friday 24th march democracy day
presented with Building Change Trust at The MAC, Exchange Street. All events are free: register at imaginebelfast.com
▶ 8.00am – 9.00am
▶ 10.40am – 11.40am
▶ 11.50am – 1.00pm
▶ 1.45pm – 2.45pm
welcome breakfast
if you’re not at the table, you could be on the menu
open policy making: a new era for citizen engagement in NI?
civic activism in motion
With short drama performance by the Waste No Time community democracy project entitled Who’s at the Table?
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▶ 9.00am – 10.30am
Lab Series 1: Event A – Forum Theatre/Waste No Time team Forum theatre performance with citizen actors and professional actors on the key stories shaping people’s lives in a Council area and the lessons for community planning and local democracy.
Lab Series 1: Event C – Community Places As part of their project ‘Community Planning Is Here – Get Involved’, Community Places used a participatory card game with school pupils to help explore and discuss their views on issues important to them in their council area. This session will give participants an opportunity to try out this creative technique themselves.
how healthy is democracy in northern ireland? Electoral democracy is creaking at the seams around the world and Northern Ireland is no different. But analysis of democratic health often focuses obsessively on elections and party politics. What about the deeper ‘wellsprings’ of democracy – the quality and diversity of media coverage, the extent to which people talk about political issues around the dinner table or down the pub and, crucially, the willingness of people to listen to other points of view and change their opinion based on persuasion. In this groundbreaking research Building Change Trust commissioned Dr Paul Nolan and Dr Robin Wilson to apply the lens of deliberative democracy to Northern Ireland, looking beyond the simple act of voting to assess the deeper health of the region’s democratic landscape. Following presentation of the research a panel with both local and international contributors will give their reactions, including Prof Graham Smith from the University of Westminster’s Centre for the Study of Democracy.
welfare reform NI: looking back – moving forward
debate, deliberate, decide: consulting communities
Lab Series 1: Event B – Advice NI
Lab Series 1: Event D – IEF
Come along to our interactive event and see how Advice NI has been capturing the impact that Welfare Reform has had on citizens across Northern Ireland.
An opportunity to take part in a deliberative poll, an engaging mechanism for community consultation. The session will include a brief outline of deliberative polling, before trialling the process using a hypothetical scenario. This will include ‘expert’ presentations, facilitated discussion, and electronic polling at the start and end to assess any changes in opinion.
Tell your story. Hear other people’s experiences and fears. Challenge myths and misconceptions around benefit claimants. Be better informed, influence change and have a louder voice on issues that matter.
Belfast’s festival of ideas & politics 20th to 26th March 2017
saturday 25th march
Brewbot, Ormeau Road 12.00pm – 5.00pm
Free admission: register at imaginebelfast.com
campaigning, photography, feminism, mindfulness, farming, Higgs boson, housing, nudge theory, innovation, football, politics, TV, climate change, cycling, new businesses, masculinity, craft beers, running, music festivals, David Bowie, technology, radio, Madonna and much, much more. Free admission: register at imaginebelfast.com Event partner: The Banter
▶ discussions & workshops
▶ tours
walking east belfast NEO-GENDER POST-TRUTH ALT-CULTURE with declan hill ULTRA-SURVEILLANCE PRE-BREXIT NEOsounding out CLIMATE SUPER-AI PRO-FREEDOM TRANSon brexit AI POST-FREEDOM ALT-GENDER ULTRATRUTH PRE-CULTURE NEO-SURVEILLANCE SUPER-BREXIT TRANS-CLIMATE POSTAI ALT-FREEDOM ULTRA-GENDER PRETRUTH SUPER-SURVEILLANCE NEOCULTURE ULTRA-GENDER modernismPRO-BREXIT wouldn’t have happened TRANS-SURVEILLANCE POST-BREXIT ALTwithout lesbians the new majority TRANSCLIMATE ULTRA-AI PRE-FREEDOM Assembling emerging leaders and influencers to combat the issue of loneliness in Northern Ireland.
This is your chance to take part in one of the most dynamic, solutions-focussed events of the year when we will come together in Brewbot, the centre of Belfast’s craft beer revolution, to organise and strategise on the issue of combatting loneliness.
