Robert Finley: CQAF Opening Concert
The Empire Music Hall
Wednesday 29 April, 8.00pm
CQAF 2026 > Wednesday 29 April
Robert Finley: CQAF Opening Concert
The Empire Music Hall
Wednesday 29 April, 8.00pm
CQAF 2026 > Thursday 30 April
Belfast: A Phenomenal Music City (Walking Tour)
Leaves 2 Royal Avenue
Thursday 30 April & Friday 1 May, 6.00pm - 7.30pm
Louis Theroux In Conversation
Assembly Buildings Conference Centre, 2-10 Fisherwick Place, Belfast, BT1 6DW
Thursday 30th April, 8.00pm
The Unthanks
Empire Music Hall
Thursday 30 April, 8.00pm
Bad Bridget, with Leanne McCormick and Elaine Farrell
The Black Box
Thursday 30 April, 1.00pm
The Stray Gaiters: The Music of Neil Young
The Black Box
Thursday 30 April, 8.00pm
Carsie Blanton + Special Guests The Burning Hell
The Duncairn
Thursday 30 April, 8.00pm
Presented by Moving on Music and Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival
Laraaji
The MAC
Thursday 30 April, 8.00pm
Inaekkum
Ulster Sports Club
Thursday April 30, 8.00pm
CQAF 2026 > Friday 1 May
Belfast: A Phenomenal Music City (Walking Tour)
Leaves 2 Royal Avenue
Thursday 30 April & Friday 1 May, 6.00pm - 7.30pm
North Block Night Market
Crumlin Road Gaol
Friday 1 May, 7.00pm – 11.00pm
BIFF to the Future
The MAC, Downstairs
Friday 1 May, 7.45pm
Landless at Carlisle Memorial Church
Carlisle Memorial Church - Belfast BT14 6AT
Friday 1 May, 8.00pm
Madra Salach
The Black Box
Friday 1 May, 8.00pm
Belle Chen
The Deer’s Head
Friday 1 May, 8.00pm
Presented by Strange Victory and CQAF
Max Cooper – 3D/AV Live
Mandela Hall
Friday 1 May, 8.00pm
Oh Yeah and CQAF present
30 Years of Fugees The Score
Oh Yeah Centre
Friday 1 May, 8.00pm
Ani Glass and special guests IMLÉ | agus aíonna speisialta IMLÉ
Áras Mhic Reachtain
Aoine 1 Bealtaine | Friday 1 May, 8:30pm
Bbeyond new commission artist Elaine McGinn
Exchange Place, Belfast. BT1 2NA
Friday 2 May, 2.00pm
CQAF 2026 > Saturday 2 May
Mary Ann, The Forgotten Sister: a theatrical walking tour
Leaves Clifton Cemetery, Henry St
Various times, Saturday 2 May - Sunday 17 May
Hidden Belfast
Leaves Rosemary St Church
Saturday 2 and 9 May & Sunday 3 and 10 May, 11.00am
Troubled
The MAC Upstairs
Saturday 2 May, 1.00pm & 8.00pm
Seamus Fogarty
The Sunflower Public House
Saturday 2 May, 3.00pm
In association with the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's
Derek Mahon – A Celebration with Stephen Rea, Katy Mahon and more
Carlisle Memorial Church
Saturday 2 May, 6.00pm
In association with The Duncairn
Cerys Hafana
The Duncairn
Saturday 2 May, 7.30pm
Rob Newman: Where the Wild Things Were
The Black Box
Saturday 2 May, 8.00pm
Willi Carlisle
The Deer’s Head
Saturday 2 May, 8.00pm
Death in Vegas
Mandela Hall
Saturday 2 May, 8.00pm
Kate Rusby
St Anne's Cathedral
Saturday 2 May, 8.00pm
Theatre
Ulster Sports Club
Saturday 2 May, 8.00pm
‘Traces of A Traumatic Future’ : Frederick Huska
Golden Thread Gallery - Lower Gallery
Saturday 2 May, 1.00pm
‘Disposal of Fullness’ Sharon Kelly
Golden Thread - Upper Gallery
Saturday 2 May, 1.00pm
Dawn Richardson & Chad Alexander: Dungannon Tropicana
The Mac, Belfast
30 Apr 2026 - 5 Jul 2026
CQAF 2026 > Sunday 3 May
Hidden Belfast
Leaves Rosemary St Church
Saturday 2 and 9 May & Sunday 3 and 10 May, 11.00am
In collaboration with Oh Yeah Music Centre and Salah Soundsystem
Soundsystem Sundays
Oh Yeah Music Centre
Sunday 3 May, 1.00pm - 5.00pm
Rob Newman: ‘Intelligence ‘ Book Talk and In Conversation
The Black Box
Sunday 3 May, 2.00pm
Hit the North
Union St./Kent St.
