Belfast Exposed & Victoria Square 2023
Context
Multi-award-winning Belfast Exposed is Northern Ireland's leading photography centre enriching people's lives through photography by providing high-quality services for the public, businesses, schools and universities, health trusts, the arts and the community sector.
Victoria Square in Belfast City Centre is Northern Ireland’s premier shopping and leisure destination, with over 70 fabulous stores and restaurants suitable for the whole family.
Challenge
Belfast Exposed developed a relationship with Victoria Square which provided a fantastic opportunity for the strategic growth of the organisation. The partnership opened up a route to increase the diversity of their audiences, to raise awareness and reach of their programmes, and in particular to create a project that celebrated Victoria Square’s 15th anniversary and encouraged engagement and participation with Belfast Exposed’s ‘Healing Through Photography’ conference. The project had a multifaceted approach which included Victoria Square hosting a series of workshops, events, and an exhibition throughout March and April which explored the benefits of photography and its role in supporting mental health and wellbeing, and highlighted how Victoria Square functions as a community space for people to explore, engage and have an experience.
“Over the last 15 years, Victoria Square has become an integral part of the fabric of Belfast life. To celebrate this milestone, we wanted to take a step back and see the centre through our customers’ eyes. Our partnership with Belfast Exposed gave us a unique opportunity to find local talent and help budding photographers through innovate workshops plus develop a thought-provoking photography installation for all of our customers to view and enjoy.”
Michelle Greeves, Centre Manager
Solution
The project included the creation of a series of eight workshops delivered in a pop-up unit within Victoria Square. The second part of the project was the creation of an exhibition interwoven with key photography produced by the workshop participants to tell the story of Victoria Square in the last 15 years based on people and community. This was displayed alongside photography selected by Belfast Exposed from the archive and from emerging photographic artists whose work explores mental health and wellbeing. During the ‘Healing Through Photography’ conference, Belfast Exposed hosted a breakfast ‘walk and talk’ event within Victoria Square to share with delegates the details of the project and its outcomes, and to enable delegates to explore and engage with Victoria Square as part of their visit and experience of Belfast.
Results
A total of 200 people participated in the eight workshops, resulting in the creation of 600 images for potential inclusion in the exhibition. 446 delegates and 32 speakers from the ‘Healing Through Photography’ conference, workshops and talks were exposed to the project as Victoria Square became a key conference partner. Conference delegates travelled from UK, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, France, Switzerland, United States, Argentina, South Africa and New Zealand and many of them took part in the ‘walk and talk’ events which guided people through Victoria Square to experience the exhibition and learn more about the partnership.
“We were thrilled to be partnering with Victoria Square, to bring a series of workshops, and a photographic exhibition ‘Seeing through a different lens’ to help raise awareness of the benefits of photography. In April 2023, we hosted our first ever international photographic conference in Belfast, highlighting the role of photography on mental health and wellbeing. Alongside, this is such a prestigious Belfast landmark celebrating 15 years since opening in 2008, so the opportunity to do something positive together was perfectly timed.”
Deirdre Robb, CEO of Belfast Exposed