If you are passionate about your local community, fancy yourself as an innovator and you are ready to revolutionise the way we act to combat loneliness in Northern Ireland, then assemble your team of four people and join us for this afternoon event. We will have a room filled with tech specialists, mentors and leaders in the community sector, working together to support new ideas and initiatives, as well as a chance to win some great prizes. Register online now for your chance to win. Free admission: register at imaginebelfast.com Event partner: Washington Ireland Program
principal sponsor
funders
#imaginebelfast
Come along and find out how we used four different civic activism tools to gather data on public and community transport services in NI and feedback the experiences of people with disabilities and older people to service providers to hopefully influence change. There will also be a viewing of our Forum Theatre sketch ‘Aggie’s Big Adventures’ highlighting the issues raised in relation to transport services here. With input from our service users find out how the Insight Project has encouraged them to become more civically active and engaged in the community.
▶ 1.00pm – 4.00pm
Come along and hear about the Citizen Jury tool we have used in our project. You’ll get the chance to participate in a Citizen Jury mock-up. This will be interactive with everyone in the audience voting for or against the topic of discussion. You will hear evidence, deliberate and decide. Here is the opportunity to Have Your Say!
A quiz-style training session on fact-checking techniques from the team at FactCheckNI. We’ve all seen it – the incredible ‘news story’ gone viral on Facebook and Twitter, purporting some otherwise unreported scandal or atrocity. But who proves it as untrue? And how? Come and learn what digital fact checking is all about, and how easy and fun it is to discover where some of these whoppers come from!
campervan of dreams St. Anne’s Square The popular ‘Campervan of Dreams’ will be returning to the Belfast streets for Democracy Day. Ready and waiting to hear your hopes and dreams for the future of democracy in Northern Ireland!
chance to shape new thinking around what old age will look like in Northern Ireland in future. What are the big personal, economic and political issues which matter to you and those around you? What do we all need to be doing today to get the future we want? Join Professor June Andrews, author of the best-selling Dementia – A One-Stop Guide, and Mark Butler, an independent writer, in looking at old age from all sides. Numbers will be capped at 80, so register as soon as possible. Free admission: register at imaginebelfast.com
▶ lectures & talks
This walking tour will explore East Belfast, taking in the Short Strand, lower Newtownards Road, Templemore Avenue, Castlereagh Road, Ardenlee Avenue, and Ravenhill Road. The tour is led by Declan Hill, a director of Belfast Urban Studio CIC and author of Belfast Twelve City Walks. The tour will depart from the east end of Queen’s Bridge and finish at the Albert Bridge. Lasts for approximately 3 hours with a number of short breaks. The tour is restricted to only 15 participants, so get booking! Tickets £5 from imaginebelfast.com
▶ discussions & workshops
Sonic Arts Research Centre, QUB 2.00pm – 5.00pm The Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC) at Queen’s University Belfast is organising this event which will record sound bites / interviews on the topic of Brexit. Participants will interview the public on how their lives might change in a post-Brexit UK. In this hands-on workshop, led by led by Franziska Schroeder, attendees will learn to use basic recording technologies (microphones, audio recorders etc). They will then edit the sound recordings on state of the art computer editing suites and compile sound bites into a short piece which will be played back at the end of the workshop. Professional sound artists and engineers will be on hand to support participants and no previous experience is required. Free admission: register at imaginebelfast.com Event partner: Queen’s University
Diana Souhami
The Factory at The MAC, Exchange Street 12.30pm – 1.30pm
The Factory at The MAC, Exchange Street 2.00pm – 4.00pm
A large number of creative lesbians from the UK and America, in the early decades of the 20th Century, left the restrictive expectations of their home towns and headed for Paris. They gravitated toward each together, formed a community, expressed their true identities and made transforming diverse cultural contributions. They were patrons, writers, publishers, painters, filmmakers. The list is long: Gertrude Stein,
What do the next generation of voters want in return for their votes and support? We speak to a selection of those who will decide the make-up of our elected assemblies in the future about the issues in Belfast and the world which move them. This discussion will be hosted by Jim Carroll from the Banter series of public talks and conversations. Since 2009, Banter has covered such topics as books, food,
▶ discussions & workshops
imagine a new old age
Participants will have the opportunity to experience the technique for themselves through a discussion about their own attitudes to renewable energy developments.
specifically in Derry/Londonderry. Commissioned by the Community Relations Council, Together in Pieces has achieved outstanding reviews at major international film festivals, including the first ever Hip Hop Film Festival NYC in Harlem Manhattan (2016) and the Capital Irish Film Festival, Washington DC (2016), the biggest Irish film festival in the USA.
