0:00:02 > 0:00:07Welcome to The Arts Show. Tonight, we're in the cultural hub of Belfast - the Cathedral Quarter.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36The Cathedral Quarter lies roughly between Royal Avenue
0:00:36 > 0:00:40and the Dunbar link, with St Anne's at its heart.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43Walking this tangle of cobbled streets and dark entries
0:00:43 > 0:00:46reveals a past of warehouses and linen,
0:00:46 > 0:00:50a glimpse of when Belfast was an industrial powerhouse.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54Now, after years of neglect, it's been spruced up, redeveloped,
0:00:54 > 0:00:57and rebranded with culture at its core.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02The 15th Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival took place last week
0:01:02 > 0:01:04and The Arts Show was there.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07Featured in the line-up was a stage adaptation of Flann O'Brien's
0:01:07 > 0:01:10masterpiece comic novel, The Third Policeman.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13Squeeze frontman and solo artist Glenn Tilbrook also appeared
0:01:13 > 0:01:17and took time out to give The Arts Show an exclusive performance.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20And a design classic by internationally-renowned
0:01:20 > 0:01:24textile designer Gerd Hay-Edie is recreated where it was first made,
0:01:24 > 0:01:28in the foothills of the Mournes, for a new exhibition in London.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49The Cathedral Quarter takes its name from St Anne's.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53This amazing, iconic building has married its traditional
0:01:53 > 0:01:56architectural past with a controversial postmodern spire
0:01:56 > 0:01:59stretching upwards to God and the heavens.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11This cathedral isn't like a gallery.
0:02:11 > 0:02:15It's a tangible, living space, where you can walk,
0:02:15 > 0:02:18feel and even touch its treasures.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20Lord Carson lies here.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23It houses the Creation Mosaic by Gertrude and Margaret Martin,
0:02:23 > 0:02:26whose work can also be seen in the lobby of the Houses of Parliament,
0:02:26 > 0:02:31and a marble maze leads the pilgrim to the altar and the glory of God.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35In World War II, as the Blitz ravaged Belfast, unbelievably,
0:02:35 > 0:02:40the cathedral survived, its art and grandeur unblemished by German bombs.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43There's a lot to be said for divine intervention.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59After years of decline,
0:02:59 > 0:03:03this last decade has seen the quarter re-emerge as a trendy, vibrant hub.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12It's host to its own arts festival, now in its 15th year.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15Its director is Sean Kelly.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19Is this, or is this not, the hippest part of town to be in now?
0:03:19 > 0:03:22I don't know if hip's the right word. I remember when there was real people here,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26not all these bearded guys with MacBooks, and stuff.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28I sometimes get nostalgic for that.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32It is quite a fashionable part of town, lots of restaurants
0:03:32 > 0:03:33and bars are opening up.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37We just have to make sure that the arts continue to be
0:03:37 > 0:03:39represented in the area.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43Why did you set up the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival? There was a group of us.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46We thought the arts weren't really representing us.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50I suppose, there was the Belfast Festival, and so forth,
0:03:50 > 0:03:56but we didn't feel that there was a voice being given to more marginal artforms,
0:03:56 > 0:04:00to younger artforms, to kind of alternative,
0:04:00 > 0:04:02slightly subversive, edgier artforms.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06In a way, did you see it as an alternative, almost a fringe,
0:04:06 > 0:04:09to the Belfast Festival? That would be the daddy, wouldn't it?
0:04:09 > 0:04:13Yeah, I suppose we did see ourselves, not in opposition
0:04:13 > 0:04:14but as an alternative to.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18We were quite lucky in that the cease-fires had come about
0:04:18 > 0:04:22and we felt there was an opportunity for arts in the heart of the city,
0:04:22 > 0:04:26right in the city centre. So it was strategic to place it here?
0:04:26 > 0:04:29Well, the north city centre of Belfast to me
0:04:29 > 0:04:33has always been associated with a certain type of radical thought and ideas.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36You can take that right back to the United Irishmen.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39But the Communist Party headquarters were here, punk found its form,
0:04:39 > 0:04:43Teenage Kicks was recorded here, ladies of the night, and now it's
0:04:43 > 0:04:46the gay community down this part of town, it was always a part of town
0:04:46 > 0:04:49that was relatively free from tribal politics.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52It was very rundown and the rents were cheap.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54And it just felt right at that time.
