Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival returns to Belfast from 29 April to 10 May, bringing another packed programme of live music, comedy, theatre, spoken word, literature, film, walking tours, visual art and more to the city’s historic cultural quarter and beyond.
Now in its 26th year, CQAF has become one of the best loved fixtures in the island’s cultural calendar, known for its mix of established names, fresh talent and genre spanning programming.
This year’s line up includes Louis Theroux, Craig Charles, Death in Vegas, Kate Rusby, Claire Keegan, Rob Newman, Stephen Rea, The Unthanks, A Certain Ratio, Beth Orton, Bad Bridgets, Bronagh Gallagher, Carsie Blanton, Landless, Susannah Dickey, London African Gospel Choir, Séamas O’Reilly, David Keenan, Seamus Fogarty, Jan Brierton and Henry Normal.
The festival will also introduce CQAF26 Artist in Residence Eve Belle, the acclaimed Donegal born, Belfast based singer songwriter. Eve’s music explores themes including mental illness, queerness, language and identity. She will appear across the festival in a series of support slots, before closing the programme with a headline show on Sunday 10 May.
Festival director Sean Kelly said:
“26 years and still going strong! As ever, we’ve sought to bring together some of the greatest artists working today, both from our own city and from much further afield. This year is no exception as we welcome back some old favourites and introduce some exciting new acts in a programme we think is one of our very best.
“It’s not often you get to see Death in Vegas and Beth Orton alongside the London African Gospel Choir and Kate Rusby in Belfast, but that’s what we get to do at CQAF.
“Our audiences have been along for the ride from the very beginning and it’s been a pleasure as much as an honour to present the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival for over a quarter of a century, with many more to come!”
For the full programme and booking information, visit www.cqaf.com.
