ONE of Ireland's great creative hubs is getting some much-deserved time in the limelight and Belfast City Council wants your help, but more of that later.

To begin, we can't ignore the stunning achievement that's come from the Limerick creative collective and festival, Féile na Gréine. A volunteer organisation founded in 2018, FnG has long put a spotlight on the musicians in Limerick, which has been a hotbed of left-field art and boundary-pushing creatives. Putting players, photographers, designers and producers in the same cramped space and watching the fireworks has been their forte, and to this day their yearly festival champions some of the best that Ireland has.

This is, I'm sure, news to some of you. Well, wonder about it no longer, as you can now see exactly what's on offer for yourself. 'Out Of Place' is a feature-length documentary that showcases the weird and wonderful of Limerick on the big screen – and it's coming to Belfast. With 60-plus minutes of interviews and performances from Denise Chaila, Post Punk Podge and the Technohippies, His Father's Voice and more, it's been touted as one of the most important pieces of Irish cinema of the past few years, tackling attacks on the creative community and space by vulture funds and landlords and portraying how art always finds a way.

Alongside a screening tour of Cork, Dublin, Dundalk and Sligo, the London Irish Film Festival-nominated 'Best Documentary' will also get a select showing at the QFT on February 18. Director Graham Patterson says: "Out of Place is a meditation on the role music plays in building community, exploring the tensions that emerge when musicians struggle to carve out a space for themselves in their city... the film is an intimate portrayal of a local music scene, capturing the incredible diversity of cultural activity happening in Limerick City.

"It’s really important for us to bring this film to music communities across the country. This film is told from our perspective in Limerick, but the issues we’re facing and the communities we’ve built up are the same across Ireland.”

Back home, there's been a call-out to the public to tackle similar problems in Belfast. The City Council has issued an invitation to citizens to apply to join the Belfast Region Music Board. An offshoot of the 'Music Matters – a Roadmap for Belfast' UNESCO strategy, the aim is to bring in members from all walks of the community and all spectrums of employment to tackle some of the logistical issues facing our city,  everything from transport to lack of infrastructure.

Belfast City Council said: “We welcome applications from people who are committed to the vision and aims of the Belfast Music strategy. If you’re a creator, a professional from the cultural and creative industries or you’re involved in educational bodies, public authorities or non-governmental organisations, we would love to hear from you.”

For terms of reference and an application form, email belfastmusic@belfastcity.gov.uk  Applications to join the board close at 4pm on Monday, February 6.

And we end the column with a spotlight on some of the best and brightest new releases from independent artists this week. While we discussed The Murder Capital last week, they fully deserve another shout-out. The new album 'Gigi's Recovery' is a brave step in a new direction for a band that seemed stuck and you should do yourself a favour and start listening now.

Also out this week is the debut track from Danny Carroll. A self-described "embarrassing millennial", new song 'Affection' tackles fatigue, failure and football in a succinct and catchy indie suit. Dripping with wit and sarcasm, the slack energy and barely contained eye-rolls in the licks and melodies make this one of the stronger tracks of the week.