The Studio, Crescent Arts Centre 6.30pm – 7.30pm
Free admission: register at imaginebelfast.com Event partner: The Open University
Join The Open University for a uniquely engaging talk about what it means to see things in everyday objects, like angels in the clouds or Elvis in your toast! Interacting with the audience, Dr Patrick Wright will explore ‘pareidolia’ in society, and how ‘seeing images in objects’, can be a result of historical influences or our innate fears and anxieties.
▶ discussions & workshops
Sunflower Bar, 65 Union Street 8.00pm – 10.00pm
Departs Dark Horse, Hill Street 12.00pm – 2.00pm
A screening of the documentary film Together in Pieces followed by Q&A and panel discussion.
Like Berlin and Bethlehem, also famous for their walls, Belfast has become a place where street art has flourished, where artists from around the world have come to paint. Devised and led by the local artists who have driven the scene in the last few years this is a 90 minute, gently paced guide to the ever changing face of street art in the Cathedral Quarter.
The Factory at The MAC, Exchange Street 6.00pm – 8.00pm
From tanks and guns to spray cans! This inspirational film documents the graffiti revolution that is quietly transforming the political landscape of Northern Ireland, home to the oldest tradition of mural painting in the world.
Old age is not just about old people, is it? Want to decide what a new old age might look like? Part science, part entertainment, part TED talk, part stand-up, here is your
Together in Pieces is an innovative and stylish take on the impact which the built environment has had on the conditioning of young people in Northern Ireland,
Tickets £8 from blackboxbelfast.com Event partner: Street Art Walking Tour
Has there ever been a more important time to discuss the big issues of our troubled times? In an era when empiricism is under attack and liberalism is in retreat, we want to bring reason and imagination together in our third festival. Cast your eyes over this seven-day programme of performance, discussion and debate taking place across the city and join in – almost all events are free to attend. As a non-profit group, reflective of the wider community, we set up the festival to promote debate and discussion of diverse opinion. Our aim is to provide a high quality showcase for new ideas on politics, culture and activism. Events include workshops, talks, exhibitions, film screenings, music, theatre, poetry, walking tours, comedy and much, much more. In fact, we think there’s something for everyone in this programme as we try to make sense of this uncertain world. The festival has been put together by a team of volunteers. Thanks are due to our wonderful partners, funders, performers and speakers for their generous support. Nobody gets paid for organising this festival so please consider making a donation via our website to allow us to support future events. As this will probably be my last festival as director, I would add my personal thanks to everyone who has helped establish this unique offering. Enjoy the festival, and I look forward to seeing you at the events. Make sure you check out our website imaginebelfast.com in order to book tickets and reserve places at our events. Peter O’Neill, Festival Director
are we living in a post-truth democracy? Conor Lecture Theatre, Ulster University Belfast A talk by Bill Adair, the creator of Pulitzer Prize winning US fact-checking platform PolitiFact and the Knight Professor of Journalism and Public Policy at the Sanford School for Public Policy at Duke University. He is also a regular contributor and commentator on political affairs on major US news networks.
#imaginebelfast
his upbringing in Northern Ireland, which continues to influence his work at home and abroad. An exhibition launch will take place on Monday 20 March at 7.00pm.
▶ exhibitions
Belfast Room, Ulster Museum 2.00pm – 3.00pm
up the walls!
democracy on trial: an NI Open Government Network event
Welcome.
Free admission
why is elvis in your toast?
▶ film
▶ 4.00pm – 6.00pm
▶ discussions & workshops
Free admission: register at imaginebelfast.com Event partner: Foxwall Films
street art walking tour of the cathedral quarter
digital tools for democracy: experiences from iceland, estonia and scotland
▶ lectures & talks
Join Dr Bree Hocking from The Open University for an exploration of fantasy and fiction across Belfast’s post-industrial landscapes. Bree will examine East Belfast’s transition to a ‘nearly true’ land of whimsy and pleasure through the emerging Narnia-fication of the built environment there.
