:01:41. > :01:46.They'll join me to discuss the impact and relevancy of blavt fephlt
:01:47. > :01:53.at Queen's plus their thoughts on how it will evolve in years to come.
:01:54. > :01:58.First to visual art and wish by internationally acclaimed Cuban
:01:59. > :02:10.American artist Jorge Rodriguez gephrgets rada. He's created a land
:02:11. > :02:15.art object in the Titanic quarter. As the Belfast Festival launches for
:02:16. > :02:19.the 51st time the capital is busy creating the biggest piece of land
:02:20. > :02:24.art in Northern Ireland's history. My artwork is large portraits that
:02:25. > :02:28.can be seen from space. My project is called Wish. It is a little girl
:02:29. > :02:33.I chose, six years old in Belfast, who I asked to make a wish when I
:02:34. > :02:38.took the photograph that I based this image on. My evolution as an
:02:39. > :02:41.artist has taken it to this ex-treatment we are going to be able
:02:42. > :02:46.to take an image of all of Belfast and still see this literal girl
:02:47. > :02:54.smiling up at us. That's how big it is.
:02:55. > :03:03.The premise was always to do something that was pro found. At the
:03:04. > :03:07.same time as very simple. We are very interested in having audiences
:03:08. > :03:11.and communities around the city directly engaging and participating
:03:12. > :03:15.in creative practice. We get a lot of people coming on, a lot of
:03:16. > :03:29.volunteers, whole families coming out. That's a big part of it. It
:03:30. > :03:38.looks like a series of lines but from an aerial viewpoint it looks
:03:39. > :03:44.like something difficulty. We are talking about 1,000 tonnes of soil.
:03:45. > :03:51.It is going to be beautiful. It is going to bring a little bit of art
:03:52. > :03:56.and culture into the community. The excitement is building. I've seen
:03:57. > :04:05.them looking back at what we've achieved. This has been a really
:04:06. > :04:18.important project that reflects engagement by audiences and
:04:19. > :04:22.communities. This is a wish for all our children. It is open for people
:04:23. > :04:33.to happen, like people saying this is the new face for Belfast.
:04:34. > :04:45.And Wish by Jorge Rodriguez Gerada is at the Titanic quarter in
:04:46. > :04:50.Belfast. Richard, the international element
:04:51. > :04:53.seems to be getting heavily pushed this year. Is this because you've
:04:54. > :04:58.taken ownership of it and you want to push that? It is something I'm
:04:59. > :05:03.very keen about. I think the Wish Project you referred to reflects the
:05:04. > :05:09.skill and ambition of the festival going forward. We have 24 countries
:05:10. > :05:13.represented in this year's festival. We want to really bring the best of
:05:14. > :05:18.international arts practice to Belfast. Often with premieres and
:05:19. > :05:23.work, that can be seen here first. We want to make it a very unique
:05:24. > :05:27.experience for audiences. Jane, for you is that ambition and breadth
:05:28. > :05:31.here in the programme this year? I think those are the sort of words we
:05:32. > :05:36.want to be hearing from our festival director. Words like international
:05:37. > :05:41.and exclusive. But accessible as well, and affordable. I think it is
:05:42. > :05:46.slightly ironic that 51 years in we are still talking about the
:05:47. > :05:53.relevance of the Belfast Festival and yet in a much shorter period of
:05:54. > :05:57.time, festivals like the Cathedral quarter in West Belfast have carved
:05:58. > :06:01.out a niche tore themselves and have their own constituencies. And yet
:06:02. > :06:06.there is still that sense that, much as the festival may love Belfast,
:06:07. > :06:11.Belfast has yet to fully fall in love with its festival. Tony, why do
:06:12. > :06:15.you think that is I'm not sure. I think a lot of the other festivals
:06:16. > :06:19.have grown off the back almost of the Belfast Festival at Queen's. You
:06:20. > :06:23.learn from your Big Brother. Certainly coming from West Belfast
:06:24. > :06:31.and seeing the growth of it over the last 25 years. I was at the first
:06:32. > :06:36.ever one, in 1988, in Dunville Park. This year we had Faithless, huge
:06:37. > :06:42.acts on the Falls Road and linking in with other communities in the
:06:43. > :06:48.Shankill Road, which emcompasses West Belfast. I think smaller
