Rolling Programme

Join us for a special evening celebrating fresh voices from our CQAF Creative Bursaries 2025. Taking place as part of Sound of Belfast, this showcase spotlights three outstanding artists supported through CQAF’s Creative Bursaries programme.

Eve Belle is a bilingual singer-songwriter from Donegal, now based in Belfast. Writing in both Irish and English, her songs explore love, mental health, and identity. Her latest EP Sad City, Baby! blends Americana influences with wry storytelling, and she’s currently working on a new bilingual collection on neurodiversity, due in 2026.

Conn Thornton is a Belfast composer and songwriter whose ethereal “folk with teeth” fuses classical piano roots, queer identity, and cinematic influences. Having supported artists like Daudi Matsiko and Courting, Conn will release their new EP When Bethesda Lands They’ll Throw Us a Parade on October 2nd.

Garrett Laurie is a Belfast-based alt-folk artist whose “soul-stirring” voice (The Thin Air) and cinematic storytelling create a distinctive, theatrical world. Named one of Youth Music’s Ones To Watch 2024 and a nominee for the NI Music Prize’s Joe Cassidy Chrysalis Award, Laurie has become a key voice in Northern Ireland’s scene, with recent releases including the Something Blue EP and a debut album No Son of Mine due in 2026.