0:04:54 > 0:04:59Do you feel that the festival has been crucial to this area?
0:04:59 > 0:05:01Well, the festival has played a role,
0:05:01 > 0:05:03but even back in 1999,
0:05:03 > 0:05:07there were about 30-35 other arts and cultural organisations.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10That has grown exponentially over the last 15 years.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14We've given encouragement to a lot of other festivals,
0:05:14 > 0:05:16a lot of other arts organisations.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19So, yeah, I'd like to think we played something of a lead role
0:05:19 > 0:05:22but other people are there doing great work, you know.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26And it has been an incredible line-up this year.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28Well, we've been very lucky this year.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32You're sometimes at the mercy of various artists' touring schedules.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35But we couldn't almost believe our luck that we had the calibre of
0:05:35 > 0:05:40Ginger Baker, Martha Reeves, Tinawiren, The Handsome Family,
0:05:40 > 0:05:45Glenn Tilbrook, Simon Amstell, DBC Pierre, and so forth.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47Yeah, it fell into place this year.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51Sean Kelly, continued success. Thank you. Thanks very much.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Strabane-born writer Flann O'Brien's satirical novel
0:06:11 > 0:06:14The Third Policeman was originally rejected by publishers
0:06:14 > 0:06:16who thought it too fantastical.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19It's gone on to become a cult classic.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22Fans of the American TV series, Lost,
0:06:22 > 0:06:26rushed out to buy it after its cover appeared on-screen for one second.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29Now it's been brought to life here at the Cathedral Quarter
0:06:29 > 0:06:34Arts Festival, narrated by Dublin actor, Phelim Drew.
0:06:45 > 0:06:50"Not everyone knows how I killed old Phillip Mathers..."
0:06:52 > 0:06:54"..smashing his jaw in with my spade."
0:06:57 > 0:07:01The Third Policeman is the story of a gruesome murder.
0:07:03 > 0:07:08"But first, it is better to speak of my friendship with John Divney
0:07:08 > 0:07:11"because it was he who first knocked old Mathers down
0:07:11 > 0:07:14"by giving him a great blow in the neck
0:07:14 > 0:07:16"with a special bicycle pump,
0:07:16 > 0:07:20"which he manufactured himself out of a hollow iron bar."
0:07:22 > 0:07:26At that point, everything turns extremely surreal.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29DISCORDANT PIANO NOTES
0:07:29 > 0:07:33"Michael Gilhaney," said the sergeant, "is an example of a man
0:07:33 > 0:07:37"that is nearly banjaxed from the principle of the atomic theory."
0:07:37 > 0:07:40In this story, bicycles and their riders get their atoms
0:07:40 > 0:07:42and their personalities mixed up,
0:07:42 > 0:07:44and if this goes over 50%,
0:07:44 > 0:07:48then the human personality is never coming back and they will
0:07:48 > 0:07:50remain part bicycle for all of their days,
0:07:50 > 0:07:54so the policemen spend their time stealing people's bicycles,
0:07:54 > 0:07:57arresting people's bicycles, hiding people's bicycles,
0:07:57 > 0:07:59so their percentage doesn't get too high.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03" 'If it wasn't that his bicycle was stolen every Monday,
0:08:03 > 0:08:05" 'he would be sure to be more than halfway now.' "
0:08:08 > 0:08:10" 'Halfway to where?' "
0:08:11 > 0:08:15" 'Halfway to being a bicycle himself,' said the sergeant."
0:08:16 > 0:08:21It's very accessible to anybody with a kind of a fertile imagination.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26" 'How much is Gilhaney?' '48.' "
0:08:27 > 0:08:29" 'The postman?' I said.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32" '71%', he said quietly."
0:08:32 > 0:08:35" 'Great Scott!' "
0:08:35 > 0:08:37PIANO PLAYS
0:08:37 > 0:08:43It's also, in a very surreal way, very believable. It's...
