A mini arts fund, personalised to you and your practice.

As we embrace our 30 years, we are celebrating the ways in which we have been able to establish and support a vibrant network of artists and practitioner skill-sharing, resource building and collaboration.

Is there something that would help further your practice and experience as an artist? If so, we want to help. Through the short application form in our bio, outline a resource you would benefit from, its relation to your practice and how Catalyst can support your development. As being an artist looks different for everyone, varying from individual to individual, what you apply to Toolbox for is completely up to you. To help with your application, here are some examples of things you could use Toolbox for:

🛠️ Space to document your work

🛠️ Equipment rental

🛠️ Mentoring (any discipline)

🛠️ Workshops

🛠️ Training

🛠️ Short term memberships/residencies

🛠️ A critical session

We’re a small team working with a restricted budget, and whilst we would love to offer larger and more long term assistance, the aim of this project is to support the needs of our community where we can.

This is an opportunity for artists of all disciplines based in the North of Ireland.

Applications for toolbox are now closed.

open box // Open Mic

Join us on March 14th for a night of response and sharing, celebrating the practice of archiving, the joys of ephemera, and collecting and observing how we catalogue and treasure things from our past. A select number of archive boxes from the past thirty years of Catalyst will be open for public browsing. Audience members are warmly invited to browse the archive, ponder on the themes of archiving and the past, and share their perspectives through drawing and writing, which can be shared at the open mic or displayed on our walls.

All responses; spoken word, writing, drawing, or conversation from Open Box will be added to our 2024 archive box, ensuring what we share together is kept for the future. If an idea has sparked already, or you have a written piece you would like to share that sits within the themes above, drop us a DM to sign up to speak.

This is part of our annual engagement programme, Propagate. Propagate looks to support and grow artists’ practices, as well as provide the general public with an insight into artistic processes, through participatory and educational events/schemes.

Funded by Arts Council NI.

(*and yes, technically Black Mountain is not a mountain…)

On the Spring Equinox, Thursday 21st March, join us for a walk up Black Mountain with Aaron Kelly from Rewilding Black Mountain.

Aaron will give us an insight into the native wildlife and plants of Black Mountain, and the work the Rewilding Black Mountain project is doing to protect, sustain, and grow this wildlife.

We welcome anyone and everyone to join us, especially artists who would view this as a useful research trip, and members of the public who are interested in learning more about artists’ research processes and/or the local biodiversity.

Schedule

⛰️ 5:45am Meet-up

⛰️ 6am Minibus departs

⛰️ 6:30 - 8:30am Sunrise walk guided by Aaron Kelly

⛰️ 8:30am Minibus return to city centre

⛰️ 8:30 - 9:30am warm up tea/coffee & chats at Catalyst Arts

Further details of pick up and drop off times/locations will be emailed to participants ahead of the event.

A shuttle bus will be available to/from Black Mountain via Belfast city centre.

Accessibility - please note that this activity involves participants walking uphill and downhill over uneven and tricky terrain. If you have any questions regarding if this event would suit your access needs, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at catalystarts@gmail.com.

We recommend wearing warm and comfortable clothes, and comfortable and waterproof walking shoes/boots/wellies.

We have a limited number of spaces for this event, so please sign up via the link in our bio. If you sign up and can no longer make it, we kindly ask you to let us know so someone else can join us.

Rewilding Black Mountain is an environmental conservation project which aims to protect and enhance the local biodiversity of Black Mountain, as well as educate members of the public on the diversity of local flora and fauna.

Going Up a Mountain is part of our annual engagement programme, Propagate. Propagate looks to support and grow artists’ practices, as well as provide the general public with an insight into artistic processes, through participatory and educational events/schemes. Propagate is funded by Arts Council NI.

Sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/going-up-a-mountain-tickets-859371763077?aff=oddtdtcreator