Our Great Artdoors Festival wins 'Audience Delight Award'

May 16, 2021

Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council is delighted to announce that its Arts Service has been awarded Thrive’s 2021, ‘Audience Delight Award’ for its production of ‘The Great Artdoors Festival that took place in September 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

The festival ran over two days in parks across the Lisburn Castlereagh area. It quickly booked out and was the only ‘in-person’ arts event that took place by a local authority in Northern Ireland, during the pandemic.

Alderman Michael Henderson MBE, Leisure & Community Development Committee Chairman, speaking about the award, said: “’The Great Artdoors Festival was fun for all the family and included a Pop-Up Kid’s Theatre, a Musical Theatre Masterclass and atmospheric performances from Northern Ireland, Opera. Our Arts team successfully delivered it within the NI Executive guidelines and restrictions that included a pre-booking and Track & Trace system with capacity limits complemented by sanitising stations and social distancing. 

“The council was also delighted to receive post-event independent evaluations of 100% positive responses from those who attended, with 100% of respondents strongly agreeing that they would like to see more of this type of event in the future.”

Thrive is currently using ‘The Great Artdoors’ event as an exemplary case study for outdoor event management during the pandemic in Northern Ireland to inspire others to plan and host their own outdoor events for summer 2021.

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