:06:49. > :06:55.festival do learn from the Belfast Festival. The health is dependent on
:06:56. > :06:59.the east Belfast arts festival. We are different. There is great
:07:00. > :07:02.additionality because of that. If one of those events gets into
:07:03. > :07:07.trouble, we are going to as well. It is about creating a critical mass of
:07:08. > :07:11.audience engagement. But it is interesting that after 50 years we
:07:12. > :07:15.are still saying, why sit relevant? How can it be relevant? Is it
:07:16. > :07:20.because of its location? Is it the Queen's element to it? Is it the BT
:07:21. > :07:26.9 location, seen as the leafy suburbs? I think the festival has to
:07:27. > :07:32.evolve it is an organic being. It should reflect the time, the place
:07:33. > :07:39.that we are in. When we talk about a city-wide festival, for me it means
:07:40. > :07:46.taking Tumble Circus to Belmont Park and to the falls Road. It means
:07:47. > :07:52.taking a great Danish ensemble to the north of the city. Also means
:07:53. > :07:56.affordable prices. 95% of our price this is year a ?16 and over. That's
:07:57. > :08:01.a key aspect of what I'm bringing to the festival - accessibility. We'll
:08:02. > :08:06.continue this conversation later. But for the moment, thank you.
:08:07. > :08:11.Victor is a new dance performance by Belgian company Campo. It peoples
:08:12. > :08:17.two performers who complement each other in a burflings intimate
:08:18. > :08:24.movement. -- in a burflings intimate movement. -- beautiful, intimate
:08:25. > :08:27.movement. It is a very quiet and slept piece. You really get the
:08:28. > :08:33.chance and the time as well to zoom in on two bodies and to see the
:08:34. > :08:41.differences between the bodies. I had a suggestion maybe we should
:08:42. > :08:45.make it between a child and a man. We worked with a child because we
:08:46. > :08:52.wanted to show vulnerability, which we think is really important. The
:08:53. > :09:01.'90s, when I was 12, we had a big issue with a paedophile. Belgium was
:09:02. > :09:05.convulsed in horror at the man accused of kidnapping and abusing
:09:06. > :09:10.six girls, four of whom he murdered and they are buried. We noticed that
:09:11. > :09:15.somehow Belgian society wasn't able to deal wit, that there was always a
:09:16. > :09:22.kind of dangerousness about men and child. That's really wrong to live
:09:23. > :09:26.in this fear and to be afraid. So there was an idea to make a
:09:27. > :09:30.performance which would look differently at intimacy between a
:09:31. > :09:34.man and a boy. You have this man and this child. They are dancing a duet.
:09:35. > :09:38.If we would say this is father and son, everybody would think it is
:09:39. > :09:43.beautiful. If we would say this is a paedophile and a child, everybody
:09:44. > :09:49.would be disgusted. But what if we don't say words and it is up to you
:09:50. > :09:52.to deal with this question mark we are proposing? This ambiguous
:09:53. > :09:58.relationship between the two characters on stage was developed
:09:59. > :10:02.over several months in rehearsals. Now I can trust him very well but in
:10:03. > :10:07.the beginning he was a stranger to me. After a while we began to trust
:10:08. > :10:12.each other. When we had rehearsal, we always had lunch together before
:10:13. > :10:20.starting the rehearsal, so it would also connect us humanly before being
:10:21. > :10:23.connect in the artistic process. This is the piece where you are
:10:24. > :10:27.animals and this is the piece where you are more like a father and a
:10:28. > :10:31.son. This is the piece where it becomes more dangerous and maybe you
:10:32. > :10:34.are in love with him. It was searching, putting scenes in
:10:35. > :10:39.different ways. I think the solution came by deciding OK, we don't need
:10:40. > :10:44.to choose what they are. We really wanted to make a piece which loaves
:10:45. > :10:46.it -- leaves it open to the audience and the audience is making the
:10:47. > :11:08.translation. Viktor by Belgian company Camp
:11:09. > :11:12.organisation. We'll have a performance by at the end of the
:11:13. > :11:16.programme but first the piano played like you've never seen it played
:11:17. > :11:20.before, using sticks, picks and even credit cards. Is Pianorchestra.
