Organisers of not one, but two unimaginably good Belfast Arts Festivals (plus a mini music film fest!). CQAF May 1 - 11, 2025, Out to Lunch Jan 4-26, 2025.
Like so many others, we're furious this morning that
@belfastcc
have approved the 'Tribeca' development. In what parallel universe would you destroy the city's historic core for more high density offices. Respect to the Councillors who opposed and especially
@SaveCQBelfast
.
#CQAF23
- LIVE AT THE MARQUEE!
Sister Sledge, Neville Staple, Aja, Joshua Burnside, Janey Godley, Steve Harley, Kate Rusby, Badly Drawn Boy, Warmduscher, Ron Sexsmith...
10 great gigs under the starry canvas at Custom House Square.
#EmbraceAGiantSpirit
HAPPY FRIDAY!
Our print programme hit the streets this week & now the countdown begins to The 23rd Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival.
Have a look, then get it booked! X
NB no Artists in Residence were harmed in the making of these pictures. 😉
Last night of the proms is NOTHING compared to last night of
#CQAF22
Thanks to all who worked, played & supported our first fully live festival in over 2 years. We couldn't have done it without you.
See you all in Jan 2023 for our first live Out to Lunch Fest in three years!🙏
"My CQAF" - ARBORIST
Arborist will be performing at The 22nd Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Belfast which takes place from 28 April - 8 May.
Also featuring Soul II Soul, Echo & the Bunnymen, Mogwai, Kae Tempest, John Cooper Clarke.
#CQAF22
Learn More:
"My CQAF" - DANI LARKIN
Dani will be performing at The 22nd Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Belfast which takes place from 28 April - 8 May.
Also featuring Soul II Soul, Echo & the Bunnymen, Mogwai, Kae Tempest, John Cooper Clarke.
#CQAF22
Learn More:
"My CQAF" - CIARA O'NEILL
Ciara is performing at The 22nd Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Belfast which takes place from 28 April - 8 May.
Also featuring Soul II Soul, Echo and the Bunnymen, Mogwai, Kae Tempest, John Cooper Clarke.
Learn More:
FESTIVAL UPDATE: We've decided not to proceed with live shows for OTL. At the moment the risk to all our health is just too great. We've rearranged most dates for later in the year & we'll still be live-streaming selected events. Down but not out!
Full statement below.
Been bursting to share this all summer! We formally invite you to an intimate evening of conversation w JARVIS COCKER, 21 Sept, 8pm at The Whitla Hall. He'll be chatting to Wendy Erskine about GOOD POP, BAD POP his excellent new book. Tickets from
"My CQAF" - RORY NELLIS
Rory will be performing at The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Belfast which takes place from 28 April - 8 May.
Also featuring Soul II Soul, Echo and the Bunnymen, Mogwai, Kae Tempest, John Cooper Clarke.
Learn More:
Cometh the hour, cometh the hamster..
It's Day 1 of
#OTL23
! We kick off with a double helping of Reginald D Hunter, followed tomorrow by Electric Poet, Miki Berenyi & Andy White.
Check for tickets & see you “Out to Lunch” in January.
Love, Team CQAF x
TFW you're staring a viral pandemic in the face and you've booked two of the most celebrated music artists of the last 30 years for your festival in 2 months 👇
We finished our 20th Festival last night. What an astonishing whirlwind it’s been these last 11 days. Thanks for coming along for the ride & making it an utterly cracking 20th. Big love also to staff, volunteers, venues, sponsors & friends who made it all possible!
#CQAF19
A big thank you to EVERYONE - artists, crew, sponsors, venues & most importantly, audiences - who helped make the 23rd Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival so memorable. We had a blast. We hope you did too.
Time to regroup & plot an Out to Lunch in January that'll blow yer minds!
We've had some big load-ins for shows over the years but this one for
@DukeSpecial
today is next level.
Streamed live from
@BlackBoxBelfast
. Show starts at 2pm.
We are Family!
@SisterSledge_
just announced for CQAF 2023. Friday 28 April, Festival Marquee. Dancing shoes mandatory...
Happy Xmas from CQAF & Out to Lunch X
Booking:
"My CQAF" - WINNIE AMA
Winnie is Artist in Residence at The 22nd Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Belfast which takes place from 28 April - 8 May.
Also featuring Soul II Soul, Echo and the Bunnymen, Mogwai, Kae Tempest, John Cooper Clarke.
Learn More:
As Arts Funding in NI reaches a new low (now less than 50% of UK/ROI) - we've been massively heartened by the response to this years festival.
Here are just some of the artists coming to Belfast in two weeks time.
