What does the sea sing to you? Our Siren Song is a vibrant community arts programme by Beat Carnival, calling residents, artists and campaigners to the coast with storytelling, song and carnival arts. a creative journey unfolds across the Ards Peninsula, inspired by the sea’s beauty and its urgent environmental messages, culminating in Our Siren Song Festival from 13 to 17 May.
In Our Siren Song Festival week, walk the coastline with Beach of Dreams Director, Ali Pretty, exploring Portaferry, Cloughey, Portavogie, Ballyhalbert, Ballywalter [13–15 May]. The festival finale is on Saturday 17 May at Millisle Beach: enjoy an afternoon of creative activities, followed by a stunning carnival procession through the village to the evening debut of Our Siren Song at the beach. Performance will feature operatic singer Jenny Bourke as our 4-metre tall siren, a mass choir of communities, samba drummers and dancers.
Our Siren Song is part of Beach of Dreams, a UK-wide coastal arts festival in May 2025.
See programme outline below, full details will be added soon.
…that’s what we’re asking people we meet. The sea sings of beauty, enticing us to the water’s edge; the coast sings of peace and joy; and they sing of danger and threaten disaster. We are thinking on what we love about the sea, its myths and its magic—and the challenges our coastline faces. An activities programme with communities is working out what stories we want to tell, and, how we will sing Our Siren’s Song.
Beat Carnival has commissioned Lead Artist, Stephen Beggs and Music Lead, Anne Harper to work with participants in creating our Song. The lyrics and the look of Our Siren Song performance will be crafted through coastal walks and talks, carnival arts, willow making, fabric dyeing, and music workshops. Dynamic collaboration brings together artists, performers, youth and community groups and environmental campaigners to share stories and create together. Our big community choir will sing Our Siren Song, to ourselves, to the sea and to others around all our coasts.
Learn ‘Watching the Waves’ and join in with our big Siren Song Choir on the 17th!
Carnival Arts workshops include:
Details of how to get involved will be added soon.
Coastal journeys of organised walks and kayaking or rowing along sections of the coast.
Roots of Resistance: The Story of our Revolutionary Woodlands, Corrog Wood, Friday 2nd May, 6.30pm- 8pm
Join Greg Sachino to explore how our native woodlands have long been spaces of refuge, resistance, and radical thought- from ancient druids to modern climate activists.
Delve into rich cultural and political history rooted in the forest; discover tales of the Brehon laws and woodland nobility, the influence of the United Irishmen, the legend of the Green Man and the hidden economies that once thrived beneath the trees. Learn how coastal communities have depended on and been shaped by their surrounding woodlands. Mythology, history, ecology and wood’s relationship with the sea: what do the woods say to us?
Find out more about Corrag Wood here and book your place for the walk here
More details of how to get involved will be added soon.
Seminars on subjects such as outdoor and green arts, coastal climate action, and sea connections with Scotland and Isle of Man.
Creative Responses to the Climate Emergency- Online – Wednesday 23rd April, 5pm – 6pm
Join us for a virtual conversation on Northern Ireland’s dynamic and creative responses to the Climate Emergency.
How can creativity drive climate action? This virtual Beach of Dreams panel will be an inspiring discussion on Northern Ireland’s dynamic and innovative responses to the climate emergency. Chaired by Stephen Beggs, the commissioned artist for Beach of Dreams and Beat Carnival in the Ards Peninsula, this panel brings together:
Book you seat here
We need Festival stewards who will welcome our audiences and help make Beach of Dreams- Our Siren Song a spectacular event!
Main duties:
Site dressing/ pack away
Welcoming all visitors to Beach of Dreams – Our Siren Song events, assisting with enquiries in a positive and friendly manner
Sharing information on Festival events
Instructing visitors as directed by the Volunteer Coordinator
Assisting staff in the monitoring and controlling of visitor flow during peak times
Assisting on craft tables, and carnival games where needed
This volunteer opportunity is perfect for you if you:
Have an interest in arts and culture
Have a positive and outgoing personality
Enjoy live music and performance
Are well-presented, reliable and personable
Feel confident in a customer-facing environment
Have a willingness to work as part of a team
Have an interest in spending time outdoors
Are passionate about preserving our environment
As our Siren travels from Portaferry to Millisle, there will be a coastal journey of organised walks and kayaking or rowing along sections of the coast.
2:30pm: We’ll meet at the Quay in Strangford near the ferry slipway for a story share and catch the 3.30pm ferry to Portaferry for the start of the Our Siren Song’s Strangford-Portaferry journey, with stories, discussions and pennants. (Ferry passage cost covered by Beat Carnival)
4pm: Gather at the entrance to Exploris Aquarium and be lead by a storyteller on a 45 minute loop walk to Nugent’s Wood.
6pm: Meet at Portaferry Market House for an event with celebratory song and flourish of silk pennants, sees our Siren set off on a journey through the Peninsula villages, to sing her song at the Millisle finale on Saturday 17th.
3pm: We’ll meet at the Cloughey Bowling green & Pavillion for the Our Siren Song’s Cloughey to Portavogie journey, with stories, discussions and pennants.
3:30pm: We well head on a 2 hour coastal walk around magnificent headlands.
4pm: If you want to join us a little later, head to Ratallagh as we journey on to Portavogie Harbour
5:30pm: Walk ends at Anchor Park, Portavogie . Join us for refreshments and to view our as Siren as she continues to journey through the villages, to the Millisle finale event
1pm: We’ll meet at Burr Point, Sandylands, Ballyhalbert for the Our Siren Song’s Ballyhalbert to Ballywalter journey, with stories, discussions and pennants.
1:30pm: We’ll head off to greet the Siren as she finishes the penultimate leg of her trip along the Peninsula.
4pm: Walk ends with refreshments at Ballywalter Beach park.
3-6pm: On-site arts and entertainment:
6pm: Siren Song procession through Millisle to the beach
7pm: Our Siren Song finale performance of ‘Watching the Waves’. Our Siren conveys her message to the gathered audience through song, music and dance by our peninsula performers. She will call out across the waves, to the next Beach of Dreams festival location in Scotland.
Beach of Dreams is a national creativity and climate action programme produced by Kinetika working with regional partners in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to produce new coastal art works.
Beach of Dreams is an open invitation to celebrate and reimagine the UK’s coastlines. This outdoor and digital creative programme connects communities to explore the rich heritage, vibrant culture, and pressing future of our coastal landscapes. It’s a space to reflect on what our coastlines mean to us today – and what they could become tomorrow.
Organisations and members of the public are encouraged to produce their own beach activity on their stretch of coastline during the UK-wide Beach of Dreams festival in May 2025.
Beach of Dreams is supported by Arts Council England as a nationally significant project.
We pledge to tell stories and songs of the sea so they inspire care for our coastline’s future.
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11-47 Boyd Street
Belfast BT13 2GU
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registered in Northern Ireland and is a registered charity (NIC103347)
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