0:08:43 > 0:08:50It's kind of, I think we are all sort of subject to nightmares and dreams
0:08:50 > 0:08:54that are very real when we are in them.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58" 'Did you never see a bicycle leaning against the dresser
0:08:58 > 0:09:00" 'of a warm kitchen when it is raining outside?'
0:09:00 > 0:09:02" 'I did.'
0:09:02 > 0:09:04" 'Not very far away from the fire.'
0:09:04 > 0:09:07" 'Yes.'
0:09:07 > 0:09:11" 'Near enough to the family to hear their conversation.'
0:09:11 > 0:09:12" 'Yes.'
0:09:12 > 0:09:16" 'Not 1,000 miles away from where they keep the eatables.'
0:09:16 > 0:09:18" 'I did not notice that.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22" 'You do not mean to say that these bicycles eat food?'
0:09:22 > 0:09:23" 'They were never seen doing it.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26" 'Nobody ever caught them with a mouthful of steak.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29" 'All I know is that the food disappears.' "
0:09:30 > 0:09:32" 'What?!'
0:09:32 > 0:09:35" 'It is not the first time I have noticed crumbs at the front wheels
0:09:35 > 0:09:37" 'of some of these gentlemen.' "
0:09:37 > 0:09:39I first read it when I was 15.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42It either appealed to my sense of humour, or what I actually think
0:09:42 > 0:09:44now happened is that it informed my sense of humour.
0:09:44 > 0:09:49" 'I will tell you a secret,' he said very confidentially, in a low voice.
0:09:49 > 0:09:55" 'My great-grandfather was 83 when he died.'
0:09:55 > 0:09:57" 'For a year before his death...'
0:09:59 > 0:10:01" '..he was a horse.' "
0:10:01 > 0:10:03HE CHUCKLES
0:10:06 > 0:10:09It was a great challenge to come up with appropriate music
0:10:09 > 0:10:12for The Third Policeman, but it was a wonderful challenge.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14The first thing that happened
0:10:14 > 0:10:16was the choice of instruments for the two men
0:10:16 > 0:10:18which turned out to be two cellos.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21The cellos can be atmospheric, dark and sombre.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23The opening musical piece is a duet
0:10:23 > 0:10:27as these two men reach agreement that they will commit the murder.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29Another thing that played into it, I would say,
0:10:29 > 0:10:31I was listening to quite a lot of Shostakovich at the time,
0:10:31 > 0:10:33which is dark and wintry
0:10:33 > 0:10:37and I felt that nicely informed the rural setting of the book.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44We played it in Strabane last summer at the Flann O'Brien Festival,
0:10:44 > 0:10:48so I got to talk this over with Flann O'Brien experts.
0:10:48 > 0:10:50They call themselves Flannoraks, of all things.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59There's never any remorse expressed for the killing,
0:10:59 > 0:11:04which is what I think has them go round and round and round again.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08They are in this Purgatory.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11It's very comic, but if you're stuck in the same situation
0:11:11 > 0:11:14and going round and round and round again, it is a type of hell.
0:11:14 > 0:11:18So I think what is being expressed is unresolved guilt.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34"He came over ponderously to the inside of the counter
0:11:34 > 0:11:38"and Divney and I advanced, meekly, from the door
0:11:38 > 0:11:41"until we were face to face."
0:11:44 > 0:11:46"Is it about a bicycle?"
0:12:01 > 0:12:04Author Glenn Patterson has written about the Cathedral Quarter.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07He has delved into its wrinkles and pores,
0:12:07 > 0:12:10attracted by its smells and fumes.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14Glenn. Hello. What is it about the Cathedral Quarter
0:12:14 > 0:12:17that has made you as a writer want to fictionalise it?
0:12:17 > 0:12:19What I love about this,
0:12:19 > 0:12:22we're standing in Commercial Court and the period I am interested in
0:12:22 > 0:12:24is the time when this area
0:12:24 > 0:12:27was the commercial heart of Belfast.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30In the 19th century, especially the early 19th century,
0:12:30 > 0:12:34this was really where all the business of the time was transacted.
