Another special milestone has marked FolkDeep’s growing journey as the organisation has been shortlisted as a finalist at the Social Enterprise NI Awards 2026.
FolkDeep has been recognised across three categories: Best New Start Up, Emerging Leader of the Year, and Social Enterprise Building Diversity, Inclusion & Equality Award.
For a young cultural social enterprise, this recognition means much more than being shortlisted for an award. It reflects the journey FolkDeep has been building through folk traditions, storytelling, cultural memory, community participation, and meaningful cross-cultural connections.
FolkDeep began with a simple idea: culture should not only be preserved; it should be lived, shared, remembered, and passed forward.
Through its work with communities, schools, artists, organisations, and cultural spaces, FolkDeep has continued to create opportunities for people to experience folk arts and stories from different cultures in meaningful and accessible ways. Every workshop, conversation, collaboration, and creative exchange has helped shape what FolkDeep is becoming.
What makes this recognition particularly meaningful is being acknowledged in Northern Ireland, where so much of FolkDeep’s journey began and where many people, communities, and organisations gave the idea the space to grow.
Being shortlisted for the Social Enterprise Building Diversity, Inclusion & Equality Award is especially close to FolkDeep’s mission. The organisation has always aimed to create spaces where different cultural identities can meet, learn from one another, and feel valued.
FolkDeep is deeply grateful to Social Enterprise NI, the judging panel, every organisation and community that has collaborated with the organisation, and everyone who has believed in this journey from the beginning.
There is still a long way to go, but moments like this are a reminder of why FolkDeep was created in the first place.
FolkDeep now looks forward to the awards night in Belfast and to celebrating alongside all the inspiring finalists.
Another small chapter in a much bigger cultural journey.