You may have heard the news recently that the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) have cut thousands of pounds of government funding for sporting and cultural events in Northern Ireland. The news comes after the most successful Culture Night in Belfast to date, with over 50,000 people attending and will affect the future of other events too, such as the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival and the North West 200.
In a statement, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment announced that the cuts were due to a “very difficult financial” situation and that it would be scrapping the Northern Ireland Tourist Board events fund.
In light of this, there will be a public meeting about these funding decisions taking place on Wednesday 8th October at the Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast at 6pm. As the good people from the Open House Festival in Belfast state, “No-one here wants to go back to the dark ages so please show your support for #lightsoutni.”
You can read the full BBC coverage of these cuts here.
