We're making new music and art together celebrating local people and places

If you live in the Ballymena, Carrick or Larne area and you think it’s time to turn over a new leaf, to look to a new horizon, to see your place differently and find new connections – to celebrate what’s great about here and its people – then help us open some doors!

Opening Doors is an art and music project in collaboration with Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, Wall2Wall Music, Queens University, Belfast and Voluntary Arts Ireland to make new music and art with local people from Ballymena, Larne, Carrick and surrounding areas.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SO FAR?

Opening Doors started back in April 2018 with Music workshops across the borough.

Local people have helped to create a new sound design piece, the Opening Doors Soundscape, by recording, editing and manipulating local sounds using music technology. They have been working alongside Feargus Murphy

Larne Music Yard have held a Summer Workshop in which young people came together to write new songs with Wall2Wall Music. Check out the videos of all the songs composed at Wall2Wall Music's YouTube Channel 

Composer Sarah Murphy and librettist Colin Hassard have composed a piece entitled 'Opening Doors' for the Whitehead Orchestra and a community chorus involving Island Voices and others. Creative citizens from Ballymena, Larne and Carrick have contributed stories and words which have inspired the new work's four movements:

1. The View from Slemish
2. Spinning the Yarn
3. St Patrick
4. From Trial to Triumph

LATEST NEWS

Opening Doors will receive its world premier alongside the premiers of the new songs written by the young people from Larne Music Yard and the Opening Doors Soundscape in the final music performance which will take place on Saturday 9th March 2019 in the MacNeill Theatre, Larne.

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council have also recruited 5 Artists/Facilitators to create new art working with partners across the Mid and East Antrim area which are working towards exhibitions and installations in the New Year.

Ballymena Methodist Church
Artist Donnacha Cahill has delivered 6 workshops with the groups involved with the Methodist Church. Donnacha is now creating the final design and sculpture for the church building and will be on site to install the piece in late January 2019

The Hope Centre
Artist Emily McFarland has delivered a series of workshops in the Hope Centre using 15mm film to create an installation for the front of the building. The date for piece to be launched is to be confirmed but likely to be late January 2019

Ballymena Business Improvement District
Artists have been allocated an empty shop unit in one of the local shopping centres and will hold 2 public workshops in the space. Three sites in the town centre have been identified and permissions are being sought from owners to erect hoardings for street art. These will be painted on site in mid February 2019

Mid & East Antrim Inter Ethnic Forum
The Inter Ethnic Forum have worked with Poet Colin Hassard on a new poem which they will use on a large scale banner for their building – the group will launch the poem at the final music concert on 9th March 2019

Mid & East Antrim Age well Partnership
Artist Eoin McGinn has held 1 of 3 workshops which will lead to a mural for the Age Well partnership meeting house in the town centre. The mural is scheduled to be completed in February 2019

The Research project led by Dr. Victoria Durrer and Meadhbh McIlgorm of Queens University is continuing to meet and work with participants and build on the action research project, Creative Citizens, towards a further evaluation of creative civic engagement led by local authorities.