May Day Belfast Festival 2026 – Traditions in Transition
-
28 Apr to 9 May
The programme has introductions from Community Arts Partnership (CAP) CEO, Conor Shields and from Gerry Murphy, the ICTU Assistant General Secretary. In his introduction, Gerry says. “Any popular movement, grounded in everyday lives, draws its strength from songs and stories that carry both memory and the call to action… This programme of events and thinking and songs and debate is about recognition of our past and our future as trade unionists. The content and the context are inextricably linked.”
CAP’s CEO, Conor Shields, in his introduction to the programme says “Tradition can often be mistaken for something fixed, something to be preserved unchanged. Yet the traditions that matter, in the arts, in community life, and in the labour movement, have never stood still. They have always been shaped and renewed by people responding to the pressures, the ambitions and the possibilities of their time.
This year’s programme reflects that renewal in very real ways and the partnerships behind the Festival. Young people from communities throughout the city have not simply learned about the history of collective action, they have interpreted it, reimagined it, and made it visible through their own creative work. On May Day itself, that work moves from the workshop to the street, the performance space and theatre, from idea to public expression, reminding us that culture is not passive, it is made and remade through participation.”
Download the Programme of Events below (opens in a new tab).
May Day Belfast 2026 programme (pdf)
