The Context
Destination CQ BID was established amongst the business community in Cathedral Quarter & Smithfield in October 2016, with a focus on delivering specific improvements needed by local businesses and organisations throughout the area. The BID invests in and delivers projects to improve the local trading environment, drive down business costs and raise the area’s profile.
Big Telly Theatre Company was set up in 1986, and are Northern Ireland’s longest established theatre company. They make professional touring performances and specialise in site-responsive theatre. They also create participation projects across the province.
Arts & Business NI introduced Destination CQ & Big Telly, having identified a clear mutual desire in both organisations to explore the role of culture and theatre in commercial settings and exploring how arts and culture can help to reach business and development objectives.
The Solution
It was quickly discovered that these partners shared clear communal objectives: Big Telly seeks to innovate how and where theatre is performed and to reach new audiences; Destination CQ BID wanted to create new entertainment offers, animate vacant premises and engage local traders and businesses in the development and support of these initiatives.
With these shared goals in mind, a new partnership between Destination CQ BID and Big Telly was established in 2019. The partners agreed on a unique pilot project to demonstrate the value of re-inventing the high street through cultural engagement, proving the worth of such activity to local authority leaders and statutory agencies.
Big Telly performed ‘The Worst Café in the World’ in vacant premises in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter, with the production serving as a catalyst to engage local businesses and embed creative work directly into the commercial landscape. During the rehearsals and production of the Worst Café ‘residency’, local traders and staff were invited into open rehearsals to contribute to story lines and test out scenes with Big Telly.
After the performance run finished, Big Telly spent an extra week talking to local traders, gathering stories of CQ businesses and the area, to develop a game style trail of stories that link the businesses. This was a pilot, working directly with local business to build the ‘skeleton’ of work that can be developed on different scales and in different ways to remain as part of the CQ ‘story’.
This innovative partnership enabled Destination CQ BID to achieve its core business objectives: to animate empty premises, engage local traders in cultural development of their area, attract new demographics to the area, provide alternatives to drinking culture/entertainments and to raise the profile and identity of the area as a ‘destination’, linking it to city wide cultural initiatives.
“We are delighted to have collaborated with Big Telly on ‘The Worst Café’ project. The success of the engagement with the Big Telly team has led to other events in the area with local businesses proving the project to be a ‘recipe for success’ (terrible pun – I know).
Utilising match-funding from our Project & Events business programme, a primary output was engagement with businesses. Big Telly jumped at the chance and were welcomed with open arms by a variety of our business community; be they local publicans, restauranteurs to law firms. A sell out run demonstrated a huge appetite for this unique immersive theatre product and brought the house down in laughter and entertainment for all who attended.
For the BID this was a fantastic example of utilising and re-purposing long standing vacant space in the area and a great template for things to come in demonstrating to wider City stakeholders the opportunity to re-imagine space.”
Gareth Neill, BID Manger, Destination CQ Business Improvement District
"Presenting the Worst cafe in the Cathedral Quarter has been by far, one the most unique, exciting and different experiences we've had as theatre makers. We were genuinely amazed by the support the project had from the start. When CQ BID decided to be a partner, things just took off. We are not Belfast based, so their ability to hook us up with local businesses, premises and people in the CQ who could help, was incredible. We had a few close calls, which is the nature of site specific theatre! But CQ BID were there for us all the way, brokering relationships for us, finding premises, and generally being supportive. Their marketing and promotional support helped us hugely, as its usually the one thing that gets less attention in the midst of a busy production.
With matched funding from the Arts & Business NI Investment Programme, we could focus a good deal of energy and ideas into engaging the traders in CQ, who were brilliant! We found such an appetite for cultural product in the area, and all the traders were fully behind us, even though until the show, they often looked quite puzzled at our comings and goings! The actors really loved being in touch with traders in CQ - we felt like the show was really at home there, and part of the larger picture. CQ has that unique feel, where off the wall creative shows can happen!
Overall, it was the perfect coming together of partners. It elevated what that show was, and increased our ability to merge culture and arts into a commercial setting. We absolutely loved every minute. So did the cast, crew and the audiences. We would do it all again in a second. It proves the power of partnership working 100%."
Frances Porter, General Manager, Big Telly Theatre Company