0:12:34 > 0:12:39You get a real sense now, even with the warehouses rising above us,
0:12:39 > 0:12:42that this was such an important mercantile hub as well,
0:12:42 > 0:12:46but now, culturally, it's incredibly significant as well.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49Well, when I started to write about this, I was...
0:12:49 > 0:12:52There were a couple of things I discovered about this area.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56There was a bar that used to be at the end, across Waring Street,
0:12:56 > 0:12:59in Sugarhouse Entry, which was called the Dr Franklin Tavern
0:12:59 > 0:13:01and in the 1790s,
0:13:01 > 0:13:04it was one of the first meeting places of the United Irishmen.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08There was a woman called Peggy Barclay who ran that tavern
0:13:08 > 0:13:14with her husband, James. I was very attracted by that...
0:13:14 > 0:13:16not just the revolutionary fervour at that time,
0:13:16 > 0:13:18but the kind of intellectual fervour
0:13:18 > 0:13:21and the enquiry there was in this city.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25I mean, Belfast, it's said a lot these days, but it was the first
0:13:25 > 0:13:28place to send congratulations to revolutionary France.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32There were festivals of harpers in 1792, in the Assembly Rooms.
0:13:32 > 0:13:34There was an awful lot going on.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38I have a great fondness for bars, especially Belfast bars.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41I was interested in that bar of Peggy Barclay's.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44I like the idea of the public house, I like the sociability,
0:13:44 > 0:13:48I like the great civic-minded things about public houses.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51You start to look forward to the stories that will come out of here,
0:13:51 > 0:13:54the things people will do. One of the things I like about this
0:13:54 > 0:13:58is that Belfast grew up around the main streets in these courts
0:13:58 > 0:14:02and entries and lanes. Tell me about those, because
0:14:02 > 0:14:06they feature large in your book, The Mill For Grinding Old People Young.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10I love that sense of coming down these streets.
0:14:10 > 0:14:15I think sometimes we think of the past as really, really different,
0:14:15 > 0:14:16not just distant, but different,
0:14:16 > 0:14:19but if you look down here, if you want to get a sense of
0:14:19 > 0:14:21what Belfast might have been like 200 years ago,
0:14:21 > 0:14:25maybe we're looking at it. Maybe this is what it was like.
0:14:25 > 0:14:30And for you as a writer, this area must be rich in story too.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34It is. There is so much of the history of the city here,
0:14:34 > 0:14:39but as a writer, what you want, you want people.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43You want life. And as I look here,
0:14:43 > 0:14:46you can't help but be intrigued by who the people are.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48That's where everything begins.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50I heard Martin Amis talking the other night
0:14:50 > 0:14:53and saying that novels begin with a shiver
0:14:53 > 0:14:56and you think, "I could do something."
0:14:56 > 0:15:01And I think as you are abroad in the city these days,
0:15:01 > 0:15:04you're shivering all the time, I'm shivering all the time,
0:15:04 > 0:15:07because you are asking questions about who these people are.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10That's what it is. Where there are people, there are stories.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12Glenn Patterson, thank you. Thank you.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24The Cathedral Quarter was once the gateway from the mills
0:15:24 > 0:15:28in York Street to the nearby Belfast docks.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32Cloth and textiles were ferried daily through these cobbled streets.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36Today, this craft tradition is kept alive outside the city.
0:15:37 > 0:15:42In 1951, the Norwegian textile designer Gerd Hay-Edie created
0:15:42 > 0:15:45a contemporary rug that established her reputation.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48Now, in the shadow of the Mournes,
0:15:48 > 0:15:51her daughter and grandson are recreating this design classic
0:15:51 > 0:15:52for a new exhibition.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02The black and white rug was first designed in about 1951.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06Up to now, we didn't have a loom wide enough to weave it all in one
0:16:06 > 0:16:10piece, but in this instance we now have an enormous loom.
0:16:12 > 0:16:14Gerd Hay-Edie first wove this rug
0:16:14 > 0:16:17to compete in an exhibition of interior design
0:16:17 > 0:16:20at the 1951 Milan Triennale,
0:16:20 > 0:16:22where it won a silver medal.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25Now it is being recreated in the same workshop
0:16:25 > 0:16:28using the same methods and materials.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32Well, we've got layers of the black yarn,
0:16:32 > 0:16:37and we twist the white fleece just by hand, so it's good and tight.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40There is a definite pattern,
0:16:40 > 0:16:44two rows of thick, one row of thin, and two rows of thick,
0:16:44 > 0:16:46throughout the whole rug.