#CQAF18
#Artsmatter
"MY
#CQAF23
" - JOSHUA BURNSIDE
Josh will be performing at Custom House Square, Belfast on Mon 1 May. The 23rd Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Belfast runs from 27 April - 7 May 2023 across the city's historic quarter and beyond...
@JoshuaBurnside
TONIGHT 8pm- PANDORA’S JAR: WOMEN IN THE GREEK MYTHS.
NATALIE HAYNES will be bringing the voices of Pandora, Clytemnestra Jocasta & Penelope to life in this long overdue redressing of the gender imbalance of these ancient stories. FREE, booking required:
"My CQAF" - BERNADETTE MORRIS
Bernadette's "To The Well For Water" Album Launch takes place at St Joseph’s Church, on Sat 6 May, 8pm
The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Belfast returns from 27 April - 7 May, with over 100 events!
#EmbraceAGiantSpirit
Great to see
@Sunflower_Pub
on point as always. Working with
@ErdingerIRL
, these drinks cups bound for the Festival Marquee are made of Poly-Lactic Acid (PLA) and are fully compostable.
#CQAF19
HAPPY FRIDAY! The full
#CQAF23
programme is now online at .
Thrilled that we've managed to pull together over 100 of the best local, national & international events for you.
Dive in, see what you fancy & we’ll see you from 27 April - 7 May! X
HUGE congratulations to
@alicemalseed
, Junk Drawer & Shannon Yee - the recipients of CQAF CREATIVE BURSARIES for Theatre, Music & Writing. Looking forward to premiering new work from each of them in 2021!
#supportartistsni
We went to the very fancy
#NITourismAwards
tonight & bagged a “Commended” certificate! Congrats to category winners
@balmoralshow
& “specially commended”
@FeileBelfast
. At least we‘re in good company! Thx everyone for your amazing support tonight & over the last 20 years!
#cqaf19
"My CQAF" - MALOJIAN
Malojian will be performing at The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Belfast which takes place from 28 April - 8 May.
Also featuring Soul II Soul, Echo and the Bunnymen, Mogwai, Kae Tempest, John Cooper Clarke.
Learn More:
Welcome to the 2019 Out to Lunch Festival, from the heart of a place no one is calling, or will ever call, TriBeCa. Chancers.
#SaveCQ
We hope hope you like what we’ve cooked up for Jan. Rather proud of this one as it happens. X
#otl19
#festival
#belfast
Amidst the gloom some light shone through this week when MOGWAI confirmed for CQAF in May. One of the best live bands in the world, this is going to epic. Oh, & the full OUT TO LUNCH programme is also online! Happy Xmas from CQAF/OTL and see you in Jan. XX
Still recovering from the brilliance of
@the4ofus
earlier. Ended with a stunning rendition of “Mary”, not a dry eye in the house!! Now we’ve got the small matter of the amazing DJ Yoda’s Stranger Things Mixtape this evening. Out to Lunch: Always electric, always eclectic!
#otl18
The opening event of
#CQAF19
isn't just FREE, it's FABULOUS. CQ Bazaar has live music, 2nd hand vinyl, vintage & retro gear, lovely food AND The Crypt Bar aka
@Sunflower_Pub
, all under the roof of St Anne's Cathedral! Pray tell us, where else would you be?
Perhaps inevitably, January's Out to Lunch festival will be (mostly) delivered digitally. We're looking for a Digital Content Manager/Team to help us achieve this.
RT's appreciated.
Thanks to
@ArtsCouncilNI
Emergency Fund
Been waiting over 2 years to say this, but the old school, fully live, bums-on-seats, feet-on-the-floor Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival starts today! Real life audiences at 150 events over 11 days.
We could get used to this...
Very proud to launch the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival Creativity Bursaries today in Theatre (£3,000), Music (£2,000), and Literature (£2,000). We'll showcase finished work at CQAF in May. Details on
We’re about bringing people together so this doesn’t come easy. With love in our hearts, everybody back off for a bit, yeah?? We do this now, we do CQAF later. We hope you agree that’s worth temporary lockdown. Now go box-set, WhatsApp, write your novel. We’ll get through this! X
LAST DAY OF
#OTL23
!
2pm - ROSIE HOLT,
@BlackBoxBelfast
6pm - STUART BRAITHWAITE,
@TheDeersHead1
7.30pm - LET US BE SEEN (Screening & Gender Chores show), Black Box Green Room
8pm - ANNA'S NUMBER, Black Box.
Alright Belfast, once more with feeling... X
Tentatively, joyfully, announcing some new shows today over at . CQAF will take place from Sept. 2-12, Out to Lunch will take place from Jan. 8-30 and
@johngrantmusic
will play St Anne's Cathedral on October 7 (gulp).
