Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Bangor’s Open for arts
Festival bosses tell of hopes to boost town
FESTIVAL organisers have set their sights on Bangor becoming the Brighton of Northern Ireland.
Alison Gordon and Kieran Gilmore started Open House in Belfast in 1999 before moving it to the Co Down town five years ago.
Now as the event continues to grow in size, they hope Bangor could become to Belfast what Brighton is to London.
And before the fifth year of the festival launches tomorrow, Alison told of her hopes it could contribute to the town’s regeneration.
She said: “It could be the Brighton of the North. Bangor was once a thriving, Victorian seaside town, a real holiday destination and we think it could be again.
“It’s a great location with great transport links to Belfast and the fact there’s so much creativity here. The town centre’s future is not in retail, it is going to be in our tourism, creativity and leisure, those small creative businesses.
“We hope the festival will, in its own small way, help to rejuvenate the town.”
Open House, which has grown from around 40 events in the first year to more than 140 across 42 venues, is set to attract 40,000 people throughout August.
The festival moved after Alison and Kieran, who live in Bangor, realised how many people were heading to Belfast to enjoy arts and culture instead of staying in their own town. The pair now have almost 100 volunteers helping run the event along with a small team of staff who work year round to make it all happen.
Alison added: “We met through the music scene in London.
“We were putting on gigs and doing some work with the NI Tourism Board, bringing musicians over and touring them around folk festivals and trying to promote Northern Ireland through its music and culture.
“At that point people actually laughed because it was still during The Troubles and people did not think of Northern Ireland as a place of culture.
“When the Good Friday Agreement was signed we thought it was a good opportunity to come and start some exciting cultural activity here and be part of the new Northern Ireland.
“We had seen in various places how arts and culture can redefine and regenerate areas. We saw Dublin take off and Glasgow after being named European City of Culture in 1990 and having lived in London we saw places being regenerated and we wanted to be part of that.”