0:16:49 > 0:16:51A lot of finger work!
0:16:53 > 0:16:56The thickness of the threads to the style of the threads
0:16:56 > 0:16:58to the combination of the wave,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01the whole structure has been finished, everything,
0:17:01 > 0:17:04we are trying to match it as she would have wanted it.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07My mother was a very determined woman.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11She was living in China with my father before the war.
0:17:11 > 0:17:15She met there a man who came from Annalong,
0:17:15 > 0:17:19and he spoke very highly of how beautiful the Mourne Mountains were.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22So on their first leave, they came over and stayed there
0:17:22 > 0:17:24and she fell in love with the Mournes
0:17:24 > 0:17:27and wanted to start a workshop.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30When we decided to recreate the Milano rug,
0:17:30 > 0:17:33we had to find out the threading.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36But it's quite an intricate threading
0:17:36 > 0:17:38and I couldn't find the design anywhere,
0:17:38 > 0:17:43until one day I was looking through some of my mother's possessions
0:17:43 > 0:17:44that had been put aside,
0:17:44 > 0:17:46and this book came to light
0:17:46 > 0:17:49and in it was the exact threading of the rug.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52The books would be one part of the rug but not the whole rug,
0:17:52 > 0:17:54and then you'd be looking through a box
0:17:54 > 0:17:57and little bits of card would come out, little handwritten messages,
0:17:57 > 0:18:01and you'd be like, "Oh, my God, that's it, that's the piece,
0:18:01 > 0:18:03"that's the other bit of the jigsaw."
0:18:04 > 0:18:071951 was Gerd's breakthrough year
0:18:07 > 0:18:10and the rug was also exhibited at the Festival of Britain,
0:18:10 > 0:18:13a celebration of science and industry,
0:18:13 > 0:18:16but her approach was to bring together new technology
0:18:16 > 0:18:19with hand loom techniques that date back millennia
0:18:19 > 0:18:21to create a design classic.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26You've got a real combination of the loops of the carpet yarn
0:18:26 > 0:18:29and the soft, the unspun fleece.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31The colours are a strong contrast.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35They are creamy white rather than bleached white.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38She used to travel around, hunting out the black sheep
0:18:38 > 0:18:41to use in her rugs, to use the fleece in her rugs.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44It's warm underfoot, it's very pleasant to walk on,
0:18:44 > 0:18:47particularly in your bare feet. It's quite homely.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50And yeah, definitely, in bare feet, I mean... It's tactile.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54It's very warm. It's a very tactile, definitely.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58A majority of people will stroke it immediately they see it.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02This one design proved pivotal
0:19:02 > 0:19:04and now the cream of British furniture designers
0:19:04 > 0:19:06wanted to use Gerd's fabrics.
0:19:06 > 0:19:11In 1954, she founded her own company, Mourne Textiles,
0:19:11 > 0:19:15employing her own daughter, and other people's daughters too.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18She trained up local girls
0:19:18 > 0:19:22from farmers' daughters, from the farms around us,
0:19:22 > 0:19:25and they came and she trained them up on the hand looms.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28At that, it turned into more of a... She hated to call it a factory,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31but it was like a mill.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35But although they made textiles for clients far away,
0:19:35 > 0:19:38the Mournes were a constant inspiration.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40Living here in the Mournes,
0:19:40 > 0:19:43you see the countryside outside the windows all the time.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46You see the colours of the gorse and the bracken
0:19:46 > 0:19:49when it goes a beautiful rusty red colour,
0:19:49 > 0:19:51and the granite of the mountains.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54They're all a part of what you see all the time.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57And the names, a lot of the name of the tweeds,
0:19:57 > 0:19:59there was fuchsia, fuchsia pink.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02Gorse yellow would be very strongly used.