:11:21. > :13:22.-- this is Pianorchestra. Piano lessons will ever be the same
:13:23. > :13:26.again. Catalyst Arts are celebrating 20
:13:27. > :13:34.years. They've given hundred of young artists not only their first
:13:35. > :13:40.chance to Zimbabwe it but curate artists who would go on to Turner
:13:41. > :13:47.Prize glory. I first came across Catalyst Arts 20
:13:48. > :13:55.years ago and was instantly excited by the provocative, incentive art
:13:56. > :14:00.that it was doing. -- incentive art. -- incentive art. This was art as a
:14:01. > :14:09.challenge, a challenge to the viewer and a challenge to the city, too. In
:14:10. > :14:14.1993, three of wlaft's -- Belfast's main galleries had closed. The city
:14:15. > :14:17.had little to offer young artists and nearly all students graduating
:14:18. > :14:21.from the arts college were leaving Northern Ireland. But one group of
:14:22. > :14:26.graduates wanted to stay. They wanted to make live art,
:14:27. > :14:31.photography, installation as. Nobody was interested in exhibiting this
:14:32. > :14:37.kind of work, so they decided to do it themselves. The first Catalyst
:14:38. > :14:43.gallery was off Donegal Street in what we now call the Cathedral
:14:44. > :14:48.quarter. One used Wilmot House, another used builders' skips around
:14:49. > :14:51.the city. Over the years, Catalyst has forged an international
:14:52. > :14:56.reputation, as former directors have gone on to other projects in Belfast
:14:57. > :15:06.and beyond. Artists have also come from around the world to show their
:15:07. > :15:12.work. 2013 Turner Prize nominee David Shrigley had one of his first
:15:13. > :15:17.shows at Catalyst in 1996. Catalyst puts on around a dozen shows of new
:15:18. > :15:21.work every year, in its gallery here on College Court and around the
:15:22. > :15:26.city. Hundreds of artists have had their work seen thanks to Catalyst
:15:27. > :15:31.and many have had their first exhibition here. Catalyst is not a
:15:32. > :15:35.business. Nor can it ever. It challenges many of today's
:15:36. > :15:38.prevailing messages about what the arts can and should do. It is
:15:39. > :15:42.different to other galleries because it is run by artists. People with
:15:43. > :15:55.the courage and conviction to follow their own ideas. New people, new
:15:56. > :16:01.directions are constantly coming on board. People can only stay for two
:16:02. > :16:08.years. It is sometimes naive but it is always inquiztive. -- inquiztive.
:16:09. > :16:12.Artists still face problems. Catalyst may be 20 years old but it
:16:13. > :16:16.is always the willful teenager fighting back against the narrowness
:16:17. > :16:29.of the times. We need that attitude now as much as we ever did.
:16:30. > :16:38.Catalyst Arts at 20 is at the Golden Thread Gallery until the end of
:16:39. > :16:42.November. Richard, you have come back to Belfast from Dublin. Due
:16:43. > :16:46.sense a difference in how we approach culture here? I've come
:16:47. > :16:50.back to the city after 33 years away. It's a long time to be away
:16:51. > :16:58.from home and it is wonderful to come back. But there's a Burj ong,
:16:59. > :17:03.vibrant -- burgeoning arts centre here. Jane, as a critic, who has to
:17:04. > :17:11.go to events Andrews them next day, what are you looking for? Super
:17:12. > :17:15.quality? As a critic what we want is something that can't be seen
:17:16. > :17:20.anywhere else. That you cannot see this anywhere but in Belfast, now.
:17:21. > :17:24.It's very important that we bring international acts to Belfast, that
:17:25. > :17:29.we also create a platform. I know there is a lot this year. If we
:17:30. > :17:34.continue to create that platform for local art ayes, musicians and film
:17:35. > :17:38.makers, the because the talent is here. The success of this festival
:17:39. > :17:44.in future years will depend on the city's ownership. The people of the
:17:45. > :17:48.city feeling ownership of the festival, feeling that's ours, that
:17:49. > :17:52.everybody feels ownership. How due measure the success of a festival?