On Culture Night (Sept 21), we celebrate the genius of Nick Drake. Taking place in St Joseph's Church, Sailortown, we're seeking 5 artists to cover 2 Nick Drake songs each. Free event, (modest) payment for artists. Please email info
@cqaf
.com. Supported by American Bar. Thanks.
Regular gigs will be back by May, won't they? Hoping against hope because we've booked the amazing
@bccamplight
for a show in
@BlackBoxBelfast
and it's going to be a bit special. Tickets on sale Friday.
24 hours before the 20th Cathedral Quarter Festival. We’ve got the acts sorted. The venues are locked down & ready to go. Last time we looked up, the sky looked something like this. We’d say we’re ready to go.... See you on the other side of midnight friends. X
#CQAF19
#Festival
We're delighted to announce the open call for The
#CQAF24
CREATIVE BURSARIES scheme!
In partnership with Belfast City Council, we've got sixteen MUSIC bursaries up for grabs as well as substantial awards in THEATRE, VISUAL ARTS and LITERATURE.
Deadline is 16 Feb. Good luck!
More special shows for the CQAF 20th anniversary festival.
@annacalvi
(solo performance) will play our Festival Marquee, Custom House Square, Belfast. Tuesday May 7. Tickets £15
In the remarkable PANDORA’S JAR: WOMEN IN THE GREEK MYTHS, author Natalie Haynes puts women on equal footing after millennia of tales of gods & men. The voices that sing from these pages are those of Clytemnestra, Jocasta & Penelope.. Free, online, 13 Jan:
SO that’s the full Out to Lunch manifesto released. We pledge nothing less than top quality, affordable entertainment throughout January... You can find the details on . And remember - vote early, vote often!
#OTL20
#Festival
#belfast
#outtolunch
#arts
We were so lucky to have two iterations of The Fall play CQAF over the years. The one constant - the irreplaceable, irascible genius that was Mark E Smith. Two stunning shows and an encounter with Alex Higgins are among our great memories of the great man. A sad day. RIP x
My
#CQAF23
- DARK TROPICS
Dark Tropics play St Joseph's Church, Sailortown on Sat 29 April
Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Belfast runs from 27 April - 7 May across the city's historic quarter & beyond. Over 100 events in dozens of venues over 11 days
THIS is why we do this... thank you
@HaikuSalut
for transforming the
@BlackBoxBelfast
AND Buster Keaton’s The General tonight. Mesmerising, transcendant, masterful. Just your typical Wednesday at Out to Lunch.
#OTL19
#Festival
#Film
It's the last day of the 23rd Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival. All of the five main food groups on offer: Music, film, art, poetry and Otoboke Beaver!
#CQAF23
All our online events for Out to Lunch 2021 are free, with an opportunity to make a donation at point of booking. Any contributions will help us to sustain the festival & support artists during these difficult times. Our greatest resource though is our audience! See you in Jan x
We’ve got what’s known as an EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT for y’all tomorrow morning! Well, we think it’s exciting. So exciting in fact, that we’re dying to tell you right now. But we can’t. So tomorrow it is. EXCITED YET??
#cqaf19
#programme
#festivalcountdown
#lovecq
#lovebelfast
The night before CQAF...
It's been a while, but feels good to be bringing live events back to Belfast. These are exceptional times: Be mindful of others, enjoy responsibly & let's have a fabulous 21st Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival!
The guys that keep the sounds ON POINT in the most trying of circumstances. The fellas that illuminate to flatter. No it’s not the Chemical Bros, but our very own
#CQAF19
sound & light guys Barry & John! Celebrate them! Enjoy them! Buy them a pint!
#CQAF19
@BlackBoxBelfast
#CQAF19
#DayTwo
! On today’s menu, we’ve got (Deep breath) ....Echo and the Bunnymen, Jason Lytle, Lisa O’Neill, Kitt Pilippa, Lowkey, Skipper’s Alley, Gold Tips & Alice McCullough! How’s THAT for a lineup??
#Belfast
#Festival
Gutted that you missed
@malojian
last night? What a beautiful show, you would have totally loved it! If only there was some way you could still watch it... Hang on a minute - what’s this??
What a glorious morning! But hang on a moment - Hasn’t the weather been stinking all week? But wait another hot minute - it’s the programme launch of the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival today isn’t it? AH-HA!!
#fairweatherfest
#figures
#belfast
#festival
#CQAF18
Lots of big hamster energy over at
New & recently released shows for
#OTL23
include Miki Berenyi, Josie Long, Blue Rose Code & Opera NI.
For later in the year, CQAF announces Tim Key, Otoboke Beaver & Matthew and the Atlas.
More shows coming soon X