Admission Free
CQ Bazaar returns to Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival with a feast of delights in (where else?!) the Common Market.
An eclectic mix of DJs, Independent record labels, second-hand vinyl, Vintage clothes, antiques and Retro furniture. The best art, design and crafts.
Common Market Bar and food vendors are open during the market hours.
Come and treat your eyes, ears, mouth and pockets.
Brought to you by CQAF, Little Fox Events and CQ Bid.
A euphoric record of Sheffield-based Studio Electrophonique, which nurtured a generation of superstars such as ABC, The Human League, Heaven 17, Clock DVA and Pulp.
Ken Patten was a panel beater who sported a rakish moustache and had a passion for music.
He built his own creative universe in the downstairs extension of his Handsworth council house.
It was here that he set about recording the sounds of Sheffield, nurturing a generation of nascent superstars who would go on to form some of the most iconic British bands of the 1980s and 1990s.
James Taylor’s film, the little-known story of Studio Electrophonique, celebrates a vision unconstrained by means and a name that almost died unheralded, but now survives on the outer ring road of art.
We were gutted to hear of the recent passing of the great Ryuichi Sakamoto.
One of the most important artists of our era, his career spanned from techno-pop stardom to Oscar-winning composer and anti-nuclear activist.
Sakamoto was a polymath in the truest sense of the word. Whether he was innovating with the legendary Yellow Magic Orchestra or going toe to toe with David Bowie in the movie Merry Christmas Mister Lawrence, his charisma, style and breath-taking talent shone through.
In honour of the great man, we’re showing a free screening of his beautiful 2017 documentary Coda.
This intimate, elegiac portrait explores Sakamoto’s return to music following a cancer diagnosis, leading to the creation of a haunting new masterpiece.
Rest in power.
This is a free screening, but advance booking is essential.
Join Ghouls On Film as they screen the cult classic ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ (1968), and consider the implications of a feminist reading, with a post-screening discussion facilitated by Dr. Jolene Mairs Dyer.
Rosemary’s Baby is one of the greatest movies of the late 1960s and one of the best of all horror movies, an outstanding modern Gothic tale. An art-house fable and an elegant popular entertainment, it finds its home on the cusp between a cinema of sentiment and one of sensation.
>Finally, after a decade of work, countless interviews and immersing deep into the culture, John Robb’s definitive book The History Of Goth is a journey deep into The Art Of Darkness. The first in-depth book on Goth is a deep dive into the enduring culture and the social, historical and political backdrop that created the space for the art of darkness to thrive.
JOHN ROBB is a ournalist: TV and Radio Presenter: Mentor: Musician (The Membranes), best-selling Pop Culture Author (Stone Roses, Punk Rock – An Oral History, Manchester – the North Will Rise Again): Public Speaker: Head of Louder Than Words – the UK’s biggest music and books festival: Head of the Green Britain Academy, an about to be launched scheme for training young people in Green and Eco jobs.
We think 2023 is going to be quite the year for Millisle-born artist Taylor Lally. After receiving her first guitar for Christmas at 11, she became enchanted with the instrument and, inspired by the music of James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and Bob Marley, started writing her own songs. Taylor moved to BIMM (Brighton Institute of Modern Music) to study music performance and eventually graduated with a degree in songwriting.
Waiting until she finally felt comfortable and ready, Taylor started releasing her own music independently last year. Bliss-Less Musing Life is her first single and is a warm and poignant reflection on her experiences while studying songwriting in Brighton.
Recent support slots for Steve Forbert and Mary Coughlan have contributed to her growing reputation and headline slots are now beckoning, including a sold-out Courthouse show in Bangor in February.
‘‘2023 is the start. I am finally just stepping into the world.” muses Taylor “After so many years of playing cover songs in bars, studying, writing, and sculpting my style, no words can describe how that feels”
‘The singer from Co. Down has been compared to the likes of Rikki-Lee Jones with the guitar sensibilities of John Martyn. She also strikes a chord with her poignant songwriting craft. Dealing with themes of growing up in a changing Northern Ireland and healing from heartache … you can’t help but admire Taylor Lally’s impressive knack for pulling our heartstrings’ – CHORDBLOSSOM
Taylor’s performances during CQAF will be released in the coming weeks, please check back for details.
We are very proud to welcome Joshua Burnside, a former CQAF Artist in Residence, to headline the biggest stage of the festival.
Joshua has grown immensely as an artist over the past few years and it’s been a pleasure to watch him develop. In December he sold out the Ulster Hall so it seems the rest of the world is catching up.
Joshua Burnside is an experimental folk songwriter, singer and producer. He takes influence from alternative electronica and Irish traditional song heritages, chopping and blending them with a mixture of found sounds, world music and unorthodox production methods.
‘Joshua Burnside is the best songwriter in Ireland right now, and probably beyond’ – PHIL TAGGART, SIRIUS XM
“He creates a world and lets us live in it for a while… He’s like going to the theatre” – MARK RADCIFFE, BBC Radio 2
An hour of new material from Catherine Bohart. As seen and heard on Live At The Apollo, Mock The Week, Roast Battle, 8 Out of 10 Cats, The Stand Up Sketch Show and The Guilty Feminist Podcast.
Catherine started performing stand-up in 2015 and since then has enjoyed a rapid rise through the ranks of UK and Irish comedy.