:17:53. > :18:02.Is it the numbers of bums on seats? Is it the box office, or is is it
:18:03. > :18:06.the feed-back you are getting. It is a measure of all those things.
:18:07. > :18:10.Different festivals and fund terse all have different agendasment all
:18:11. > :18:15.those elements, the number of people who attend and how they engage are
:18:16. > :18:19.important. But artistic excellence and programmes at the centre of what
:18:20. > :18:23.I'm. A I know the fiscal health of my festival depends on its
:18:24. > :18:28.programming. What if nobody is seeing it. Imagine you have the
:18:29. > :18:31.venue booked and there's something fantastic on stage and there's three
:18:32. > :18:36.people in the audience? I think people will respond to great
:18:37. > :18:40.artists, great work and meaningful work, particularly work with a
:18:41. > :18:44.resonance in the time and place of the communities we are among. There
:18:45. > :18:50.seems to be a fragmentation of festivals happening. I always
:18:51. > :18:53.wonder, should Belfast maickt a destination festival in the same way
:18:54. > :18:59.as borrowed, and block off the month of May or the month of June and
:19:00. > :19:05.bring all these festivals together. Stop competing? It needn't be a
:19:06. > :19:09.competition. What we want the Belfast Festival to be is special.
:19:10. > :19:14.We want that sense of excitement, that you open a programme and there
:19:15. > :19:22.are four things on the same night at the same time. And you can't go to
:19:23. > :19:26.them all. That's both good and bad. To me I would keep the festival
:19:27. > :19:33.where it is. I might change the name. What would change it to?
:19:34. > :19:38.Wonder if Queen's were in a different part of the city, white
:19:39. > :19:43.make a difference? -- would it make a difference. The fact that's in BT
:19:44. > :19:48.9. People think, I can't go to that baize didn't go to Queen's --
:19:49. > :19:52.because I didn't go to Queen 's. It's a double whammy for and
:19:53. > :19:56.against. Fit was simply is Belfast Festival, as it is the Edinburgh
:19:57. > :20:00.Festival, would it make a difference? Richard, you know
:20:01. > :20:05.Edinburgh well. You've worked there. What do you make of my proposal? Sit
:20:06. > :20:09.madness, to think of Belfast as a cultural destination similar to
:20:10. > :20:16.Edinburgh, and all the festivals exist? I completely agree wusmt
:20:17. > :20:20.we've got a rich and diverse cultural offering we can celebrate
:20:21. > :20:25.with the rest of the world. We've got unique stories to tell. What I
:20:26. > :20:28.worry about, Edinburgh has 11 world-beating festivals over the
:20:29. > :20:32.summer. The rest of the year is very important in Edinburgh as well. If
:20:33. > :20:36.you speak to colleagues in theatres and in concert halls and arts
:20:37. > :20:40.centres around the city, they are worried about what happens in the
:20:41. > :20:46.spring and the winter. Edinburgh ghost time. Not a ghost time but
:20:47. > :20:51.there's a different atmosphere in the place. I know the out to lunch
:20:52. > :20:56.festival beats the cold January blues as well. Exactly. Does this
:20:57. > :21:00.mean there might have to be some overarching festival committee that
:21:01. > :21:05.looks arftion or am I piling more and more paperwork and bodies into
:21:06. > :21:08.it? None of us want additional bureaucracy but what we do want are
:21:09. > :21:13.people within local and central Government to take the festival
:21:14. > :21:18.offering for the whole city and the cultural infrastructure of the city
:21:19. > :21:23.seriously. Yes, to help us promote it within our own communities and
:21:24. > :21:28.without. Thank you to Tony and to Jane and to Richard as well.
:21:29. > :21:35.We are going to stay in Belfast. A new play from Kaboshe theatre
:21:36. > :21:39.company. The ghosts of six Belfast women tell their stories on a
:21:40. > :21:44.moonlit night in one of the city's oldest churches.
:21:45. > :21:48.Belfast by moonlight came about because this year Belfast is 400
:21:49. > :21:51.years old. We wanted to create an original piece of theatre that would
:21:52. > :21:55.celebrate that and would question what Belfast is about. The choir
:21:56. > :21:59.present to you the industrialisation of Belfast and you question why is
:22:00. > :22:07.Belfast only about bricks and mortar, what about the people?
