^{10 YEARS OF AVA BELFAST}

A DECADE OF GROWTH, COMMUNITY AND PIONEERING AUDIOVISUAL ARTS - AVA MAKES A MARK AT THEIR FLAGSHIP BELFAST EVENT

^{A DECADE OF AUDIO-VISUAL-ARTS. Photo cred: The Hype Factory}

It was always going to be a special moment for AVA Festival Belfast as they celebrated 10 years, and the momentous occasion did not disappoint. Bringing together 10,000 guests each day, over 70 local and international artists, hundreds of staff, local creatives and more at the Titanic Spliways - AVA 10 was a testament to the strength of the Irish music community, and those who have worked tirelessly to elevate AVA into a global movement. The theme for AVA 2024 was Unity – and that was felt fiercely across the weekend.

Committed to continual evolution, AVA programmed some of the globe’s leading acts for its 2024 edition, with the Main Stage, Pumphouse, Nomadic and Lookout all hosting killer acts across the weekend. BICEP’S CHROMA show on Friday night as they mesmerised the crowd with high-octane sounds, angular visuals, jungle, breaks, house and more experimental beats. More main stage highlights came from Ross From Friends mixing Joy Orbison's FlightFM' with Madonna's 'Like A Prayer' and the boss, the mighty Kerri Chandler closed the festival with the classic ‘You’re In My System’ on Saturday night.

Over on the Pumphouse, Horsegiirl’s incredible energy and fast BPMs sent the whole festival into a gallop, with the crowd and atmosphere going wild. Neffa-T and Flow Dan also won the crowd with a hi-energy dubstep and grime set, hosted by the OG himself. The Boiler Room stage was hosted by Belfast’s MC EMBY across the weekend – with a huge B2B came in from Anz and Special Request on Boiler Room’s Nomadic Stage, with other memorable moments from KI/KI trance and high energy techno, and MCR-T with one of the most hype moments of the weekend.

Narcis at AVA Boiler Room. Photo cred: The Hype Factory

AVA has been at the forefront of unifying artists from the North and South of Ireland, from Sloucho’s Live Set with guest dancers, and Space Dimension playing 'Ayla' around 4:30 pm on Friday, 10 years on from the viral moment that blew him & AVA up online in year one. Belfast legend and all-round godfather of the NI movement, Timmy Stewart played an emotional set to his homegrown dropping Orbital’s classic ‘Belfast’. The Lookout stage championed local artists including Jordan Nocturne, Ponyhawke’s Marion Hawkes, David Holmes and many more. Selecting members from their extended friends and family, new and old from across the 10 years - AVA has always championed local and homegrown talent, and the quality lineup shows how far they have come.

Across the whole site, production was levelled up with a new design, sound upgrade and take-on stages. In particular, the main stage’s unique and angular design, plus the heavy-hitting Pumphouse created a more intimate vibe - all set in Belfast’s iconic industrial backdrop. As the sun beamed down on Belfast City, the vibes were immaculate, complete with an installation from Heverlee and Craic Magazine, a fashion collaboration with Irish designer Robyn Lynch and even AVA’s own face filter, available to try out on Instagram.

‘We are blown away by this year’s festival, the atmosphere, the artists, our team, partners, suppliers and most of all the crowd. We feel incredibly humbled by the last few days, and want to thank everyone involved this year and across the last ten years of AVA’s journey.’

– Sarah McBriar (AVA Festival founder)

SLOUCHO - AVA Boiler Room. Photo cred: The Hype Factory

A Decade Of Audio Visual Arts. A Place Of Unity, A Home For Music & Cutting Edge Sound. A Hotbed For Homegrown Talent. An Iconic Dockside Destination.

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UP! Productions creates, produces and programmes all of AVA events, and we work with many other brands to help build their community, their tribe. To chat to us about a project, please reach out to saoirse@upproductions.co.uk