In 2016, she was a finalist in both the BBC New Comedy Awards and Funny Women, drawing praise in the final of the former for having “a distinctive voice and a story you’d like to hear” (Chortle) and in the latter for being “pretty much the perfect comedy package” (Beyond The Joke).
Catherine was named on the BBC’s New Talent Hotlist 2017 and was runner-up in the Irish Comedian of the Year Final 2017. Catherine was selected for the prestigious Pleasance Reserve 2017 and has been named a Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year Nominee 2018.
‘Destined for stardom’ (Evening Standard)
‘The laughs keep coming and, finally, so does a tear or two. Marvellous’ ★★★★ (Times)
‘Beautifully-delivered hour’ ★★★★ (Skinny)
‘Packed full of laughs’ ★★★★ (Herald)
‘A winning mixture of self-deprecation and confidence’ ★★★★ (Beyond The Joke)
‘A fully developed comic voice’ ★★★★ (Fest)
‘Truly special’ ★★★★ (Edinburgh Festivals Magazine)
Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved seating
Anne Gildea is waxing her moustache, slathering on the Oestrogel and boiling with excitement about bringing her fabulous hit show to CQAF.
How to Get The Menopause and Enjoy It has been wowing audiences and critics alike, and playing to packed house all over Ireland, since it’s sell-out launch last year.
An original, informative, wet-your-pants excursion through one of life’s last great mysteries – The Menopause! What is it? Why does it happen? Is there anything you can do about it? Why is it named after men? And why oh why is so little known about this inevitable phase of a woman’s life? Anne answers all these questions and more as she brings TMI to a whole new level.
‘This funny and taboo-busting work blasts the lid right off…Never has the female body been put under such an hilarious microscope…utterly punk’ –KATY HAYES, IRISH INDEPENDENT
What Audiences Are Saying
“I rarely find myself laughing so hard for so long at a live comedy event. Your writing, your energy and your added sparkle is worthy of the over-used term.”
“awesome…there’s nothing for it now but to bring a few buddies to forthcoming shows. I will be a How to Catch the Menopause and Enjoy It groupie.”
“Went with 10 friends tonight. Actually have a pain in my stomach from laughing n tears ran down my face! Thank u so much for this important work.”
“I enjoyed it so much I went a second time and brought the husband. He had tears streaming down his face with laughter.”
‘The funniest, most honest, and real show I have ever been to!”
“I’m sitting here today still laughing away to myself… loved every minute of last night … thank you.” “Fab night full of laughs, great for the soul.”
Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved seating
Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage have more or less perfected a scuzzy and urban style of indie-folk – a 21st Century mash-up of Pete Seeger, R. Crumb and Sonic Youth.
A born and raised New Yorker, Lewis has been hard at work in the underground music and art world since the turn of the century – touring throughout the world and releasing eight acclaimed albums on the record labels Rough Trade and Don Giovanni.
He is also a widely respected comics artist who self-publishes a comic book series called ‘Statics’.
On stage Lewis is backed by his band the Voltage, including long-time collaboratorsBrent Cole(drums) and Mem Pahl (bass) as well as recent addition Mallory Feuer (violin and keys).
The spectacular full-length Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage albumBad Wiring was recorded in Nashville, TN with producer Roger Moute not (Yo La Tengo) and was released November 1, 2019.
Doors 7.30pm | Mostly Standing
Scaredy’s working the late shift at the cinema. Tonight’s schedule? Horror movie sexual awakenings of yesteryear. Lost in steamy recollections of Jesse Walsh dancing, Carrie and Tommy at the prom and the sinful duo of Ryan Philippe and Freddie Prinze Jr., Scaredy should be in ecstasy but evil horror host Count Calories keeps cutting in on the fun. It’s finally time for Scaredy to face their fears and stop being such a big Scaredy Fat.
Come to the movies with Scaredy as they poke fun at fat and queer representation in the horror genre, asking what it means to love a genre that doesn’t love you back.
We’re gonna need a bigger shirt…
Winner of the Les Enfants Terribles Award 2023 and the CQAF Theatre Bursary. See this Big Gay Spooky Treat before its Edinburgh debut.
Written and Performed by Colm McCready
Directed by Seón Simpson
Produced and Production Managed by Gina Donnelly
Costume Design by Níamh Kearney
Animation/Set Design and Poster Image by Fergus Wachala-Kelly
AV Design by Colm McCready
Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved seating
A series of artworks based on Amanda Dunsmore’s recollections of making the silent filmed portraits which comprise the artwork AGREEMENT.
AGREEMENT started in 2004 with an aim to film and acknowledge the important roles played by all the signatories of the Belfast ‘Good Friday’ Agreement. The resulting artwork consists of 14 video portraits through which the audience reflect on each of the sitters, as the sitters reflect silently.
This exhibition presents new work, entitled MEMENTO – AGREEMENT, involving drawing, text and printing process to revisit each of the video portraits that Dunsmore undertook between 2004 and 2022.These reflective portraits are made from a mix of typed text, pen & ink portraits and map etchings.
The drawings are accompanied by a video installation of Billy’s Museum, another artwork by Amanda Dunsmore that the AGREEMENT sitters viewed as their silent portraits were captured.
The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival and Out To Lunch are annual festivals of music, comedy, theatre, art and literature which take place in January and May in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
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Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival / Out To Lunch Arts Festival
Unit 8
Northern Whig House
Bridge Street
Belfast
BT1 1LU