:22:08. > :22:14.# Without which no city can with justice call itself a great city. #
:22:15. > :22:18.This was our church. It was essential to us that was a piece
:22:19. > :22:21.that would fit within the spiritual space, so the awed Jens time the
:22:22. > :22:26.look at the space around them as well as engage with the narrative
:22:27. > :22:29.and the music. We commissioned Martin to create an original score
:22:30. > :22:43.for it. Neil listening to the tone of each
:22:44. > :22:48.of the actresses create individual vocal scores for each of them that
:22:49. > :22:53.played to their strength as singers but was honest to the vocal tone of
:22:54. > :22:56.each of the campckets We didn't marry, because first of all there
:22:57. > :23:03.were all these things that had to be done. He to have the breakfast paid
:23:04. > :23:10.for, the trusseau bought, I had to have the honeymoon in the Royal
:23:11. > :23:14.Hotel tremore paid for. The six female characters are women from the
:23:15. > :23:20.last 400 years. I very much wanted to have a collection of women off
:23:21. > :23:25.and from or connected with Belfast. We couldn't just snap our fingers
:23:26. > :23:33.and have money. He was a clerk in the docks and was a teacher. We
:23:34. > :23:37.never got it saved. You get this collision of feminine voices within
:23:38. > :23:44.both the spoken word and within the sung word.
:23:45. > :23:52.It is fresh. It is live. It is unique. Nothing like this whatever
:23:53. > :23:55.been done before. When we leave, we'll go out and we look at our city
:23:56. > :24:07.differently and we'll look at ourselves differently.
:24:08. > :24:11.That's what's been in festival. Now there are three days left. Here's
:24:12. > :24:28.what's coming up: It contain as stunt so dangerous
:24:29. > :24:52.that even Houdini refused to at the same time.
:24:53. > :25:01.Former Tory MP Jonathan Aitken give as talk on Margaret Thatcher in the
:25:02. > :25:05.Great Hall? Queen 's. Crimea square tells story of
:25:06. > :25:50.Shankill Road. Join me live on Twitter straight
:25:51. > :25:55.after the show. You can get your festival updates every day on BBC
:25:56. > :26:02.Radio Ulster's festival desk and again at 5. 55. Arts Extra every
:26:03. > :26:06.weekday at 6. 30pm. We're back next month, including a major feature on
:26:07. > :26:13.the Turner Prize in Derry Londonderry. We leave you with music
:26:14. > :26:20.from Clay Ross, the lead singer of a Brazilian bluegrass band at the
:26:21. > :26:24.festival. Goodnight. APPLAUSE
:26:25. > :26:33.# My girl, my girl you are my whole world
:26:34. > :26:37.# You're my Moon, my stars and my sun
:26:38. > :26:46.# But I think I might way forever for you to make me your number one
:26:47. > :26:54.# Oh why must I love you # Why, oh why must I care
:26:55. > :27:03.# You don't want me like I want you # You don't see me the way I see you
:27:04. > :27:16.# You don't need me like I need you # You don't love me the way I love
:27:17. > :27:21.you # My girl, my girl I brought you
:27:22. > :27:25.flowers # Brought you diamonds and gave you
:27:26. > :27:33.a home # Why must you be so cold and silent
:27:34. > :27:37.# Why must my lonely heart forever roam
:27:38. > :27:46.# Oh why oh why must I love you # Why oh why House I care
:27:47. > :27:54.# You don't want me like I want you # You don't see me the way I see you
:27:55. > :28:09.# You don't need me like I need you # You don't love me the way I love
:28:10. > :28:20.you #.
:28:21. > :28:31.# Oh the tears that I cry # Oh the hopes that I held inside
:28:32. > :28:35.# The years I happily gave way couldn't make you stay, couldn't
:28:36. > :28:44.make you stay # You don't want me like I want you
:28:45. > :28:53.# You don't see me the way I see you # You don't need me like I need you
:28:54. > :28:57.# You don't love me the way I love you
:28:58. > :29:05.# You don't love me the way I love you #.
:29:06. > :29:07.APPLAUSE