Belfast based agency MayWe Events has been recognised with two prestigious industry awards this month. Their first came at the annual Event Production Awards with a big win for Creative Agency of the Year, followed shortly after by scooping the Community Support Award at the Conference News Agency Awards for the third year in a row.
Founded by local businesswomen Lois Kennedy and Sarah-Jane Montgomery in just 2019, MayWe has excelled to take home the titles. They faced tough competition against established UK wide leaders in the creative events industry, but ultimately took home the coveted prizes at recent ceremonies in London.
Despite the young age of the business, founders Lois and Sarah-Jane are no stranger to their industry. The pair met in 2015 while working in the Waterfront and Ulster Halls, each with a passion for arts and events and a combined 35 years of industry experience.
Founder Sarah-Jane Montgomery comments that, “After years of managing events together we decided it was time to unite and form our own business that placed culture and community at its heart. As a business we specialise in delivering events that offer unique and high-quality cultural experiences.”
“The past few years have been a whirlwind and at times extremely difficult given the effect that Covid-19 had on our industry and the communities we work with. But particularly this past year we’ve had some incredible career highlights. We have designed and delivered large scale cultural festivals such as Armagh Fusion Festival and Banbridge Fire and Light, we have hosted royal and state visits to our events and commissioned artists UK wide to create new work for our audiences. Then in April we commenced the management of 2 Royal Avenue in Belfast, a buzzing community and cultural hub in the city centre.”
“We pride ourselves on being a community focused business. It’s just incredible to see our business grow the way it has, enabling us to create local employment, provide paid opportunities to arts and cultural professionals, and bring bigger and better experiences to communities.”
MayWe is no stranger to the limelight, having previously taken home the Conference News Agency Community Support Award in both 2021 and 2022, making this their third consecutive win. While local audiences may remember them better through their unusual events and experiences such as the iconic drive-in cinema in view of the Harland and Wolff cranes, a socially distanced immersive pantomime experience, Santa’s Night Safari in Lady Dixon Park or their popular Winter’s Den programme in 2 Royal Avenue.
“Armagh Fusion Festival was a particular highlight for us last year, being given creative control to interpret the rich history of the city into two weekends of innovative and unusual events was incredible. We had all sorts of wonderful events from a circus in Long Meadow Cider’s apple orchard to a gig with Beoga and Ryan McMullan at Navan Centre and Fort. We met road bowlers, traditional dancers and pipers, and turned Armagh Planetarium’s grounds into a stunning space themed fire garden display with the help of UK based company, Walk the Plank.”
In their categories, the business was nominated against prominent agencies such as The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Drone Show and Imagineerium who create large experiential events such as Wake the Tiger. On winning Sarah-Jane commented, “To be on stage accepting such respected industry awards were such exciting moments for us. We feel honoured to be recognised in this way, particularly against such established agencies that we have often looked to as a benchmark for excellence these past 4 years. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for us.”
To find out more about MayWe visit www.maywe.co.uk
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