Event Preview: Culture Night Belfast 2014

Our favourite night of the year to be in Belfast is almost upon us, Culture Night 2014 is this Friday! For those of you that don’t know, Culture Night is a magical time of the year when the city is over run with free cultural events of all kinds for you to peruse and enjoy at your leisure. This year there are over 200 events in over 100 venues with an estimated 30,000 people taking over Belfast (mostly) between the hours of 4pm and 10pm on Friday 19th September to help celebrate all things culture.

Since there are so many events on all at once, it can hard to sort out the ones that you definitely don’t want to miss. To help you out we’ve accumulated our top picks for each section of this year’s Culture Night:

Belfast Roller Derby
Writers Square
18:00 – 21:00 Every half hour
At this year’s Culture Night, The Belfast Banshees and Norn Iron Maidens will be swapping the flat track for Writer’s Square as they demonstrate how this hard-hitting, fast-paced sport, which is growing rapidly in popularity, is played.

The Big Gigantic Drum Circle!
Cathedral Gardens
18:30 – 19:15
The big traditional, unofficial start to Culture night. We know it’s already started, but let’s make the whole town know! Get there early for the biggest interactive event of the night. Room for 350 in this year’s Big Gigantic Drum Circle by The Gathering Drum. BOOM!

Camper Van Jam
Donegall Street
18:00 – 21:00
Open House Festival are bringing something different to this year Culture Night. Instead of a caravan we are bringing you a Camper van jam. Live music is from punky bluegrass critters, Dogg Ruff String Band. Please note we have moved location from the Black Box car park to Donegall Street.

The Hidden Courtyard
23 – 25 Gordon Street
18:00 – 22:30 Every half hour
An evening of discovery starts with a journey through the Belfast Circus School (where you can find out about what really goes on in Ireland?s only dedicated circus building) which leads you into the largest hidden courtyard in Cathedral Quarter, where you will be entertained by a host of circus and music performances from young, emerging and established talents from Oh Yeah Music Centre and the Belfast Circus School. 

Magical Mystery Twilight Cycle Tour
St Anne’s Square
17:00 – 20:00
A guided magical mystery Belfast cycle tour – includes twilight bike-lit river crossing, spectral alleyways and mysterious venues with Belfast tapas enroute – all at a leisurely pace on our comfy City Cruiser bikes with Intelligent Sensor Technology and cool and quirky co-riders.

Shot Glass Theatre Showcase
Sunflower Public House
65 Union Street
17:00 – 22:00
Three Events – One Location. Inside will be thumping traditional music, outside will be street artists. Inside, outside or maybe both will be theatre shorts.