AVA Festival runs from Thursday 1st – Sunday 4th of June at the Titanic Slipways in Belfast.

On Thursday the AVA Conference will return to The Mac all day in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter, this year in partnership with Output Belfast – view the full programme and sign up here.

Official Festival Afterparties will take place across the city in Ulster Sports Club, Thompsons, Marcus Ward and The Boneyard. Tickets available via RA & Glistrr.

The AVA music festival takes place on Friday 2nd and Saturday 3rd June at Titanic Slipways, Belfast. The festival will open each day at 13.00 and close at 23:00.

We suggest you get down to the festival early to avoid queueing at the entrance. The entrance area will be particularly busy 3 PM onwards.

Last entry to the festival is 7PM.

Titanic Slipways is accessible by foot, taxi and public transport via train or bus with regular services running from Belfast City Centre. 

If arriving by taxi, ensure to use the taxi drop off and pick up point.

We strongly advise arriving on foot or via public transport, as there is likely to be significant traffic disruption around the festival.

Please note there is no customer car park.

Output Belfast joins forces with AVA, to bring Ireland’s leading Music Conference to Belfast on Thursday 1st June 2023.

Output Belfast and AVA have joined forces to bring Ireland’s leading Music Conference at The MAC and The Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter on Thursday, June 1 between 10 am-5 pm. Sign up to access the talks & explore the full schedule here.

The dancing doesn’t end when the festival site closes. We have a whole host of afterparties taking place across Belfast in some of the city’s most iconic venues hosted by some of our favourite festival acts as well as a few extra faces you’ll know and love.

After parties are ticketed separately from the main festival
Tickets are available via RA – here

You can purchase AVA merchandise on site or from our webstore year round:
AVA Merch

Proof Of Age

This is an 18+ event. You will need one of the following to be permitted entry to the festival:

• A photo driving licence
• Valid Passport

Please note we are unable to accept ANY other form of ID, so please ensure you have these in good time, prior to the festival. 

If you have purchased a Student/Resident Ticket please bring valid student ID or proof of address. 

Admissions Information 

If you have purchased a pre 3pm ticket, you must arrive prior to 3pm otherwise you will be required to pay a surcharge of £10.

There is no re-entry permitted. 

Weekend wristbands must be worn on the Saturday in order to gain entry on the second day. Please do not remove it after the event on Friday.

Hospitality Tickets include:

• Access via hospitality “fast track” lane
• Access to hospitality bar & hospitality seated area
• Access hospitality toilets

This is a hospitality area, created for a relaxed environment. If the security or staff feel your behaviour is disruptive, you will be ejected from the hospitality area, and if your behaviour is more than disruptive you will be ejected from the Festival site.

This area is for strictly over 23 years olds. You must have a valid ID and if you have purchased a ticket and you are under 23, you will only gain access to the festival (provided you are over 18).

You can purchase a Hospitality upgrade for your ticket at the Merchandise stand providing there are still tickets left.

Alcohol will be served throughout the day and the night at AVA Festival. Strictly over 18’s. ID will be required. AVA does not authorise anyone to bring their own alcohol.

Prohibited Items

• No Alcohol
• No Liquids 
• A glass of any kind 
• Fireworks, flares or high-power torches
• No illegal or controlled substances (including psychoactive substances) 
• Nitrous oxide
• Dogs or pets are not permitted on site with the exception of assistance dogs
• Drones/sky lanterns
• Portable laser equipment and pens
• Selfie sticks
• Spray cans/marker pens
• Professional film/videoing equipment
• Megaphones/air horns
• High-Vis tabards or jackets
• Bladed or sharp objects 
• Any items which may reasonably be considered for use as a weapon
• No large bags, only small bags permitted 
• No sun cream bottles larger than travel size 

Management reserves the right to refuse entry, regardless of whether you have a ticket.

• The event is cashless. All bars and food traders will not accept cash
• There is a cloakroom and phone charging facility located beside the Merchandise Stand
• Lost Property is located at the Merchandise Stand
• Free drinking water is available at the water stations across the site so bring your refillable water bottles. These will need to be empty as you arrive.

Festival App

Download our official festival app via our partner Woov – ​​woov.to/avafestival2023

To personalise your timetable, chat with friends and get custom alerts so you never miss a set

Reusable Cup Scheme

AVA promotes a reusable cup scheme and we’re excited to see the positive impact that this will have on reducing the volume of waste we produce as an event.

1. Buy Your Drink

• You will be charged £1 for your first cup

2. Enjoy Your Drink
3. Exchange Your Cup

• When getting your next drink, please bring your cup back to avoid a £1 charge.
• No Cup = £1 charge
• Cups cannot be exchanged for cash

4. Don’t take your cup home

• Please help us be sustainable. Bring your cup back to the bar or leave it at one of the designated cup bins. 

Ask for Angela – Welfare Scheme

Anyone who is feeling unsafe, vulnerable or threatened can discreetly seek help by approaching venue staff and asking them for ‘Angela’. This code-phrase will indicate to staff that you require help, and a trained member of staff will then look to support and assist you. This might be through reuniting you with a friend, seeing you in a taxi, or by calling venue security to assist. 