Free admission: register at imaginebelfast.com Event partner: The Open University
▶ 6.30pm – 8.00pm
A court case that puts democracy on trial to determine whether it’s guilty of failing people in the UK, the US and
from titanic town to narnia
▶ tours
A jury made up of the audience who will deliver the verdict in the court case.
This session will explore the use of Citizen’s Assemblies, which consist of groups of randomly selected citizens, as
Following the screening there will be an audience Q&A and a panel discussion featuring film makers Eileen Walsh and David Dryden, Adam Turkington of Seedhead Arts and Bill Rolston, Emeritus Professor, Ulster University. The panel will be chaired by Caitriona Mullan, Chair of the International Centre for Local and Regional Development (ICLRD).
sunday 26th march
A prosecution team and a defence team, each with the opportunity to call three witnesses to help make their case.
This session will showcase some of the most exciting international projects using digital tools to engage citizens in democracy. Contributors will include: Robert Bjarnason from the Iceland Citizens’ Foundation will demonstrate their groundbreaking open source Your Priorities platform; Hille Hinsberg from the Praxis Centre in Estonia will showcase their citizens budget tool; Ali Stoddart from the Democratic Society will showcase a range of digital platforms that have been used in Scotland to deliver participatory budgeting projects.
citizen assemblies: an answer to politicians’ inability to make tough decisions?
across Europe, and determine whether any longer it can be considered fit for purpose. A judge or presiding magistrate to oversee and direct proceedings, who will act as a kind of compère to move things along.
Lab Series 2: Event D – NI Foundation
Lab Series 2: Event B – Rural Community Network This event is based on the Re-thinking NIMBYism project developed in partnership by Rural Community Network and Community Places. The project explored local attitudes to the siting of Renewable Energy Technology Infrastructure in rural communities using the Public Conversations Dialogue technique developed by the Public Conversations Project in Boston, USA.
a tool for deliberative democracy. We’ll hear about case studies in both the UK and internationally and also from one of the most radical and ambitious citizen assembly experiments yet: the Irish Citizens Assembly, convened in Ireland in late 2016. Contributors to include Professor John Garry (QUB), the Electoral Reform Society and a representative of the Irish Citizens Assembly.
fake news: what you can do about it
not in my back yard
Departs East end of Queen’s Bridge 2.00pm – 5.00pm
▶ lectures & talks
festival partners belfast city council • belfast comedy festival • belfast feminist network • belfast urban studio cic • beyond skin black box • british academy • campervan of dreams • community arts partnership • crescent arts centre cumann cultúrtha mhic reachtain • foxwall films • framewerk gallery • history ireland • international futures forum northern ireland foundation • ni ethics forum • northern visions • nus-usi • perspectivity seedhead arts • slugger o’toole sonic arts research centre • st mary’s university college • stranmillis university college • stratagem • the banter • the mac tinderbox theatre company • verdant productions • viewdigital • washington ireland programme • wrda
Contributors will include Robert Bjarnason from the Iceland Citizens Foundation, Hille Hinsberg from the Praxis Centre Estonia and Tim Hughes from Londonbased public participation specialists Involve.
A snapshot of the Insight Project where Cedar Foundation explored the experiences of people with disabilities and older people using transport services in NI.
Lab Series 2: Event C – Holywell Trust
▶ 2.50pm – 4.00pm
Sylvia Beach, Romaine Brooks, Janet Flanner, Natalie Barney, Djuna Barnes, Bryher, H.D, Harriet Weaver… Collectively they were at the heart of the fracture from 19th Century orthodoxies, the innovation in the arts ▶ discussions &Belfast’s workshops festival of ideas & politics and lifestyle, the26th shockMarch of the new which came to be 20th to 2017 known as modernism. Diana Souhami is the author of numerous books including the Whitbread Prize winning Selkirk’s Island.
community hackathon
participatory card game: pathways to achieve and succeed
The Northern Ireland Executive committed in November 2016 to pilot an open-policy making process as part of their participation in the Open Government Partnership. This event, hosted by the NI Open Government Network, will explore what open policy making is and what it could look like in Northern Ireland through the lens of international case studies and experiences in other parts of the UK.
