Belfast Harbour is once again supporting the Belfast International Arts Festival (BIAF) community ticketing scheme.
Through the community ticketing scheme, Belfast Harbour provides free and reduced priced tickets to the festival to a range of community groups, enabling local people to enjoy the festival’s many performances and allowing the festival to reach new audiences.
The beneficiaries of the scheme cover a wide range of different backgrounds, including older people through Engage with Age and adults with autism and learning disabilities through The Black Box Express Yourself Social Cafe. The scheme will also enable people from migrant communities and young people across the city to enjoy all that the festival has to offer.
Those who are lucky enough to be a part of the scheme will be able to enjoy performances such as ‘Blues & Ballads’, a special evening with Blues Legends and the Ulster Orchestra in the beautiful Grand Opera House and ‘The Piece with The Drums’, an energetic evening of innovative dance and music, alongside many other events.
More than 200 people may be able to participate in the scheme which enabled Belfast Harbour and the Belfast International Arts Festival to win the ‘Commitment to Diversity’ Arts and Business Award in January of this year.
The community ticketing scheme will run throughout the festival which is on from the 16th of October to the 26th of November.
Jenni Barkley, Community Engagement Manager at Belfast Harbour said: “We are happy to be able to support the Belfast International Arts Festival with their community ticketing scheme for the fourth year in a row. We recognise the value that the arts and cultural sector provide to our city and want to continue to enable equal access for all so that the festival can continue to promote the great artistic and cultural offering of Belfast.”
Richard Wakely, Artistic Director and Chief Executive at Belfast International Arts Festival added: “We want people from all backgrounds to participate in and enjoy the arts and our community ticketing scheme is a great way for us to achieve that goal by providing free tickets to different groups across the city.
“We are grateful that Belfast Harbour have provided such great support for the community ticketing scheme so that we can continue to be able to provide access to some wonderful local performances and events to a wide range of diverse groups.”