Bounce Arts Festival Returns with Bold Line-Up of Theatre, Dance and Visual Arts

Bounce 2025, Northern Ireland’s showcase of talent from artists who have a disability, are d/Deaf, or are neurodivergent, is taking place in Belfast and Derry over 4 dynamic days, from 2 to 5 October!

The theme of Bounce 2025 is ‘Not Just…’, provoking creative conversation on disability representation, diversity, and intersectionality in the arts sector. The opening events ‘Not Just…BS’ (Breakfast Symposium) in both Derry and Belfast, will provide a space for artists and audiences to connect and network alongside artistic interludes from writers and performers.

Bounce 2025 events bring opportunities for you to laugh, create, contemplate, and participate through theatre, dance, film, circus, visual arts. This is a packed programme of works inspired and led by artists who are d/Deaf, have a disability, or who are neurodivergent with vulnerable, intimate, joyous, comedic and challenging voices of celebration and rebellion, sex and sexuality, identity and belonging, postpartum depression and the power of language.

Highlights include:

• Foyle Pride and Mel Bradley present ‘Not Your Pity Party’ in the Nerve Centre with disabled artists who also identify as LGBTQIA getting the spotlight.

• For the first time ever, Northern Ireland’s first ever Autistic Comedy Showcase will be held in the Black Box in Belfast. The line-up will feature six comedians on the autistic spectrum who have been performing comedy across Ireland and the UK for years.

• Toilet Paper Diaries, written and performed by Manchester’s Porcelain Delaney in a one woman show, at the Crescent Arts Centre.

• De mo Neamhthoil an installation by Soso Ní Cheallaigh at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Derry.

• Open Arts Big Takeover at the Crescent Arts Centre with performances from Open Arts Community Choir, Monday Players, Luminous Soul with Mae Murray Teen Hub, Readings from our creative writing group.

• Theatre maker Jody O’Neill from Cork will present her production ‘Yellow’, a live show about living with autism at the Crescent Arts Centre. She will present her film screening of the theatre production What I (Don’t) Know about Autism at the QFT on Sunday 6th October with Q&A.

• As Bounce Artist in Residence this year, Brian Connolly presents a unique performance art and installation in the Atypical Gallery.

For the full listing of events, visit universityofatypical.org/bounce.