arts – Slugger O'Toole

Zines, baggage, othering words and lots more from Second Collective at #imaginebelfast

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 18, 2022, 10:00 am | Readers 403

Art is political. It can be provocative and challenging. It can help us understand society as much as reading the newspaper or reading a book … or a blog post. But do the public take it seriously? Second Collective are running a series of exhibitions, workshops and events across the week of Imagine! Festival. I recently spoke to its cofounders, Cathy Scullion and Sinead O’Neill Nicholl. Graduating as mature students, they set up Second Collective in 2017. Today it’s based …

Personal reflections on Kenneth Branagh’s ” Belfast”

Brian Walker on February 4, 2022, 8:33 pm | Readers 11587

As the First Minster was announcing his resignation, I was being transported to the same world fifty three years ago, by Kenneth Branagh’s film Belfast in the company of my grown up daughter, her English husband and my young granddaughter, sitting all together in an almost empty London multiplex. Branagh dedicates the film to “those who stayed, those who left and those who were “lost.” We are among the second. For the past 50 years, I’ve led a two centred …

Campaign in poetry, govern in prose…

Karen Mooney on December 12, 2021, 8:34 am | Readers 4907

notebook, grades, stationery

Campaign in poetry, govern in prose. The phrase attributed to New York Governor, Mario Cuomo, might make you wonder why successive governments haven’t always been as supportive of the arts as they might be. Could it be that they don’t want any more campaigners? The dictionary defines a poem as being characterised by words chosen for their sound, suggestive power and sense and is even described in a Peppa Pig episode as a magical way of using words that puts …

#SluggerTV After lockdown, can the arts return to health without a vaccine? (John Hewitt Digital Festival)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on July 31, 2020, 8:30 am | Readers 426

A recent article on The Stage magazine website noted that “big tops are being built up across the UK”. “With sidewalls raised and seats spaced out, tented circuses are resuming summer tours. Heavy theatre doors, meanwhile, remain shut. But there’s a simple solution to opening up with socially distanced productions. Theatres should take to tents.” A trip to the cinema this week – I’d recommend Saint Frances out of the poor fare currently being screened – was a lonely affair …

How much of the extra £33m dividend from UK Culture Secretary will be spent on NI arts? (updated with response from Communities Minister and Arts Council NI)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on July 5, 2020, 11:15 pm | Readers 1601

A major injection of £1.57bn into the cultural sector by the UK Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden may prematurely raise the hopes of Northern Ireland artists that their industry is finally set to receive the relief and attention that many other areas of business have already enjoyed. The question for the NI Executive is how much of the expected £33m (via Barnett consequentials) will be spent on the cultural sector? Northern Ireland already spends less than half what England, Scotland and Wales spend on arts per head of population.

#InConversation Podcast with Adam Turkington from Seedhead Arts about the arts sector in Northern Ireland…

Brian O'Neill on July 3, 2020, 3:15 pm | Readers 274

In this podcast, I chat with Adam Turkington. Adam is a veteran of the arts scene who is best known as the Director of Culture Night in Belfast. He has since moved on to start his own company Seedhead Arts. We bounce around from Culture Night to the 12th, from Universal Basic Income to 20 sided dice. Have a listen and let me know what you think. Warning: This episode does contain some swearing. You can subscribe to Slugger Podcasts …

Tiochfaidh ar Laugh – A brief history of Irish comedy…

Ciaran Ward on May 30, 2020, 7:05 am | Readers 2053

At times like these when so many of us are simply not amused humour can often be the best medicine… After the ground-breaking Father Ted hit our screens a quarter of a century ago, Irish comedy shows tended to keep a low profile within the wider televisual world. However in recent years we’ve had something of a renaissance, now that three Irish comedies have made their mark on UK TV. The most popular of these shows (purely in ratings terms …

Video: Poet Michael Longley Keynote at Launch of 50th Anniversary of the NI Civil Rights Committee

Brian O'Neill on January 26, 2018, 3:57 pm | Readers 810

Last night Poet Michael Longley gave the keynote address at the launch of the 50th Anniversary of the NI Civil Rights Committee at the historic 1st Presbyterian Church, Rosemary St, Belfast. The title of his talk was ‘Songs For Dead Children’, it is a variation of the talk he gave on receiving The PEN Pinter Prize in 2017. Slugger is the media partner for the Anniversary so we were happy to be there to record the occasion. Watch the videos of …

Young Luther , A new play by Philip Orr. This Sunday the 29th Oct – Admission free…

Soapbox on October 26, 2017, 11:13 am | Readers 402

When I was asked by friends in a church in Bangor if I would compose a play for them about Martin Luther, I knew it would be a challenge. Firstly, how could I handle such a big topic? Love him or loathe him, Luther is one of the most significant figures in church history. The story of Protestant faith is impossible to understand without looking at him. Even a three-hour epic wouldn’t cover his life adequately. Secondly, how should I …

Our cultural leaders have a choice about what they want to be: brokers or gatekeepers…

Ali FitzGibbon on March 28, 2017, 5:38 pm | Readers 978

Globalisation, borders, migration, and the collapse of regimes feature daily in headlines as the world is reshaped politically, socially and culturally. Historians will say it has been ever thus – every few hundred years empires topple, centres of trade move. Embrace, resent or ignore it, our worldview and ways are challenged by exchange with other views and cultures, and in turn our way of behaving as a society and a nation influences and affects others. Now is the time to …

