The Context
Connswater Shopping Centre is an indoor retail mall based in East Belfast, with almost 60 stores offering food, fashion, footwear and jewellery, plus fast food dining.
EastSide Arts mission is to inspire EastSide residents and visitors by celebrating East Belfast, nurturing creative talent and delivering excellent programmes and events. They are part of EastSide Partnership, a regeneration organisation that has been making the area a better place to live, work and visit for more than 20 years.
August 2017 saw the beginning of the relationship between Connswater Shopping Centre and EastSide Arts; this was a natural fit, with both partners sharing a commitment to making a positive impact in East Belfast.
Connswater plays a central role in the lives of East Belfast residents and EastSide Arts similarly serves the East Belfast community through a year-round programme of cultural engagement events. In 2019, Connswater wanted to find a new way to attract families and encourage evening footfall in the mall. An introduction from Arts & Business NI connected them with EastSide Arts, who were perfectly plaved to help them find a creative solution to achieve this...
The Solution
The partners collaborated to create the C.S. Lewis Reading Corner, by commissioning children’s book author Myra Zepf and illustrator Tarsila Kruse to work with three local schools to develop a story about the area of Connswater, with illustrations to accompany their tale.
They created a small storybook and launched this as part of the 2019 C.S. Lewis Festival. Connswater and EastSide Arts hope this will encourage young families to read together at Connswater Shopping Centre and to take the book to enjoy at home as well. They also hope that having a printed book about the local area will engender a sense of civic pride.
As part of the 2019 EastSide Arts Festival the partners also worked together to create a Twilight Market, to help encourage desired footfall in the later part of the day. The Twilight Market took place during the festival, with live music and artisan stalls acting as a pilot event to gauge the appetite amongst shoppers for similar evening events, to be replicated throughout the year.
This successful partnership with EastSide Arts enabled Connswater to position the mall as an integral part of East Belfast community, whilst also attracting visitors to enjoy the culture and heritage of East Belfast; it also strengthened and built upon partnerships and relationships to support local community groups and organisations within East Belfast.
The activities increased and diversifed access to the arts especially amongst families and disadvantaged areas, delivering excellent arts-led, inspirational events and programmes for Connswater shoppers and the wider catchment area.
The Twilight Market successfully increased the night-time footfall in the shopping centre by offering a new experience to shoppers in addition to shopping. Families were able to take time together to read in the C.S Lewis Reading Corner, reinforcing the centre as not only a retail area, but also a community hub.
“I have found collaborating with EastSide Arts to be a genuinely fantastic and rewarding experience. The team are so enthusiastic and positive and have worked with us to firmly position Connswater Shopping Centre & Retail Park as an integral part of the East Belfast community whilst also attracting visitors to our area. They have brilliant ideas and the contacts to pull them off! The wonderful creative programme developed by EastSide Arts enabled us to strengthen relationships in our wider catchment area and to support local community groups. They have crucially allowed us to increase and diversify access to the Arts especially amongst families and disadvantaged areas. The Twilight Market allowed us to offer a new experience to our shoppers, increasing the night-time footfall in the shopping centre.
The Connswater Book project celebrated the culture and heritage of East Belfast, whilst the complimentary creation of the C.S. Lewis Reading Corner in the centre encouraged children and families to read together and to feel a sense of pride about being from the Connswater Community. We couldn’t have delivered any of these brilliant initiatives without EastSide Arts and partnering with the team is something I would recommend to anyone. I am already looking forward to our next project we can do together.”
Mark Rainey, Connswater Shopping Centre Manager
“Connswater has brought new audiences to our festivals and embraced the artists that we work with. The fact it has placed the arts as a core part of its business delivery is very exciting.”
Rachel Kennedy, EastSide Arts Manager