0:20:04 > 0:20:10Gerd Hay-Edie died in 1993, but now history is coming full circle
0:20:10 > 0:20:15as a new generation of the family firm moves to the fore.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19It's what I've been wanting, for the workshop to come back to life again,
0:20:19 > 0:20:23and so it's quite interesting that it's starting with the rug.
0:20:25 > 0:20:26We're going to pack it up
0:20:26 > 0:20:29and I'm going to have to try and bring it back on the plane with me
0:20:29 > 0:20:32to London and then bring it up to the Pangolin Gallery.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35Many of the decisions that we're making now,
0:20:35 > 0:20:38I can sort of feel like my grandmother would have made them
0:20:38 > 0:20:39when she was first starting out.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43You can hear the looms beating away again, it's fantastic,
0:20:43 > 0:20:44it's very exciting.
0:20:59 > 0:21:04North Street Arcade is a 1930s Art Deco mall in the Cathedral Quarter.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08Built on the site of a former linen factory, it was once home to
0:21:08 > 0:21:12a vibrant community of business and arts organisations.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15Ten years ago, an unexplained fire swept through
0:21:15 > 0:21:18and destroyed its essence.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21Today, it sits derelict and overgrown in the middle of an area
0:21:21 > 0:21:23earmarked for redevelopment.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31Despite a very recent touch-up, the shutters remain firmly down
0:21:31 > 0:21:34and each passing year brings more deterioration
0:21:34 > 0:21:37to a once-bustling cultural hub.
0:21:46 > 0:21:47Rebranding the Cathedral Quarter
0:21:47 > 0:21:50has seen hotels, restaurants and pubs spring up,
0:21:50 > 0:21:53transforming some of the city's oldest buildings,
0:21:53 > 0:21:55but in giving the area such a face-lift,
0:21:55 > 0:21:58have the artists themselves been priced out?
0:21:58 > 0:22:00Businessman and hotelier Bill Wolsey
0:22:00 > 0:22:03is a name central to this area's redevelopment.
0:22:03 > 0:22:07Bill, the artists, have they been priced out of the Cathedral Quarter?
0:22:07 > 0:22:10Not yet, there are still artists here,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14but as an area becomes more successful commercially,
0:22:14 > 0:22:18artists tend to be driven out of those areas, rents go up,
0:22:18 > 0:22:22The price of property goes up, and that seems to be a price that's paid.
0:22:22 > 0:22:24Not only in Belfast, it happens anywhere.
0:22:24 > 0:22:29Tell me any successful city that artists haven't started an area
0:22:29 > 0:22:32becoming trendy and then they've been forced out.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35Is that not...criminal?
0:22:35 > 0:22:38Because they've established the area,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41and then they can't afford to live in it. It absolutely is,
0:22:41 > 0:22:42but it's the way of the world.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44When people come in and purchase properties,
0:22:44 > 0:22:48they have responsibility to pay back what they've paid.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53But any forward-looking local authority or government would realise
0:22:53 > 0:22:57the importance of artists and this is happening in lots of major cities.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01And the artists are put into buildings that are owned
0:23:01 > 0:23:05by local authorities, and they are in there and heavily subsidised,
0:23:05 > 0:23:08because they act as a catalyst for that area,
0:23:08 > 0:23:11and the amount of business they bring into the area
0:23:11 > 0:23:13is very hard to quantify.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16So that money that should be given to artists to keep them in those areas
0:23:16 > 0:23:19is paid back ten times. Is that not happening here in Belfast,
0:23:19 > 0:23:22do you feel, within the Cathedral Quarter? I think it is,
0:23:22 > 0:23:25I think there is a recognition. There is Cotton Court opposite,
0:23:25 > 0:23:30and there are other art organisations that get grants.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33The government have put in money to support the artists
0:23:33 > 0:23:34and I hope that will be ongoing.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37Is it your role to support artists?
0:23:37 > 0:23:40Any business within this area or within this city, it's their role
0:23:40 > 0:23:44to have an understanding of the wealth that artists bring into it,
0:23:44 > 0:23:47very hard to quantify but it's definitely something,
0:23:47 > 0:23:48we should have a voice,
0:23:48 > 0:23:51but it's the government's role to support them.
