Belfast Photo Festival

The Belfast Photo Festival is Northern Ireland's premier visual arts festival and the photographic biennial for the island of Ireland. This major photographic event celebrates some of the finest national and international contemporary photography and visual culture, with the next festival taking place from 4th-30th June 2015. The Festival's Youth Edition launching in April 2014, aims to encourage and present future talent, while providing training and skills development for young people through photography. The importance of photography in Northern Ireland's visual culture and history is something the festival aims to promote while also embracing and showcasing the nations current and upcoming photographic talent both at home and abroad through seeking out new/emerging talent. Northern Ireland has produced and continues to produce many award winning and internationally renowned contemporary photographers. This festival is a major event, which highlights and presents the highest standards of work from some of these practitioners alongside the leading talents from across Europe and the world. We also acknowledge the importance that photography has played in recording and documenting our countries colourful history. Through this biennial event we provide a high profile forum and promote the growth of the current photographic infrastructure and practice throughout Northern Ireland, while also supporting audience development across the arts and cultural sectors, aided through mobilization of the existing visual arts infrastructure. Through a range of national and international interactive events the festival aims to inspire the countries future photographers, artists and entrepreneurs, offering new, exciting, welcoming and sometimes challenging experiences to audiences through the programme of events. Through these events we help to foster and develop wide ranging critical debate, analysis and documentation of photographic arts practice in Northern Ireland and abroad. By placing amateur photographers alongside ...