Nerve Centre is a Northern Ireland creative media arts centre. It was established in 1990 in

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. Since 1999, the Nerve Centre has been based in a purpose-built multimedia arts centre along Derry's walls with a live performance venue, café, rehearsal space, recording facilities, video editing suites and animation studios. The film and animation work of the centre has received a number of international awards, including an Oscar nomination for the short film, ''Dance, Lexie, Dance'' in 1998 and a BAFTA nomination for the animated short, ''The Crumblegiant'' in 2008. From the early 1990s, the Nerve Centre has operated on a regional basis organising music programmes, animation and video projects for young people throughout Northern Ireland. In 2003, the Nerve Centre established a satellite centre at Crossnacreevy, East Belfast to offer access to education and training for schools and youth organisations in the greater Belfast area. Studio On Creative Learning Centre is a partnership between the Nerve Centre and the South Eastern Education and Library Board and is one of three Creative Learning Centres now operating in support of creativity in the youth and education sectors. A second centre is operated by the Nerve Centre in Derry, in a dedicated building next door to the Nerve Centre. The Nerve Centre is a registered charity managed by a board of directors that includes representatives from the education, arts, business and funding sectors. The Nerve Centre also has an entertainment venue, hosting

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

animation Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

and interactive multimedia. The Nerve Centre promotes creative collaboration between artists and tries to provide a cultural outlet for many young people who feel excluded from what is traditionally regarded as the "arts sector". The Nerve Centre has recently hosted gigs by such bands as

Fightstar Fightstar were a British rock band from London that formed in 2003. The band is composed of lead vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist Charlie Simpson, guitarist and co-vocalist Alex Westaway, bassist Dan Haigh and drummer Omar Abidi. Genera ...

Scouting for Girls Scouting for Girls are an English pop rock band. Their name is a play on the title of the 1908 Scouting handbook ''Scouting for Boys''. The band was formed in 2005 by three childhood friends from London, Roy Stride on vocals, piano and guitar, ...

and

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have performed.

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played there in their early days. The centre was also host to Irelands first

Anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

convention in 2005, Tomo-Dachi. The Nerve Centre is the base of auditions for Derry bands when auditioning for the

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's ATL Rock School. The Instinct Festival is an annual festival which takes place throughout the city. It is a celebration of the arts and is free to all youth. Workshops that test the imagination and expand on peoples' appreciation for the arts are on show for youth under 18. Cuts to the arts budget announced in Stormont in early 2015 threaten the future of the organisation.

Notable performers

:''The following is an incomplete list of notable acts which have performed at the Nerve Centre:''

References

{{coord missing, County Londonderry Arts centres in Northern Ireland Culture in Derry (city) Music venues in Northern Ireland Cultural organisations based in Northern Ireland Tourist attractions in County Londonderry