The AVA festival is an annual electronic music and arts festival that takes place in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It features a diverse lineup of local and international DJs, live performers, and visual artists. As well as workshops, talks, and exhibitions. The festival aims to showcase the best of Northern Ireland’s electronic music scene and provide a platform for emerging talent.
When Is The AVA Festival?
The festival typically takes place in May or June. This year, the AVA music festival took place on Friday 2nd and Saturday 3rd June at Titanic Slipways, Belfast. On Thursday the AVA Conference returned to The Mac all day in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter. This year it was in partnership with Output Belfast.
Output Belfast is a music conference and showcase event that is part of the AVA Festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It provides a platform for emerging artists and industry professionals to connect and collaborate.
AVA Festival 2023 – What To Expect?
The ninth edition of AVA featured a diverse selection of artists across multiple genres. These included electronic, rap, hip-hop, grime, and RnB. They were spread across four unique stages at the Titanic Slipways location, in Belfast.
The AVA festival was first held in 2015 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, as a one-day event showcasing local electronic music artists. It has since grown into a two-day festival featuring international headliners and a conference component focusing on the music industry.
AVA (Audio Visual Arts) festival typically features a lineup of local and international DJs and producers, as well as workshops, talks, and art installations.
The vibe at AVA festival is energetic and inclusive, with a focus on celebrating the diversity of electronic music and the culture surrounding it.
Attendees can expect to dance to a wide range of genres, from techno and house to bass and experimental music, and to connect with like-minded individuals who share a passion for electronic music and its associated arts. The festival also has a strong emphasis on sustainability and community engagement, with initiatives such as a zero-waste policy and partnerships with local charities and organizations.
AVA Festival Line-up 2023
Who performed at the AVA festival this year? If you were lucky enough to go, you would have seen acts such as; Central Cee, Slowthai, Kettama, Overmono, Eliza Rose, Hèctor Oaks, SPFDJ, Job Jobse, KI/KI, Kojaque, Sally C and more.
Below is the AVA Festival 2023 poster.
International Showcases Around The Globe
In terms of the reach of the festival around the world, it has gained significant recognition and popularity in the electronic music community, in London, Mumbai and Amsterdam.
AVA London
The festival has many other locations around the globe as we mentioned above and London is one of the cities that it champions this annual electronic music festival. AVA London took place at Printworks on the 24th February 2023. It showcased a diverse range of artists and DJs from the electronic music scene. It featured multiple stages, workshops, talks, and performances. The festival aims to celebrate the creativity and innovation within electronic music while promoting diversity and inclusivity in the industry. The festival has been running since 2015 and has gained a reputation as one of the UK’s leading electronic music events.
There was so much going at the London Conference in February earlier this year. Why take a look at how they are changing the landscape for dance music here.
You can book tickets for 2024 AVA Festival London right here.
AVA Studio
AVA Studio is a music production and education program that is part of the AVA Festival. It offers a range of workshops, talks, and masterclasses that aim to support and develop the skills of emerging and established music producers and artists. The program features industry experts and professionals who share their knowledge and experience in areas such as sound design, mixing, mastering, and live performance. AVA Studio also provides opportunities for networking and collaboration among participants.
There are many commercial brands as well as cultural and academic institutions that AVA Festival have worked with, across various countries. AVA festival are part of the movement of showcasing talent and developing new projects, whether that be stage, installation and festival design or educational learning.
Red Bull – Belfast
Since 2017, Red Bull worked with AVA festival to facilitate such events as stage takeovers, conference keynotes, closing parties etc. This has included a full stage sponsorship and lead conference partner at AVA Festival + Conference across the last three years.
Soundcloud
Over the past two years, AVA have partnered with Soundcloud based in London, to host their Creators Forum featuring panels, workshops, interviews and artist showcases.
Abbey Road Studios
In 2019, the company partnered with Abbey Road Studios across the AVA London Conference. They delivered a partnership focusing on showcasing the studios rich history in innovation. In addition to their technology incubator – Abbey Road Red.
Abbey Road Red is a music tech incubator and innovation hub based at Abbey Road Studios in London, UK. It supports music tech startups by providing them with mentorship, resources, and access to Abbey Road’s expertise and network.
“AVA London provided the perfect blend of inspiring insight, tech and music. With talks from leading thinkers, tech demo sessions followed by a night of great music – we thoroughly enjoyed sharing our history of innovation with the crowd and showcasing the new music tech on our radar!” – Abbey Road Studios
AVA Mumbai
In 2016, AVA partnered with ‘The Exchange’ to host a 1-day conference and showcase of UK & Indian Electronic Artists, Industry and Media Partners. Over 1,000 attended throughout the 6 sessions conference, and 2-room club show.
AVA X ADE – Amsterdam
AVA x ADE is a collaboration between the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) and AVA Festival, which aims to showcase talented electronic music artists from Ireland and Northern Ireland during ADE in Amsterdam.
Over the last 3 years, AVA has developed a relationship with ADE. In 2016 they were in partnership with Percolate. They showcased at the opening of the Festival and in 2017 AVA hosted a workshop on Creative Collaborations. In 2019, AVA recruited the previous ADE Ex-GM (Richard Zijlma) to join AVA to develop our conference.
Ava Festival 2024
If you have already been to the festival this year or you missed out on tickets, then do not worry. You can already sign up for 2024 tickets, just use this link. So what are you waiting for?
AVA Merchandise
AVA merchandise is now available to purchase online, featuring a limited run of embroidered hoodies & caps, scarves and classic AVA tees. Available at this link.
Conclusion – AVA Festival
Did you make it along to the festival in Belfast earlier this month or AVA London back in February? It is clear that the success of the AVA festival can be measured by factors such as a continuing high attendance, positive feedback from attendees and industry professionals. Additionally, in terms of media coverage, and financial profitability. People keep coming back for more each year and we can’t wait to see what happens next with this flourishing music event.
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