanwhile, as Belfast recovers from St Patrick’s Day, Cinemagic are screening four new films produced as part of outreach, skills development and international programmes at the Ulster Museum. Funded by organisations such as the Department for Education Ireland, the Irish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Ireland in Jordan, the four films have been taken from script to screen by trainee filmmakers under the guidance of creative industry professionals.
They are ‘An Olive Branch’ – the story of a displaced family; ‘Dead Ends’, about a ‘Bindings’, the tale of a boy trying to escape his past; and finally ‘Harmony in Our Hearts’, about two rival choirs.
Maybe something to bring any young wannabe filmmakers in the family to watch.
Cinemagic Saturday is on March 22 from 1pm to 2.30pm at the Ulster Museum.