Lab Series 2: Event A – Cedar Foundation
citizen jury: have your vote
reflecting on the reformation
Welcome.
a world without prisons? Crumlin Road Gaol, Crumlin Road 7.00pm – 8.30pm
The Open University will challenge our assumptions about prisons and what role they have to play, if any, in abating crime. From Budapest to Belfast, global prison populations are on the rise and over the course of twenty years, the prison population has grown exponentially, even as recorded crime has fallen. Should the system be reformed or is another radical world possible, where prisons do not exist?
the dodge bus an exhibition by Melissa Bailey Crescent Arts Centre 21st – 26th March: 10.00am – 5.00pm This exhibition is inspired by a story of a marginalised young man who, in rebellion and social withdrawal, constructed an alternative way of living in an old abandoned Dodge bus. Visit The Open University’s exhibition to explore and consider issues of marginalisation in today’s society.
▶ theatre
Free admission: register at imaginebelfast.com Event partner: The Open University
week-long events ▶ exhibitions
famla
It is 500 years since Martin Luther nailed his Ninety Five Theses to the door of his Wittenberg church, attacking the Catholic Church’s corrupt practice of selling ‘indulgences’ to absolve sin, setting in train the Protestant Reformation.
The MAC, Exchange Street 21st – 25th March: 8.00pm Saturday matinee 3.30pm
To discuss these and related matters join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham, and Hiram Morgan (UCC), Bronagh McShane (NUI Galway), Pat Coyle (Irish Jesuit Communications) and Revd. Brian Kennaway (Irish Association President). Free admission: register at imaginebelfast.com Event partner: History Ireland
life’s single lesson an exhibition by Chad Alexander Framewerk Gallery, Upper Newtownards Road 20th – 25th March: 10.00am – 5.00pm Chad Alexander was born in Belfast and is currently completing the final year of a BA (Hons) degree in photography at Ulster University. His photographic practice revolves around themes related to home, social fracture and conflict. His practice is very much rooted in
imaginebelfast.com
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hello@imaginebelfast.com @ImagineBelfast bit.ly/imaginefestival
Free admission Event partner: The Open University
Conor Hall, Ulster University Belfast 3.00pm – 5.00pm
But was that really about religion – or a cynical powergrab by some of the princes of Europe? Or was it an early manifestation of Brexit – disillusionment of the periphery with the perceived corruption of the cosmopolitan centre? What is its relevance today?
w
Haunting, hilarious and heartbreaking, Famla, by John McCann, challenges the stories we tell ourselves to hide the truth of who we really are. Directed by Patrick J O’Reilly with performances by Tara Lynne O’Neill, Rhodri Lewis and Hayley McQuillan, Famla is a theatrical feast not to be missed. Hector has passed this place all her young life. An old house. Must be a hundred years old. Maybe more. Looks abandoned. Festering. She never really gave the house a second thought. Until now when she needs a place to escape to. She discovers someone is still living inside. Someone spiteful. Refusing to budge. Clinging on… Tickets £12.50 – £18 from themaclive.com Presented by: Tinderbox Theatre Company
credits Our principal sponsor, Building Change Trust, supports the community and voluntary sector in Northern Ireland through the development and delivery of, and learning from, a range of programmes including commissioned work, awards programmes and other interventions. Between now and 2018, its resources will be used to support the community and voluntary sector to achieve more and better collaboration, increased sustainability and to be a learning sector which identifies, shares and acts on lessons of others’ actions. This work will be carried out across five overarching thematic areas: Collaboration, Social Finance, Social Innovation, Inspiring Impact and Creating Space for Civic Thinking. Imagine! Belfast is a not for profit event managed by Belfast Comedy Festival. Ticketing by Get Invited. Event branding by RV. booking details All of our events are open to the public and the vast majority are free. Availability for free events is on a first come, first served basis. For most events registration is required through the festival website imaginebelfast.com. If you have to buy a ticket, please bring a printed copy along to the event. Unfortunately, we are unable to make refunds or exchange tickets unless the event is cancelled or postponed. If this is the case, refunds can be made through the point of purchase. Please note that all events are subject to change, so please check our website and social media platforms just in case there are any last minute amendments. disabled access Information for people with disabilities and visitors who are not familiar with the venues is available through the Access400 online service at www.adaptni.org. If you would like a large print of this programme or have any other special requirements, please contact us in advance of the event.
imaginebelfast.com