Picutred (L-R): Amberlea Neely, PLACE, Deputy Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Mary Ellen Campbell and Brighdίn Farren, PLACE, launch City as a Gallery – a free programme of events, exhibitions and experiences from September to November.

Belfast City Council has commissioned PLACE to programme a second City as a Gallery initiative, proving that art really is everywhere – on our streets, in our parks and on the buildings that surround us.

Deputy Lord Mayor, Councillor Mary Ellen Campbell explains: “We saw such a positive response to the first City as a Gallery programme, that we knew it made sense to commission another. It’s all about encouraging people to consider what art means to them, to value their surroundings – and to share their perspectives on their city.

“As well as inviting people to enjoy the many free art events, exhibitions and experiences on offer, we’re asking them to photograph their favourite pieces of art in Belfast – be that a mural, a sculpture, an ornate shop façade, or even a piece of graffiti and tweet @belfastcc using the hashtag #cityasagallery so that we can highlight the different forms of public art, large and small, that people enjoy around the city.”

From September to November, Belfast will become the canvas for the City as a Gallery programme. There’ll be outdoor, shop window and gallery based photography exhibitions, a trail of high-quality reproductions from the Royal Ulster Academy’s Diploma collection of art stretching across 12 sites from the Harbour Commissioners’ office to Botanic Gardens, installations, tours and documentary screenings – and a few big creative surprises along the way.

And people are being urged to get out and about to discover the alternative public art in Belfast – by standing on the 50 sets of yellow footprints installed by artists Cori Moore and Fré Sonneveld along a route running from Botanic Gardens in south Belfast to the Waterworks in north Belfast, and seeing if they can spot the artwork.

A full programme of events is available to download at www.belfastcity.gov.uk/citygallery