Friday 20th September
Day time
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The Need To GROW follows pioneers of cutting edge technology as they fight to localize sustainable food systems and regenerate Earth's dying soils.
Watch the trailer here
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Join the UK’s biggest ever conversation about food. Citizens across the UK are joining together to workshop to discuss food security, diet-related ill health, the impact on nature and climate of food production, food bank usage and more.
Join this interactive workshop to provide your voice to the national conversation on food.
This workshop will be hosted through the Belfast Food Partnership & Belfast City Council.
Find out more about the Food Conversation workshops & goals here.
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In response to global food scarcity and rising obesity levels, the study emphasises the importance of urban food production and sustainability, particularly in the face of climate unpredictability.
Queen's University Belfast PhD student Will Hancock Evans will present research carried out whilst working with the Climate Commission and the Belfast Food Partnership, and will discuss the planning & food report that PhD student Lidia Ballochi wrote based on this research.
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Greg Sachno of the Landworkers Alliance NI & owner of a Portaferry Orchard, will talk about apple growing in NI, trees & revolution.
Through history social change and economic change has been closely aligned with our environment & in particular our trees.
Greg will discuss how today, in the face of climate change, that social change must be linked to what we do with our trees, to offer the meeting places for us to meet, discuss and act together.
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Update your style and help the planet at our Clothing Swap event! Bring along your clean, gently-used clothing and swap them for pieces you’ll love, all while reducing textile waste. We encourage you to donate good-quality items that deserve a second life in someone else’s wardrobe. This event is a fun, eco-friendly way to refresh your look and promote sustainable fashion. Let’s make a difference—one outfit at a time!
The Canopy
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Leasha is a community folk herbalist and founder of Grá Fiánta Herbal. Grá fiánta means ‘fierce love’.
"This is the philosophy I live by and the energy I bring to the world, particularly in my work as a community herbalist. My herbalism practice is grounded in the city ecosystem and is guided by principles of solidarity, mutual aid, and reciprocity."
Autumn equinox is the moment of pause, before the seasons shift and we move into the darker half of the year. In this workshop we will learn how to work with local plants to make simple herbal remedies to support yourself through the autumn & winter months.
Together you will make immune boosting tonics, cold-fighting teas, and other useful seasonal remedies. You'll get the chance to build your own winter wellness pack to take away and keep for when it's needed.
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SUKI Tea
Founded in Belfast in 2005, SUKI Tea Makers is a company built on a passion for high-quality, ethically sourced teas from around the world. Since our beginnings, we've believed that tea is more than just a drink . . . it’s a way to bring people together, create connections, and celebrate culture. Our commitment to sustainability and fairness in our supply chain is matched by our dedication to the communities we serve.The Workshop
Join Oscar Woolley, co-founder of SUKI Tea Makers, for a 90-minute journey through the world of speciality tea. From exploring the origins of tea to hands-on brewing techniques, this masterclass offers a deep dive into tea tasting, expert brewing methods, and the importance of ethical sourcing. Whether you’re a tea enthusiast or a professional looking to elevate your skills, Oscar’s engaging and informative approach will leave you inspired to brew the perfect cup. -
SUKI Tea
Founded in Belfast in 2005, SUKI Tea Makers is a company built on a passion for high-quality, ethically sourced teas from around the world. Since our beginnings, we've believed that tea is more than just a drink . . . it’s a way to bring people together, create connections, and celebrate culture. Our commitment to sustainability and fairness in our supply chain is matched by our dedication to the communities we serve.The Workshop
Join Oscar Woolley, co-founder of SUKI Tea Makers, for a 90-minute journey through the world of speciality tea. From exploring the origins of tea to hands-on brewing techniques, this masterclass offers a deep dive into tea tasting, expert brewing methods, and the importance of ethical sourcing. Whether you’re a tea enthusiast or a professional looking to elevate your skills, Oscar’s engaging and informative approach will leave you inspired to brew the perfect cup.
The Cabin
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This ancient knowledge of dye gardens is to be preserved and cultivated, and the extraction of natural colours from dye plants is the starting point. Here, everyone can play an active part - without a great deal of prior knowledge or difficult prerequisites to fulfil.
The aim of Colour Stories: Joint Journeys of a Colour Garden’ is to use the arts and cultural events as catalysts for social change by educating communities to use art to make a difference to climate change.
The knowledge about dye gardens and their positive influence on a community and also their way of acting is an old knowledge that has been forgotten and Brink! aim is to bring this knowledge back to life to bring about change.
Take part in natural dyeing workshops helping to create colourful flags to be displayed in Brink’s sustainable city garden.
Cultural Bridge is a programme that celebrates bilateral artistic partnerships between the UK and Germany.
‘Colour Stories: Joint Journeys of a Colour Garden’, a joint project presented by Brink! and Artpark Hoher Berg supported with funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s Cultural Bridge programme.
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Join volunteers from Climate Craic to make your own banners for activism - Artivism - be creative in getting your voice heard.
Artivism, a powerful blend of art and activism, uses creative expression to inspire change and raise awareness about social and environmental issues. In this hands-on session, you'll have the chance to design and create banners that reflect your passion for climate justice. Whether you're a seasoned artist or a first-time activist, this workshop will help you turn your ideas into bold visual statements. Bring your creativity and be part of a movement shaping the future of our city!
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Welcome to Apple Day at A Growing Story!
