The Creative Citizens Panel is a pilot project that brings together a small group of local residents (up to 12) to help shape arts activity in East Belfast. The aim is to ensure that local voices, experiences and ideas are better reflected in future programming, including the EastSide Arts Festival and year-round events.
Over three half-day sessions, the Panel members will have:
- Explored the role of the arts in East Belfast and shared their experiences, ideas and aspirations.
- Developed recommendations for new creative projects or activities that reflect local priorities.
- Agreed how a dedicated project budget could be used to bring those ideas to life.
- Helped shape a new approach to involving local people in arts programming in the future.
- Participants will receive £100 per session in shopping vouchers, and childcare will be provided for those that need it.
There will be 800 postcards distributed to residents living on the Newtownards Road and the surrounding streets between C.S. Lewis Square and Short Strand with an expression of interest form. Participants will be selected using a fair and transparent process informed by a democratic lottery approach. We will consider factors such as age, gender, where people live within the area, and previous experience of arts and cultural activities in order to select the panel. The organisers are also keen to include people who have not previously engaged with EastSide Arts. Where there are more eligible applicants than places within a particular criterion, participants will be selected at random.
EastSide Arts hopes this pilot will inform how the organisation works with local communities in the future, ensuring that local voices continue to play an important role in shaping creative activity.Come along and learn more about this new pilot project and encourage those in your community who have received a postcard to get involved.
This project is funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
