One of Belfast’s most thought-provoking and innovative festivals, the Imagine! Belfast Festival of Ideas & Politics today unveiled its full 2024 programme at a media launch with guests including Belfast Lord Mayor, Councillor Ryan Murphy and Northern Ireland’s Queen of Comedy, Nuala McKeever.
2024 marks the 10 year anniversary for the festival which has encouraged discussion and debate on contentious issues through its unique and diverse programme over the past decade. During this time over 1,050 events have been organised attracting an audience of 193,000 people across the world with approximately 3,000 speakers and performers involved. It is estimated that during this period the turnover of the festival directly generated an additional £780,000 for the wider economy.
This year’s festival will run from 18th-24th March in 44 venues across Belfast and will explore the theme, ‘Top EnterBRAINment’ encouraging people to ‘bring your thinking caps’. The festival will feature an eclectic mix of film, humour, talks, music, poetry, theatre, exhibitions, tours, discussions and workshops.
Explaining this year’s concept, Festival director and founder, Peter O’Neill said, “Over the past 10 years we have developed our festival to encourage dialogue, provoke debate and promote new ways of thinking about our volatile world. This year we wish to encourage everyone to bring their ‘thinking caps’ and enjoy new ways of examining political and cultural issues through our eclectic programme of events.”
The week-long festival has over 130 in-person and online events. Most events are free and will take place online and in venues across the city.
This year the festival will feature keynote artists and speakers exploring political themes and they include: Paul Muldoon, Don Letts, Manchán Magan, Sarah Corbett, Eamonn Mallie, Noel Doran, Nuala McKeever, and Louise Walsh with special performances from the Ulster Orchestra, Yard Act, Henry Norma & Nigel Planer, Enola Gay, Paddy Cullivan, Ursula Burns and two productions by the Colorado based theatre company TINTS.
Peter O’Neill added, “The Imagine! Festival truly is the people’s festival, as most of our events were suggested and created in collaboration with our loyal festival goers and partners. We held a public consultation in October to help develop the programme and we were delighted with such a high quality response. This really is a festival for everyone, and as such we encourage people to visit our website at imaginebelfast.com and register for our free and low cost events.”
Other highlights of the festival include a series of events examining the relationship between music and politics, particularly punk; a special focus on the transformation of rooftops in the city as potential venues and performances from a family of traditional singers from the Ojibwe reservation in Wisconsin, USA. The festival also includes a number of tours, exhibitions, quizzes, live podcasts and talks from a range of experts exploring the big issues of our time.
Belfast Lord Mayor, Councillor Ryan Murphy, said: “I’m delighted to introduce the 10th Imagine! Belfast Festival of Ideas & Politics. With another exciting line-up of events, there’s something for everyone, and it will once again be a thought-provoking vehicle for expression of ideas and discussion.
“From an audience with journalist Eamon Mallie on his years reporting on the conflict in Belfast to a light-hearted evening of conversation and performance with Nuala McKeever and singer-songwriters Anthony Toner and Brigid O’Neill, there is a hugely varied and full programme of events to appeal to all interests.
“I want to congratulate the team behind the Imagine! Belfast Festival of Ideas & Politics for curating a unique programme of inspirational, entertaining events. I wish everyone the very best for the festival and look forward to seeing the events playing out in the city.”