Accidental Theatre presents Riddel’s Warehouse in a different light…

Mick Fealty on March 10, 2016, 1:16 pm | Readers 332

I’d never heard of Accidental Theatre before, but next week they’re opening what looks like an interesting production in a fascinating venue in Anne Street in Belfast, Riddel’s Warehouse. It’s that rather anonymous industrial building beside Musgrave Police Station. It’s a too-rare example of Belfast waking up to its own built environmental history before it gets smashed to pulp for sake of posterity. As this great youtube video shows, most of our buildings are full of great stories of where …

“Please stop making ‘Arts’ a dirty word. And please, please stop making ‘Community’ a dirty word.”

Soapbox on October 19, 2015, 8:19 am | Readers 11732

FIONNULA KENNEDY’S personal and strongly-worded open letter to Carál Ní Chuilín, challenging many of the key points in the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure’s speech last Thursday evening at the Voices For The Voiceless event in Cultúrlann.

Cultural treats to get you thinking from the Belfast Festival programme (9 Oct – 1 Nov) #BelFest

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on October 2, 2015, 2:14 pm | Readers 146

BELFAST FESTIVAL : 134 events from 23 countries over 24 days in 30 venues across the city. Performances and productions to entertain you and challenge you to think. Lyndee Prickitt talking about We Are Angry, a refugee’s story nine years after entering UK in back of a lorry from Calais, opera and cooking.

Happy days were here again for Beckett in Femanagh

Brian Walker on August 13, 2015, 11:23 am | Readers 196

Great to see that the unapologetically highbrow Beckett Festival which has just ended in Fermanagh for this year, has survived the funding famine. This is quite a feat for the celebrations of such a unsentimental and enigmatic author, whose work is so at odds with the normal run of Irish summer fare. Perhaps this is because almost by definition, it relies so little on Irish stereotypes and mixes the best of British and cosmopolitan with excellent indigenous talent, like a …

Roisin McDonough: The Arts: Small size, big value

Soapbox on November 27, 2014, 4:59 pm | Readers 658

The debate over cuts to arts funding have been in the headlines in recent days, writing for Slugger, the Arts Council’s Chief Executive, Roisin McDonough argues against cutting arts funding Supporting the campaign for ‘No more cuts to the arts’, actor James Nesbitt observed wryly that “without the arts we’re just left with politics, and we don’t want that”. His tongue may have been planted firmly in his cheek, but that may be the path we’re heading down if the …

Xchange Summer School – changing the conversation about … the arts #xss14

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on June 30, 2014, 9:00 am | Readers 51

It turns out that it doesn’t always rain in Enniskillen! From Thursday to Saturday, Xchange’s inaugural summer school enjoyed balmy weather in and around the Ardhowen theatre as delegates chatted, ate, drank, debated and challenged each other’s views on the arts, the media, liberties and history. Chaired by Denzil McDaniel, the opening session asked whether we could change the conversation about the arts. Actor Adrian Dunbar welcomed the delegates to his own town. The theatre is everybody’s home. It’s not …

After losing its Shakespearean plot Newtownabbey returns to the 21st Century…

Mick Fealty on January 28, 2014, 12:34 pm | Readers 83

So, a good result for the Reduced Shakespeare Company in Newtownabbey. Excellent nationwide publicity right at the start of a tour, and the gig back to boot! Along with the backing of the DUP Deputy Mayor. Anyone who’s ever worked in the arts knows just how jumpy and fickle the local arts administration can get in their dealing with political parties, and the reputation of the DUP’s Biblers is second to none. For all the fulminating over the weekend, it’s still …

Pending Vote: Democracy 101 in the Lyric as part of #BelFest

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on October 22, 2013, 10:15 am | Readers 59

Over a hundred people filed into the Lyric’s Naughton Studio clutching their digital binary voting handsets: we used our fingers to press the Yes or No buttons. Seated on three sides of the small theatre facing a large screen with a blinking cursor, the audience quickly got used to answering questions as the timer counted down to zero. For a while Roger Bernat’s Pending Vote felt like the true beginnings of the much lauded seldom found new politics in Northern …

A little bit of politics at the Belfast Festival – turning a theatre into a parliament

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on September 29, 2013, 2:48 pm | Readers 13

A few events touching on politics from the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen’s which runs from Thursday 17 to Sunday 27 October. Pending Vote is the Irish première where the theatre becomes a parliament and the audience have remote controls to vote to decide the future of our community and the evening’s performance. Lyric Theatre – Naughton Studio, 8pm, Monday 21 and Tuesday 22 October. £12. Voting on relevant issues for the Northern Ireland public without avoiding topics such …

Newcastle feels the chill wind that may soon blow Northern Ireland’s way?

rach on February 28, 2013, 8:44 am | Readers 46

Where I live, Newcastle Upon Tyne, there are plans afoot to cull 10 of the 18 libraries. Given that it is the young and elderly who disproportionately depend on them, this is no time to cut such a vital community service. Libraries help create a sense of community; the public use them if it’s for getting books out to read or for job hunting on the computers provided. Ironically Newcastle is a Labour council. It’s leader, Nick Forbes, has proven …