Pictured (L-R) are Culture Night Tap dancers; Ian Sheppard, Managing Director Northern Ireland at Bank of Ireland UK; Evan Power, Senior Relationship Manager at Visa Europe; Kerry Rooney, CEO of Culture Night.
30 July 2018
Bank of Ireland UK is calling on people across Northern Ireland to come to Culture Night 2018 to help break the world record for the largest tap dance lesson.
Culture Night is Belfast’s biggest, most exciting and inclusive cultural celebration and this year is taking place on Friday 21st September 2018. As one of the headline sponsors of Culture Night in 2018, Bank of Ireland UK has collaborated with Visa to encourage people to tap, pay and go, allowing them more time to enjoy the festivities. Bank of Ireland UK is also getting into the spirit of Culture Night by hosting its own tap event to attempt to break the world record for the Largest Tap Dance Lesson – a play on how easy it is to make contactless payments with a simple ‘tap’.
Ian Sheppard, Managing Director Northern Ireland at Bank of Ireland UK, said: “Culture Night Belfast is a fantastic celebration of the vibrant culture we have on offer in Northern Ireland. We are really excited to be a headline sponsor this year and hope that as many people as possible will sign up to try and break the current world record for the largest tap dance lesson, which took place in Queensland, Australia in 2017 with 251 dancers.
“Northern Ireland has seen a rapid growth in the number of people choosing to pay by Visa contactless. Our customers benefit from a fast, simple and secure way to pay for everyday items. So we are joining forces with Visa to promote contactless payments at this year’s Culture Night.”
Already the biggest event in Belfast’s cultural calendar, this year Culture Night is celebrating its 10th anniversary with its largest event yet. There will be more than 250 free events across 100 locations in Belfast City Centre, attracting over 100,000 visitors from across Northern Ireland and beyond.
Kerry Rooney, Culture Night Belfast Manager, said: “We are delighted to be teaming up with Bank of Ireland and Visa to go for the world record. We’ll be ‘tapping’ into everyone’s excitement for Culture Night, and we firmly believe that together, we can hot-foot it into the record books with the Largest Tap Dancing Lesson in the World!
“2017 was a record breaking year for Culture Night when an astounding 100,000 people poured into Belfast city centre to take part in the event. This year we are looking forward to breaking another record as we prepare to celebrate our 10th birthday.
“Culture Night is all about giving people the opportunity to experience arts and culture in new and exciting ways and to get actively involved. This is a great way to do that. It doesn’t matter if you are an experienced tapper or just dipping your toes for the first time – everyone is welcome!”
The world record attempt will take place in the Europa Hotel in Belfast at 6pm on Friday 21 September as part of the wider Culture Night 2018 celebrations.
If you would like to take part in the record attempt for the world’s largest tap dance lesson you must pre-register at Culture Night Belfast
For more information please contact Smarts Communicate:
Hannah Irwin on hannah.irwin@smartscommunicate.com or 028 9039 5554
Emma Catney on emma.catney@smartscommunicate.com or 028 9039 5550