0:23:51 > 0:23:56For you, why the Cathedral Quarter? What prompted you to come here?
0:23:56 > 0:23:59This was a very quiet area.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01We had the opportunity to buy other pubs within the area.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04We saw the mistakes that Temple Bar had made,
0:24:04 > 0:24:07and we were determined not to make those mistakes,
0:24:07 > 0:24:11so we don't allow hen nights or stag nights or karaoke nights
0:24:11 > 0:24:14and the area has a very definite feel to it.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17There is a great vibe in the Cathedral Quarter at the moment.
0:24:17 > 0:24:22Is that going to continue, grow, or will it reach a plateau?
0:24:22 > 0:24:26Well, I think it's very important that we encourage daytime trade here.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29For that, what we really need is shops.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32Artisan shops would be the way to go.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35The high street is having trouble
0:24:35 > 0:24:37because it's all become so homogenous.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41If we could have a tailor making the suits there,
0:24:41 > 0:24:44a jeweller producing the jewellery there,
0:24:44 > 0:24:49a baker baking the bread, that would really make this area special.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51Bill Wolsey, thank you. Thank you very much.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00That's almost it from The Arts Show.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03Join me live on Twitter now. You can stay up to date
0:25:03 > 0:25:06with all arts and culture on BBC Radio Ulster's Arts Extra,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09weeknights at 6.30pm.
0:25:09 > 0:25:14And do check out our website for some great archive and arts content.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18Now, he may have just released his fifth solo album
0:25:18 > 0:25:21but for die-hard fans of Glenn Tilbrook,
0:25:21 > 0:25:25he will for ever be one half of the songwriting duo Tilbrook Difford.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28The brains behind the British group Squeeze,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31he penned international hits such as Up the Junction,
0:25:31 > 0:25:33Cool for Cats and Tempted.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37Glenn was in Belfast last week for the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival,
0:25:37 > 0:25:40and gave The Arts Show an exclusive performance.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48# Persephone is not afraid
0:25:52 > 0:25:56# Of life's indecent haste
0:25:56 > 0:26:00# Time to spend, time to embrace
0:26:02 > 0:26:05# Gentle, not right in your face
0:26:06 > 0:26:10# She travels light and easily
0:26:14 > 0:26:18# She lives a life outside of the mainstream
0:26:18 > 0:26:22# And she's got everything she needs
0:26:23 > 0:26:26# In her VW bus
0:26:27 > 0:26:30# Persephone
0:26:33 > 0:26:37# Persephone
0:26:39 > 0:26:43# She doesn't know how to be mean
0:26:47 > 0:26:51# She's scared of guns incessantly
0:26:51 > 0:26:54# She wears her heart right on her sleeve
0:26:56 > 0:27:00# Tonight is going to be a big one
0:27:00 > 0:27:03# For Persephone
0:27:06 > 0:27:09# Persephone
0:27:12 > 0:27:16# Countercultural debris
0:27:16 > 0:27:20# On a slope that is slippery
0:27:20 > 0:27:23# Not a brilliant advert
0:27:25 > 0:27:29# Poor Persephone's inert
0:27:29 > 0:27:32# Pity poor Persephone
0:27:32 > 0:27:37# She had lost her phone, her car keys
0:27:37 > 0:27:40# And her short-term memory
0:27:43 > 0:27:46# Logic's all Greek to me
0:27:46 > 0:27:49# Pickles Persephone
0:27:50 > 0:27:54# She spent all night shaky and pale
0:27:58 > 0:28:02# She had no wind left in her sails
0:28:02 > 0:28:05# Although she tried, she could hardly speak
0:28:07 > 0:28:11# "Don't I know you from somewhere?"
0:28:11 > 0:28:16# Sa-aid Persephone
0:28:18 > 0:28:22# Persephone
0:28:24 > 0:28:27# Persephone
0:28:30 > 0:28:34# Persephone
0:28:36 > 0:28:39# Di di-di-di-di-di-di
0:28:39 > 0:28:41# Di-di di di di di-di-di
0:28:41 > 0:28:45# Persephone
0:28:47 > 0:28:51# Persephone. #