Medical & Welfare 

If you feel unwell and need assistance please speak head to the medical tent or speak to a member of staff. Our friendly teams are here to help. Look after each other! <3

The forecast is warm but the temperature can drop later on in the evening so please bear this in mind. 

AVA aims to be welcoming and accessible to all. We are committed to making your visit as easy and enjoyable as possible.

The event site is accessible and there are multiple accessible toilets. If you are attending the festival and wish to pre-book the accessible viewing platform or have any questions relating to accessibility please get in touch with info@avafestival.com

Lost property at the festival is managed at the Merchandise stand, located opposite the main entrance. If you find any lost property please bring it here.

After the festival please email info@assemblyfestival for all lost property enquiries 

We will keep all lost property for 2 weeks after the festival before handing it into the local police station.

AVA is on a journey to become a more sustainable, inclusive and environmentally friendly event where we reduce our negative impact on the world, both locally and globally, and cultivate a sense of community and belonging for everyone that passes through our gates year on year, where everyone feels that they belong to something special. It’s not an easy ride but it’s an exciting one. We are committed and we are in it for the long run.

AVA is committed to supporting the local community, championing home grown talent with an emphasis on diversity & inclusion and actively minimising our impact on the environment.

We’ve created three strands for this work: Sustainability, Community, and Inclusion. We’re finding our feet and working on measuring how we’re currently performing and thinking about how we can not only improve what we are doing now but be leaders in the field. Throughout this journey, we’re committed to publicly reporting our progress so that we can be held accountable, by you our audience.

What are we doing right now?

1. Building a measurement tool to look at how we’re doing right now and what we can improve this year.
2. Planning some visible and tangible changes to the festival that will immediately have a positive impact on the environment. 
3. Actively responding to your feedback that was submitted from our post-event survey in 2021.

We are working with Gig Buddies to enable people with learning disabilities and/or autism to enjoy all the great things going on in their community, especially live music. Gig Buddies is a project that pairs up people with and without learning disabilities (and/or autism) to be friends and to go to events together.

War Child is our charity partner this year for AVA and we’ll be actively raising money for them through mandatory hospitality ticket donations. War Child is the only specialist charity for children affected by conflict. For more than two decades, they’ve been ensuring a safe future for every child living through war. This is an incredibly important mission now more than ever.

Once you have purchased the first half of the deposit ticket, the option to make the second payment will appear on this page while logged into the RA account with which you purchased the initial deposit.

The deadline for the 2nd Instalment is 19th April at 23:59.

First payment: £30 + booking fee
Second payment: £80 + booking fee

Please note that if it is not paid by then your ticket will be void and the first payment is non-refundable. The RA resale queue will not be available for deposit tickets.

We are pleased to be able to offer tickets with a 20% discount to both Students and Residents of the Titanic Quarter Area via FIXR – link here

Residents’ tickets are limited and are offered on a first-come-first-served basis. To claim your discounted tickets, please email a utility bill as proof of address to info@avafestival.com with ‘Resident Tickets’ as the subject line. The catchment area for resident tickets covers the docklands area only.

Students should provide a valid student ID upon entry to the festival.

Tickets are limited to 2x per person.

DRINKS

The Sunflower Public House – Iconic pub with beer garden surrounded by street art. Serving up local craft beers and wood-fired pizza.

Ulster Sports Club – A former dive bar given a new lease of life as a retro leftfield music venue.

Bootleggers – Inventive boozy cocktails and hearty american style street food.

Boundary Brewing – Weekend Tap-Room from Belfast’s foremost craft beer brand.

Bittles Bar – Every wall is covered with whiskey and portraits of Belfast’s prominent historical figures. Best Guinness in Belfast.

FOOD

Belfast Wood Fired Pizza Company – Handmade and authentic woodfired pizzas, using locally sourced ingredients on a thin crispy base.

Jumon – Asian Fusion restaurant featuring an entirely vegan menu and great cocktails.

St. George’s Market – Weekend market with fresh food from local vendors and handmade craft trinkets.

Orā – Out of this world tapas and wine.

Cyprus Avenue – A neighbourhood brasserie in the heart of East Belfast.

COFFEE

Established – Speciality single-origin coffee. Scandinavian inspired minimalist decor.

General Merchants – Local neighbourhood eaterie, supplying fine coffee & Antipodean brunches.

ACTIVITIES

Titanic Belfast – Monument to Belfast’s maritime heritage on the site of the former Harland & Wolff shipyard where the RMS Titanic was built.

Black Taxi Tour – Tour of Belfast interface areas, peace walls and world-famous murals.

Ulster Museum and Palm House – Located in Belfast’s Botanic Gardens in the heart of the Queen’s Quarter. Featuring art, archaeology, botany, fashion and more!

Belfast Music Bus Tour – A journey across Belfast revealing the music, artists and landscape that have brought character to the city.

Oh Yeah! Music Centre Museum – Located in a former whiskey warehouse showcasing memorabilia and storyboards from the great achievers of Northern Irish music.

Belfast Bike Tours – cycle through beautiful Belfast. Each tour with Belfast Bike Tours is unique and guests can experience the city how they like (discount will be offered).