Sunday 3 May, 2.00pm – 6.00pm
Sam Blythe: Method in My Madness (A One-Man Hamlet)
The Mac (Upstairs)
Sunday 3 May, 7.00pm
CQAF In association with Strange Victory
Punk Rock Ruined My Life: And Other Stories – John Robb
The Sunflower
Sunday 3 May, 7.30pm
Piaf Revisited: Christine Bovill
The Black Box
Sunday 3 May, 8.00pm
Beth Orton
Carlisle Memorial Church
Sunday 3 May, 8.00pm
Battlefield Earth
Ulster Sports Club, ( Lounge)
Sunday 3 May, 8.00pm
Transience: The Pedro Donald Collection
The John Hewitt Bar and The Black Box Green Room
On view from 30 April to 30 May
CQAF 2026 > Monday 4 May
Darragh McLoughlin/Squarehead Productions
The Whistle II
The Mac ( Upstairs)
Monday 4 May, 1.30pm and 3.45pm
Susannah Dickey ‘Into the Wreck’
The Deer’s Head
Monday 4 May, 7.00pm
Women in Black
The Black Box
Monday 4 May, 8.00pm
Dance Freak
Ulster Sports Club (downstairs lounge)
Monday 4 May, 8.00pm
CQAF 2026 > Tuesday 5 May
Presented by Ulster Presents and CQAF
Philip Hoare – William Blake and the Sea Monsters of Love
Ulster University - Lecture Theatre 2
Tuesday 5 May, 7.00pm
Sorella Theatre in conjuction with McConnell's Distillery
The Turbulent Tale of Typhoid Mary, by Brenda Winter Palmer
McConnell's Distillery at Crumlin Road Gaol
Tuesday 5 May & Wednesday 6 May, 7.45pm (Doors open 6.00pm | Bar open after show)
Seón Simpson’s on a Tangent
The Black Box
Tuesday 5 May, 8.00pm
London African Gospel Choir Celebrate 40 Years of Paul Simon’s Graceland
Mandela Hall
Tuesday 5 May, 8.00pm
Ailbhe Reddy
The Deer’s Head
Tuesday 5 May, 8.00pm
Kwok Tsui: Many Moons Ago
The Mac, Belfast
30 Apr 2026 - 5 Jul 2026
CQAF 2026 > Wednesday 6 May
Sorella Theatre in conjuction with McConnell's Distillery
The Turbulent Tale of Typhoid Mary, by Brenda Winter Palmer
McConnell's Distillery at Crumlin Road Gaol
Tuesday 5 May & Wednesday 6 May, 7.45pm (Doors open 6.00pm | Bar open after show)
Colin Graham: Launch of Sensation
Seamus Heaney Centre, QUB
Wednesday 6 May, 6.00pm
CQAF and the Lonesome Dove Cinema Club presents:
Great Silence
Beanbag Cinema (5 Exchange Place, Belfast BT1 2NA)
Wednesday 6 May, 7.00pm
Don’t Tell Dad About Diana
Upstairs in the MAC
Wednesday 6 May, 8.00pm
Junior Brother
Ulster Sports Club
Wednesday 6 May, Thursday 7 May, 8.00pm
Tiff Stevenson – Post-Coital
The Black Box
Wednesday 6 May, 8.00pm
CQAF 2026 > Thursday 7 May
Junior Brother
Ulster Sports Club
Wednesday 6 May, Thursday 7 May, 8.00pm
David Keenan
The Black Box
Thursday 7 May, 8.00pm
In association with Old Flattop
Guy Davis
The Crescent Arts Centre
Thursday 7 May, 8.00pm
Cloth
The Deer’s Head
Thursday 7 May, 8.00pm
CQAF 2026 > Friday 8 May
Prestige Drama by Séamas O’Reilly
