GIRDWOOD Community Hub have hosted a celebration event to showcase a unique creative tech project that connected over 800 young people from across the city.
Over the past two years, a PEACE IV project called TechConnects has helped connect over 800 young people living in communities within or close to city interface areas.
The project aimed at providing children and young people (aged 6six to 16-years-old) with opportunities to access creative technology while exploring social issues and building good relations.
Part of a wider tech-focused programme TechConnects brought young people from a diverse range of community backgrounds virtually or in-person to make friends, collaborate and learn from each other.
From DJing and digital art through to Minecraft and filmmaking, young people created films, performances, animations, graffiti art and more, all looking at how the increasingly diverse cultural landscape can have a huge impact on the creation of digital artworks around the globe.
John Walls from Giga Training said: “Giga Training were delighted to deliver the TechConnects project on behalf of Belfast City Council. Delivering community projects for young people is at the heart of what we do.
"Getting to work with all the young people across Belfast on creative digital programmes over the last two years and watching how this engagement made a positive impact on their lives has been fantastic.”
Councillor John Kyle, Chair of Belfast City Council’s Shared City Partnership, added: “TechConnects has been such a dynamic and inventive project and we are so proud of its success.
"Prioritising investment into the Children and Young People theme of the Belfast PEACE IV programme is critical to developing our vision for a shared and inclusive city.
"Having taken part in TechConnects, the participants have learnt together and in doing so, have developed new and positive relationships, which we hope they will carry forward even as the project comes to a close.”
