Belfast City Council has defended spending close to half a million pounds on an event centred around a 12ft tall puppet in the city earlier this year.
Little Amal was a large scale puppet of a refugee who arrived into the city in May and was the centrepiece of a weekend of events as part of a kickoff to Belfast 2024.
A number of events were held across the weekend to coincide with Little Amal’s arrival.
Belfast 2024 is a series of events organised by the local council aiming to bring visitors to the city, amounting to £8m of ratepayers’ money.
The figures of the council spend was first reported by the Andersonstown News.
The figures revealed the council had spent £469,000 on the Little Amal event, while some other large scale projects as part of Belfast 2024 had spends of up to £250,000.
A Belfast City Council spokesperson said: “The visit of world-renowned creative project Little Amal – a striking 12-foot-tall puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee, who represents all children fleeing war, violence and persecution – was a signature event in our Belfast 2024 programme.
“Little Amal was a celebration of diversity and Belfast’s status as a recognised City of Sanctuary.
“The council teamed up with ArtsEkta to oversee the project which saw over 70 workshops delivered across Belfast with over 1,000 participants between November 2023 and May 2024.
“Over 280 local creatives, producers, production and event staff were employed to deliver Little Amal’s programme in Belfast. The programme involved partnerships with over 40 cultural and community organisations, as well as 10 primary schools and nine public and private sector organisations.”
Some of the other highest spends from the Belfast 2024 programme included:
Wiggle Room £215,000 -A digital interactive playroom based at the MAC for 10 weeks designed by children with local media companies
Drift £198,000 - New public space on the River Lagan to engage people with the River Lagan in new ways
9ft in Common £170,000 - City-wide programme of public events exploring the potential of our alleyways as public and community shared spaces