Seamus Heaney Centre
Friday 8 May, 6.00pm
Moon Songs: The Phoebe Bridgers Project/Amhráin na Gealaí: Tionscadal Phoebe Bridgers
Áras Mhic Reachtain
Aoine 8 Bealtaine | Friday 8 May, 8:00pm
A Certain Ratio
The Black Box
Friday 8th May, 8.00pm
Glasshouse perform Sigur Rós
The Mac ( Downstairs)
Friday 8 May, 8.00pm
Right On Promotions Present
The Steve White Trio
The Deer’s Head
Friday 8 May, 8.00pm
Oh Yeah Music Centre and CQAF presents
da Googie + Cara Tivey present The Golden Thread
The Oh Yeah Centre
Friday 8 May, 8.00pm
Bronagh Gallagher
Ulster Sports Club
Friday 8 May, 8.00pm
Hannah Casey-Brogan : Iarmhaireacht
Ulster University Art gallery, Belfast campus, Ground Floor, Block BC, 2-24 York Street, Belfast, BT151AP
30.04.26 – 29.05.26
CQAF 2026 > Saturday 9 May
The Foreign Landers
The Sunflower Bar
Saturday 9 May, 2.00pm
Claire Keegan in Conversation
The MAC
Saturday 9 May, 7.45pm
Craig Charles
Mandela Hall
Saturday 9 May, 8.00pm
Jerron Paxton
The Black Box
Saturday 9 May, 8.00pm
CQAF 2026 > Sunday 10 May
Dead Goat: Album Launch
The Black Box
Sunday 10 May, 2.00pm
Earth to Alice: Escape Artist (Alice McCullough Work in Progress)
The Dark Horse
Sunday 10 May, 2.00pm, 5.00pm, 8.00pm
Alana Henderson
The Deer’s Head
Sunday 10 May, 2.00pm
Henry Normal & Jan Brierton
The Crescent Arts Centre
Sunday 10 May, 3.00pm
A Mighty Wind
The Sunflower
Sunday 10 May, 7.00 pm
Martin Simpson presents…A Celebration of Dick Gaughan
The Black Box
Sunday 10 May, 8.00pm
2026 Artist in Residence – Eve Belle
BIEN (British? Irish? Either? Neither?)
Belfast Exposed
30 April -30 May
Rolling Programme
The Handsome Family – Far From Any Road Tour
The Empire Music Hall
Thursday 14 May, 8.00pm
In association with the Real Music Club
Teddy Thompson: Never Be The Same Tour
The Black Box
Thursday 4 June, 8.00pm
Harry Baker: Tender
Mandela Hall
Friday 24 July, 8.00pm
Laura Veirs + special guest Karl Blau
The Black Box
Thursday 24 September, 8.00pm
In association with The Real Music Club
James McMurtry with Special Guest Betty Soo
Rosemary Street Church
Thursday 1 October, 8.00pm
Harry Baker and Hollie McNish
The Whitla Hall
Wednesday 11 November, 7.30pm
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The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival and Out To Lunch are annual festivals of music, comedy, theatre, art and literature which take place in January and May in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
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Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival / Out To Lunch Arts Festival
Unit 8
Northern Whig House
Bridge Street
Belfast
BT1 1LU