Oh Yeah Music Centre

General information

The Oh Yeah Music Centre is a former bonded whiskey warehouse in the heart of the Cathedral Quarter, Belfast's cultural district. It measures 14 500 square feet over three floors.

Oh Yeah was recognised as a charity in 2008. Since moving into the building in 2007, we have hosted live events with the likes of Elbow, The Undertones, Gary Lightbody, Ash, Duke Special, Two Door Cinema Club, General Fiasco, Lisa Hannigan, Georgie Fame, Foy Vance, Iain Archer, James Walsh from Starsailor, Wilko Johnson and Jello Biafra.

Our mission statement is: “Open Doors To Music”. We aim to be accessible to everyone. Oh Yeah is a charity and a social enterprise. We provide affordable rehearsal space and a venue that is amendable to under 18s. We have a permanent music exhibition, a café space, a privately run recording studio, a song writing room, various small office units for start-up businesses and areas where workshops, meetings and seminars are held.

The Oh Yeah vision was born in December 2005, from a conversation between Belfast music industry people and the band Snow Patrol. It was constituted in 2007. The belief is that music is one of the great resources in Northern Ireland, a catalytic agent that changes lives for the better.

We have worked with organisations such as Oxfam, Amnesty International, The Equality Commission, The Prince's Trust, Include Youth, Opportunity Youth, UnLtd and Common Purpose.

Industry organisations such as the Musician's Union, PRS, MCPS plus Creative And Cultural Skills have used our facilities.

In 2008 we released an album, 'The Oh Yeah Sessions'. In 2010 we released a 12 track compilation of new talent, 'Oh Yeah Contenders', whilst our Volume Control team released their own compilation album in 2015 featuring the likes of Jealous of the Birds, Little Arcadia and The Remedy.

We have staged events for the Ulster Bank Festival at Queens, The Open House Festival, The Belfast Nashville Songwriters Festival, the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival and the Trans Festival.

A series of outreach programmes have provided training to disadvantaged young people in the fields of music photography, vocal skills, rap, drumming and DJ skills.

We have received funding support from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, UnLtd, 4Talent, Belfast City Council, the Arts Council Of Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Tourist Board, John Paul Getty Jr Foundation, Hope For Youth, Lloyds TSB, St James' Place.

We have been sponsored by Translink, Carling, Red Bull and HMV.