Open House is an independent charity, born in Belfast’s emerging Cathedral Quarter in 1999, and now based in the seaside town of Bangor, County Down. We create unique festivals and events in unlikely and inspiring pop-up venues, helping to transform people and places and contribute to local regeneration and community building.
We run Ireland’s only month-long festival, each August in Bangor, plus an annual Seaside Revival Vintage Festival, and a year-round programme of music and arts events, including a 70-strong community choir.
Open House is in the process of acquiring the former Court House on Bangor seafront via Community Asset Transfer from the NI Courts Service, and plans to transform it into a multi-purpose venue for local creatives.
We have a strong film programme as part of our annual Festival and year-round programme, specialising in independent, classic and Irish cinema. We use unlikely pop-up venues, and often create site specific screenings, from Jaws in the local swimming pool and The Guns of Navarone at Gray Point Fort (an old WW2 coastal battery), to Quadrophenia on Bangor seafront and a preview of Colin Bateman’s Driven in Bangor’s old Auction Rooms.