Grand Opera House raises curtain for Grand Family Festival

Belfast’s Grand Opera House has launched its Grand Family Festival in partnership with Phoenix Energy, which will run from Monday 19 to Saturday 24 August 2024.

Tickets are now on sale for the fun-filled festival, which will see the Theatre open its doors for a week-long celebration of theatre and the arts with 25 unmissable workshops, activities and events suitable for children and families.

Ian Wilson, Grand Opera House Chief Executive said: “The Grand Family Festival offers a range of activities guaranteed to entertain, educate, engage, and inspire, and we are delighted to partner with Phoenix Energy to deliver a week of excitement and entertainment for the whole family to get involved in.

“There’s a broad variety of workshops and creative activities across the week, including magic and puppetry, family ballet and Bollywood Baba dance classes, creative writing and ‘play in a day’ workshops, as well as family-focussed tours and technical classes in stage sound and lighting.

“There will also be a special Access Day which will include Theatre tours for people with additional sensory or physical needs, children’s workshops for those with a hearing impairment, and sensory play sessions.”

Speaking about the new collaboration with the Theatre, Jonathan Martindale, Director of Business Development at Phoenix Energy said: “We are delighted to partner with the Grand Opera House to introduce the Grand Family Festival and its series of high energy events this summer. It is such a great opportunity to bring together the whole family with a fantastic programme of workshops and activities to suit all ages.

“This partnership is so important to us as community is at the heart of all of our responsible business activity at Phoenix. As we join forces with the Grand Opera House to engage and energise families from all over Northern Ireland, we are pleased that our support will enable more people throughout the community to access this series of superb events.”

The Grand Opera House has also partnered with Phoenix Energy to create ‘Phoenix High Energy Dance Workshops’ which will take place on Monday 19 August. The dance workshops are suitable for young people with or without dance experience and will mash musical theatre songs with a hip-hop dance routine under the guidance of a professional dance facilitator, Óran Clarke.

Ian Wilson added: “A key feature of the Grand Opera House and Phoenix Energy partnership, these workshops will differ from traditional musical theatre dance workshops, as participants will have the exciting opportunity to learn a new choreography interpretation of a well-known musical theatre song. No experience is necessary, just come along and get involved!”

If you are interested in exploring your creativity, learning new skills and discovering hidden talents this summer you can find the full line-up of Grand Family Festival events on the Grand Opera House website: goh.co.uk/grand-family-festival.