In 2020 Belfast City Council published a co-designed 10 year cultural strategy, A City Imagining, to develop “a people-focused approach to cultural development by facilitating citizen, community and creative, cultural and heritage sector participation”. In the strategy were plans for a culture event, Belfast 2024 – a year-long “accelerator” project designed to implement the values of the strategy, directly engage communities within the strategy, and galvanise momentum for creativity as a force for city and regional development. 

Participatory budgeting

Central to Belfast 2024 was the Creative Citizens programme, an extensive and ongoing public engagement to not only co-design the year long programme, themes and activities, but to really empower citizens and communities. Through a participatory budgeting approach called The Bank of Ideas, citizens directly decided on the allocation of a budget, proposing and collectively choosing creative projects for the city. As well as handing over decision-making power, the aim of the scheme was to reduce barriers to accessing funding so that a greater range of citizens, community groups and other organisations could participate. 

Projects supporting citizens

At the first iteration of the scheme in 2024, 93 ideas were presented to the public at a voting day in City Hall, with over 2000 voters deciding what to take forward. As a result, 28 projects organised by community groups, voluntary organisations and small creative practices took place in communities and neighbourhoods right across Belfast. 

Projects included a diversity carnival, a touring library, a multi-sensory interactive theatre for children with disability, and biodiversity projects that used creativity as a tool for community education. These projects supported citizens and marginalised groups to become more connected to local communities. 

Outcomes

The approach taken by the city, creating the conditions for active participation in society through listening, responding and empowering local communities, has been recognised locally and internationally; winning the NILocal Government Awards Engaging Community Award in 2025 and recognised by United Cities Local Governments international jury as best practice of the UN Agenda 21 for Culture.