Embrace the Place - Culture & Heritage Experience Development
Discover how four key heritage attractions created new visitor experiences by collaborating with creative arts providers, increasing their market appeal and visitor spend.
'Embrace the Place'
‘Embrace the Place’ was a pilot initiative developed following an investment by Tourism NI and an open call for the best talent in the arts sector via Arts Council Northern Ireland to create new innovative content to animate key tourism sites across Northern Ireland.
Four successful projects developed content to reflect the heritage of some of Northern Ireland’s iconic visitor destinations including Belfast's Maritime Mile, Seamus Heaney HomePlace in Bellaghy, Navan Fort in Armagh and the Ulster American Folk Park in Omagh.
DumbWorld and Titanic Foundation delivered ‘All The Things We Are’, a striking piece of audio-visual contemporary art which was installed at the Riverbox in August 2019 and has since been delivering increased footfall on the Maritime Mile.
Theatre company, Kabosh created ‘A Bellaghy Tale’, a theatrical walking tour which took place across three weekends in September 2019. The tour began at Seamus Heaney HomePlace and linked key sites closely related to the life and work of Nobel poet laureate, Seamus Heaney. In the village of Bellaghy, the tour enabled visitors to connect with the sense of home and belonging, a strong theme of the work of Seamus Heaney.
The Armagh Rhymers and Armagh Pipers Club created ‘Macha’ at Navan Fort, a spectacular multi-media performance featuring music by renowned composer, Niall Vallely. Commencing at the Navan Centre, the two evenings in September 2019 included a dramatic performance by Armagh Rhymers, musicians from Armagh Pipers Club and audio-visual displays together with a promenade to the Fort itself.
Finally, local music consultancy and promoter ‘Snow Water’ created ‘Folk Park Live!’ which takes visitors on a musical journey charting the stories of those who had to leave Ulster over the course of 300 years. A live performance from individual musician were filmed at 12 locations across the Ulster American Folk Park. In Spring 2020 a new permanent feature - a QR code guided tour of the Park, a Folk Park Youtube Channel and Spotify playlist and a collectors piece of vinyl were all completed. These will be available at the museum’s visitor centre.
Tourism NI Experience Development Manager, Rosemary Lightbody, said this about the project: “This was a pilot initiative based on a recommendation from our culture and heritage framework which highlighted the huge opportunity to animate and deepen the visitor experience at heritage sites through collaborating with the arts sector. This complements our new brand – Embrace a Giant Spirit – as we know from market research that visitors want to engage with the authenticity of Northern Ireland and its people. The best way to deliver an emotional connection is through the arts and all four projects have achieved this and delivered a whole new layer of emotion for the visitor to experience and a much deeper connection with the place."
“We have a very vibrant arts sector here and I hope this will be just the start of further collaborations with the Arts Council and organisations across Northern Ireland,” Rosemary added.
Roisin McDonough, Chief Executive, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, commented: “Live at the Folk Park is the final instalment of the Embrace The Place programme of events, a new initiative for 2019 in which we are proud to partner with Tourism NI. Embrace The Place has breathed new life into some of Northern Ireland’s most scenic locations by re-telling stories of those areas through the arts. Huge congratulations to Snow Water who now present an incredible line up of some of the region’s top musicians to take visitors to The Ulster American Folk Park on an immersive, thrilling musical journey charting the story of Ulster emigration. I would encourage everyone to go along and enjoy.”
For more information on all four new experiences:
www.titanic-foundation.org/riverbox
www.seamusheaneyhome.com
www.visitarmagh.com
www.nmni.com/our-museums/ulster-american-folk-park/Home.aspx
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