Dungannon pair lead the way at Belfast’s Imagine festival

This year’s bumper Imagine festival in Belfast will have a distinct Tyrone influence. Starting next week, the Imagine! Belfast Festival of Ideas and Politics returns with its biggest ever programme for 2022.

The event was launched last week’s by the festival’s director and founder, Peter O’Neill who hails from Dungannon originally, while another Dungannon native – singer and song-writer Wendy Jack – is taking part in a special afternoon of music, ‘Song of the Imagination’ on March 27 as part of the festival.

The week-long (March 21-March 27) programme is an eclectic mix of talks, workshops, theatre, comedy, music, exhibitions, film and tours with over 185 in-person and online events.

Festival director and founder, Peter O’Neill said he hoped the events would help people make “sense of this volatile world”. He continued, “Our aim is to encourage participation from people not normally involved in political debate and stimulate a discussion on new ideas on culture and activism.

“As most of the events are free, everyone will be able to enjoy this annual showcase of talks and cultural events. This year we have a hybrid approach so people can enjoy the events live – but we also have 25 online events for those who don’t wish to travel to Belfast.”

Now in its eighth year, the majority of events are free and will take place online and in venues across the city. This year has seen an increase in grass-root organisations participating in the festival bringing new and fresh perspectives on a diverse range of important and provocative issues.

Keynote speakers include the internationally renowned historian, Michael Ignatieff; iconic musician and broadcaster, Tom Robinson; leading author Kit de Waal and legendary poet Michael Longley, CBE to name just a few.

The festival will host a number of interesting placemaking events organised by Artists in Residence: The International Peripatetic Sculptors’ Society. The Glasgow-based artists will lead participants on a series of performative walking tours, exploring the city and making instant sculptural works.

In addition the Sheffield group of artists known as the Bare Project will organise tours of Belfast alley ways and entries in the innovative project ‘Meet Me in the Alley’. There will also be three lively panel discussions from the Academy of Ideas covering issues as diverse as freedom of speech, online safety, campus culture and culture wars as part of the ‘Belfast Battle of Ideas.’ Censorship will also be explored in an exciting film strand curated with Queen’s Film Theatre where a series of films previously banned in Belfast will be shown and discussed. Furthermore, ‘Democracy Day’ will return on March 25 with a packed programme of talks and workshops examining ways to modernise and invigorate local politics in the run up to the NI Assembly elections.

Peter explained their concept of ‘Road Test Your Reality’ for this year’s celebration

“It’s often said that ‘everyone is entitled to their own opinions’ but we think it’s important to also regularly re-examine and reflect on how we view the world around us. With this in mind, we’re inviting people to come along to this year’s programme of events and consider how well their own bubble of reality stacks up against the wildly diverse range of viewpoints and perspectives presented in this year’s festival.

“We want people to debate the big issues of our times, explore political themes through the arts and listen to different arguments in this contested period in our history, while having some fun!”

The Imagine! Belfast Festival of Ideas & Politics 2022 programme is now available to view online via imaginebelfast.com.