PREVIEW: Culture Tech Festival
Since its formation in the Spring of 2012, Culture Tech have educated and entertained kids and adults alike throughout the city and have delivered a variety of innovation programmes across technology, the arts and social innovation.
Their annual festival has grown year on year with last year attracting over 43,000 people to around 200 events. This year the guys at Culture Tech have planned an even bigger festival and are expecting over 60,000 people to be in attendance. With an emphasis on building, designing and doing, this year the festival is all about “getting your hands dirty”.
The festival has come a long way over the past 3 years with the 2012 event being organised in a little over 4 months and lasting 3 1/2 days while attracting around 8,000 people.
Culture Tech is now Northern Ireland’s largest technology and creative industries festival and their year-round programme of educational outreach activities have seen them provide to over 150 schools. Using technology to help kids become more creative and innovative while learning soft skills like teamwork and communication.
Culture Tech have also been the major force behind making Minecraft available to every post-primary school in Northern Ireland as part of a ground-breaking project. This is the first time anywhere in the world that an entire region has made Minecraft available to its schools. Expecting to reach up to 50,000 children annually, MinecraftEdu licences have been provided to as many as 240 sites across Northern Ireland, including over 200 schools, 30 libraries and community organisations, and a number of volunteer-led coding clubs.
It’s no wonder that the festival have again included Minecraft in its programme. The ‘City Arcade’ has been one of the highlights of the festival over the past few years through its Minecraft tournament which is spread over 3 days. It was estimated that over 15,000 attended last year’s event which was held in the Guildhall. With a wide range of events, from Comic City to Maker City, from Invasion Derry to Formula DerrE… there is something for all the family to enjoy and get involved in.
You can check out the full Culture Tech festival here
