![audience](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/placeholder-audience-1440x810.jpg)
2017 Festival
Welcome to the 2017 edition of the Belfast International Arts Festival. Our aim is a simple one; to create a genuinely civic event of contemporary arts and ideas of international appeal and stature.
What You Missed
![purple-placeholder](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/purple-placeholder-480x270.png)
Belfast Open Studios | Marcus Patton Artist Talk and Sketching
Visual Arts
![David Sontag Rieff](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/DavidSontagRieff-480x270.jpg)
In Praise of Forgetting
6:00pm
Talks & Ideas
Free
![](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/Souk-480x270.jpg)
Belfast Open Studios | The Art of Tea
7pm - 9pm
Visual Arts
Free
![John Hewitt Birthday Reading](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/Untitled-collage-480x270.jpg)
John Hewitt Birthday Reading
8:00pm
Talks & Ideas
![Jane Harris and Sally Rooney](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/Untitled-collage-1-480x270.jpg)
Jane Harris and Sally Rooney
7:00pm
Talks & Ideas
![Uploaded To‘Art’ in New York an Irishman’s Sketch Diary](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/Art-Hughes-480x270.jpg)
‘Art’ in New York an Irishman’s Sketch Diary
7:00pm
Talks & Ideas
Free
![Bernie McGill](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/Bernie-McGill-author-pic_web-480x270.jpg)
The Watch House
6:00pm
Talks & Ideas
![first world war women](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/first-world-war-women-480x270.jpg)
Women at Work
4:00pm
Talks & Ideas
![](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/lombard-Trina-Hobson-480x270.jpg)
Belfast Open Studios | LOMBARD STUDIOS
Visual Arts
Free
![Kevin Toolis, author of My Fathers Wake Copyright Many Rivers Films](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/Hi-Res-Kevin-Toolis-author-of-My-Fathers-Wake-Copyright-Many-Rivers-Films-480x270.jpg)
My Father’s Wake: How The Irish Teach Us To Live, Love & Die
1:00pm
Talks & Ideas
![](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/VAI-speed-curating-2016-6-480x270.jpg)
Belfast Open Studios | FLAX
2pm - 4pm
Visual Arts
Free
![The Tragedy of Russia](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/Geoffrey-Swain-Russian_web-480x270.jpg)
Joe Boyle’s Adventures in the Russian Revolution
1:00pm
Talks & Ideas
Free
![](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/Embrace-studios-1-480x270.jpeg)
Belfast Open Studios | Embrace Studios Launch Event
5.30pm - 9pm
Visual Arts
Free
![Wounds: A Memoir of War and Love](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/Wounds-cover_web-480x270.jpg)
Wounds: A Memoir of War and Love
7:00pm
Talks & Ideas
![Performers](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/21122674_10155643594493948_5155049684652929165_o-480x270.jpg)
Brexit Stage Right…
9:00pm
Special Events
Free
![Battleship Potemkin](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/battleship-potemkin-480x270.jpg)
Battleship Potemkin
6:20pm
Film
![paul carrack](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/paul-carrack-480x270.jpg)
Paul Carrack
8:00pm
Music
![Donny McCaslin Jimmy King](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/Donny-McCaslin-Jimmy-King-480x270.jpg)
Donny McCaslin Group
8:00pm
Music
NI Premiere
![](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/MATT-DARKBLUE_web-480x270.jpg)
Matt Forde
7:45pm
Special Events
![](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/MITLEID-8526_cGianmarco-Bresadola_web-480x270.jpg)
Compassion. The History of the Machine Gun
7:45pm
Theatre & Dance
UK & Ireland Premiere
![Doreen Curran](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/DoreenCurran-480x270.jpg)
Doreen Curran
7:30pm
Classical
3 for 2
![Ulster Orchestra](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/165-hi-res-Ulster-Orch-9apr15_web-480x270.jpg)
Seamus Heaney: Words and Music
7:30pm
Classical
![](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/AdobeStock_70291885_web-480x270.jpg)
Stravinsky’s Firebird
7:45pm
Classical
![Elizabeth Cooney (violin) Ruth McGinley (piano)](https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/assets/uploads/pjimage-480x270.jpg)
Elizabeth Cooney (violin) Ruth McGinley (piano)
3:00pm
Classical
3 for 2