2024 Award "Best Practice in Citizen Participation"
18th Edition
Belfast: Belfast 2024 & Bank of Ideas
Belfast 2024 cultural programme, its Cultural Hub, Creative Me engagement programme and Bank of Ideas scheme are all about enabling civic participation and cultural democracy. They are a result of a huge collective civic voice keen to explore and celebrate Belfast's identity as a city not defined by its past, creating hope and sharing that with the world.
The themes of People Place and Planet speak to the diversity of culture and expression, and the need for culture-led democracy to be central to building a more democratic and peaceful city. Belfast 2024 comes 26 years after signing the Good Friday Agreement, with a new generation of people creating hope and taking a brave step towards peace and reconciliation. Over 10,000 people so far locally and internationally have been involved in the concept, development, and delivery of Belfast 2024.
Belfast 2024 is about pushing boundaries, radical rethinking, and inviting all voices, in order to create an environment (physically and conceptually) where this complicated and beautiful city can welcome bravery in expression, active civic participation, and quality culture-led place-shaping. There will be a strong legacy for Belfast 2024, through new processes, partnerships, friendships, and plans hatched during its inception and creation.
The programme has enabled much-needed communication on gender, equality, human rights, peace building, new communities, public shared space, social inclusion, access to the night sky and nature, and climate change.
For individuals, it has enabled civic action and co-creation, and expanded a definition of what culture and creativity is, and how people see themselves as creative. People have accessed new skills, connected to new people, increased civic pride and gained a sense of achievement and impact both personally and in how they contribute to the city. In this way, Belfast 2024 has helped people reach their full potential.
Belfast 2024 has challenged local cultural organisations and creatives to reconsider their function and role within the city. It has broken down silos between council departments, and external bodies, through sharing a common goal and aims.
New governance structures and ways of working have enabled conversations where cultural participation, co-creation and civic action is positioned front and centre to effect positive change for our people, place and planet, creating more recognition of culture's role in a more democratic and peaceful city.
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