Entertaining and diverse line-up unveiled for Bounce Arts Festival 2024

Bounce, Northern Ireland’s most diverse and eclectic arts festival featuring more than 60 d/Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists from across Ireland and the UK, was unveiled this week.

The 13th annual celebration of the incredible talent and creativity of disabled artists will take place in Derry-Londonderry, Limavady and Belfast from Oct 4th – 6th 2024.

Bounce is disabled-led and making the events accessible to disabled audiences is key at every venue, including The Playhouse, The Nerve Centre, Void Arts Centre, The Centre for Contemporary Art and Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre.

This year one of the headline events sees Ruth McGinley and Alice McCullough collaborating for the first time at the Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre in Limavady. This special event of music, stories and poetry will be a magical night hosted by two artists at the height of their careers.

Bounce Arts Festival is bringing the classical, the comedic and the cultured together in a programme that is truly exciting, explained University of Atypical for Arts and Disability CEO Edel Murphy, who hails from County Donegal.

She said: “We recognise that there are often additional barriers for artists and audiences who are d/Deaf, disabled or neurodivergent. Accessibility and disability representation in the arts is integral to all we do and we hope that both our audiences and artists feel that this festival is genuinely for and by them.”

Bounce Arts Festival is supported by principal funder the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Belfast City Council and D’Oyly Charitable Trust.

Noirin McKinney, Director of Arts Development, Arts Council of Northern Ireland said: “We are committed to supporting the work of D/deaf, neurodivergent and disabled artists, and game-changing funding from The National Lottery enables Bounce Arts Festival to offer an important platform to shine a light on work from these talented artists. I would encourage everyone to go along and enjoy this inspirational festival!”

The festival kicks off in Derry with a launch event at The Playhouse hosted by University of Atypical’s new Derry-based team member Aoife Boyle who is the Access and Inclusion Co-ordinator. This will be a chance to celebrate the opening of Bounce and meet some of the artists.

Directly after the event, there will be a Late Lunch Poetry show with Nina Quigley from Inishowen who will share poetry from her latest publication, Working for the Mafia: A Bipolar Experience. She will be joined by Elizabeth McGeown, a Pushcart-nominated poet and film artist.

Foyle Pride and Mel Bradley present ‘Not Your Pity Party’ in the Nerve Centre with disabled artists who also identify as LGBTQIA getting the spotlight. 

On Saturday, Soso Ní Cheallaigh, a multidisciplinary maker from Derry, will present the innstallation De mo Neamhthoil at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Derry. This is an ongoing study on chaos and disorder of their rare nervous system conditions.

Derry based artist Victoria Geelan and her band will take to the stage at Belfast’s Crescent Arts Centre in Belfast to perform Chasing Amy, bringing the songs of Amy Winehouse back to life.

Also in Belfast at the Black Box, Northern Ireland’s first ever Autistic Comedy Showcase is being organised by Derry comedian Ross Mitchell. The line-up will feature six comedians on the autistic spectrum who have been performing comedy across Ireland and the UK for years.

Since its inception during the 2012 Olympics, Bounce has established itself as a unique showcase for diversity and pride in Northern Ireland. It has become a meeting place, a platform for new inspiration, different understandings and changing perceptions of disability.

To find out all the performances in Derry, Limavady and Belfast and to book tickets, go to www.universityofatypical.org/bounce