Join us as we talk about the heritage of apples on the island of Ireland. Which can we grow? Which taste the best? How do we cook with them? What tales do we tell about them? While we chat, we’ll be pressing apples for juice and cider.
Come along to share your homegrown apples, apple recipes and apple stories, or take a turn with the pressing.
The Solar Space
The Gazebos
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Coffee & tea on the site will be provided by our friends at Extern's Barista Academy.
The Barista Acemday project is made up of individuals resettling in Northern Ireland. The group takes part in a range of workshops, formal training, upskilling and social meetings, including offsite, visits as guests of other businesses & organisations. Participants work on branding, logo making, customer service, barista skills, improving communication & developing English language skills, cookery, event management and employability, learners engage with organisations such as BITC & Open University, encouraging, networking and opportunity seeking.
Barista academy also nurtures the group to advance their independent living skills and improve confidence while supporting to integrate into the Northern Ireland community.
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Bakari are a family-run artisan bakery in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Inspired by Scandinavian baking traditions, we strive to bring the people of Belfast delicious baked goods using local, organic ingredients where possible and imported organic where necessary.
Making a positive impact through food has always seemed like a no-brainer to us. If you can offer someone a loaf of bread made with organic grains, grown in Ireland, that has a long fermentation which makes it good for your guts and fully nutritious, and do that at an affordable price then what's not to like.
Bakarí was founded in the summer of 2022. We started selling our products wholesale to shops and cafés from our industrial unit in Bangor and in December 2023 we opened the shop on 25 Donegall St.
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Our friends & neighbours from the Sunflower Pub will be running our on-site bar for the weekend.
A bit of history of the Sunflower: A public house has stood on the corner of Kent Street and Union Street since the late 1800's, an era when most city centre street corners would have had a pub on them. Sadly most have long since disappeared. Prior to the Sunflower Public House opening in 2012 the pub was called the Tavern, a name which previously belonged to a bar in Unity flats until its demolition in the 1980’2. Sunflower itself took its name from another demolished pub which once stood on Corporation Street. For many years before The Tavern the pub was called The Avenue, a name which their older customers still use to this day.
Food & Drink
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Join actor, writer, director, environmentalist, Stephen Beggs to share your story to help make “Our Siren Song”!
Stephen is BEACH OF DREAMS lead artist for Beat’s ‘OUR SIREN SONG’.
Our Siren Song is Beat Carnival’s coastal arts programme in Beach of Dreams coastline creativity and climate action festival, UK-wide 2024-2025. The festival is the culmination of a year-long creative exploration of the UK coastline, during which artists and communities across the UK will come together to create new artworks in response to climate change.
Our Siren Song will be based on the Ards Peninsula coast offering creative programmes that engage local artists, performers and communities in meaningful activities to highlight the beauty, heritage and ecology concerns of our coastline.Our siren will call people to the coastline, enticing them with beauty, heritage, warning and promise. Her song will be the song of the people who have made their lives on the coast and will represent voices of those whose stories are yet to be told. It will be a love song for our coastline and a call to action, to preserve this precious resource for future generations.
The project will culminate with a community arts event at Millisle Beach on 17th May 2025 during the UK Beach of Dreams Festival.
Beat Carnival is aiming to build funds and collaborations to extend the programme in other areas of Northern Ireland’s coastline, from South Down to the North Coast.
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An Ethiopian and a former Animal and Dairy Science lecturer, Biruk is now a No-dig gardening and regenerative agriculture advocate with sustainable development in mind.
This workshop demonstrates how to "Grow your food the no-dig way" - a practical demonstration of the no-dig garden bed-making whilst we learn about Biruk's passion, inspiration and journey through gardening. He will share various gardening tips about growing delicious, healthy, and quality vegetables from seeds.
The Tree Ring
Night time
After a day of great chat & trying new things you can let your hair down with some great music. All evening gigs are free, but can only hold 250 people in the space, so its first come first served.
7-11pm: Night Division Official
Night Division Official are two DJs who run pop-up electronic music nights across Belfast city.
Check them out on Fri 20th 7-11pm & Sat 21st 9-11pm.
Some of the change makers sharing their passion during this day
Gemma Reid & Bryonie Reid: quarto // They'll be hosting the apple pressing & wider site conversations explaining the core project for the Brink! site, 'A Growing Story'
Craig Sands: Grow NI // He'll be hosting the apple pressing & wider site conversations explaining the core project for the Brink! site, 'A Growing Story'
Will Hancock-Evans: QUB // He'll be presenting the Belfast Food Data research that he carried out, that led to a report presented to Belfast City Council on the future of food resilience for our city
Biruk Sahle: Hahu Organics & Climate+ Co-Centre // Biruk will be hosting a 30 minutes workshop 'Growing your food the no-dig way'
The lovely team from ArtPark in Germany will be running a 90 minute plant dying workshop as part of 'Colour Stories: Joint Journeys of a Colour Garden’
Leasha Hogan is a community folk herbalist and founder of Grá Fiánta Herbal. Grá fiánta means ‘fierce love’. Her herbalism practice is grounded in the city ecosystem and is guided by principles of solidarity, mutual aid, and reciprocity.
Community activist and Unite member, Greg has always fought for the rights or workers, and is a member of the Landworkers Alliance NI, born from the UK-based union of farmers, growers, foresters and land-based workers founded in 2015 who work together to campaign for better food and land-use systems.
Meet Oscar Woolley, the world-travelling tea-master and Chief Leaf at Suki Tea. What began as a St. Georges Market Start-Up has brewed into a global brand.