2023 Festival
Established in 1962, the city’s longest-running international arts festival, reimagined and reborn as Belfast International Arts Festival (BIAF) in 2015, is celebrating 61 years with a new season of contemporary arts and cultural events.
Our 2023 autumn edition returns on 12 October – 5 November featuring the very best in international and homegrown artists across theatre, dance, music, visual arts, literature and film.
Burnt Out
Gary Mitchell | A Lyric Theatre Production
7:30pm / 2:30pm (Sat & Sun)
Theatre & Dance
Opening Event
Accessible Performances
Poetry Jukebox Installations
Quotidian – Word on the Street Limited
10:00am
Talks & Ideas
Free
Victor Sloan – Beyond
11am - 5pm (Tues - Sat) | Closed Sun & Mon
Visual Arts
Free
Brass Against
7:00pm
Music
Oidhreacht/Legacy
An Aisling Ghéar production written by Nuala Ní Neill
8:00pm
Theatre & Dance
142nd Royal Ulster Academy Exhibition
10am - 5pm (Tues - Sun) | Closed Mon
Visual Arts
Free
And You Will Stand On Windswept Beaches
Owen Booth | Big Telly Theatre Company in collaboration with Gavin Peden
6:00pm
Theatre & Dance
Michel Chion – Requiem
Northern Lights Project
7:00pm
Music
BBC Introducing Presents…
6:30pm
Music
Paul Charles – Adventures in Wonderland
6:00pm
Talks & Ideas
Country Roads – An Evening of New Country Music
Starring Aaron and Aimee Allen, and Gary Quinn
8:00pm
Music
How to get ahead in the Music Business
12:30pm
Talks & Ideas
Embrace
Free
Taroo & The Cabinet of Curatrocities
Company Zid | Said Mouhssine | Baubo Theatre
1:30pm & 3:30pm
Theatre & Dance
Free
Cathedral Quarter Heritage & Music Walking Tour
Northern Ireland Tourist Guide Association
11.00am & 2.00pm
Talks & Ideas
Street Statues, Sculptures & Architecture – Cultural Walking Tours of Belfast
Northern Ireland Tourist Guide Association
11.00am & 2.00pm
Talks & Ideas
The Next Four Years
Screening & Conversation
3:00pm
Visual Arts
Free
Elégie | Rachmaninoff – A Heart in Exile
Lucy Parham
7:45pm
Music
Seth Lakeman
7:00pm
Music
The Jewish Story Walking Tour
Northern Ireland Tourist Guide Association
11.00am & 2.00pm
Talks & Ideas
Drs & Diseases Walking Tour
Northern Ireland Tourist Guide Association
11.00am & 2.00pm
Talks & Ideas
Black Narcissus (Film)
Cinema Unbound - The Creative Worlds of Powell & Pressburger
6:15pm
Film
Gary Younge – Dispatches from the Diaspora: From Nelson Mandela to Black Lives Matter
7:00pm
Talks & Ideas
Accessible Performances
Rodrigo y Gabriela
8:00pm
Music
An Evening With The Belfast Ensemble and Marc Almond
7:30pm
Music