Changing the conversation about liberties … no one had offered them a way out before #xss14

Many delegates wondered what the session on “liberties” would cover at the Xchange Summer School at the end of June. It felt like a clumsy word. Didn’t the organisers mean “freedom” or “human rights”? Liberté surely belonged with Égalité and Fraternité? Yet in the end, the four captivating speakers all brought difference perspectives and dimensions to the subject. Pádraig Ó Tuama was introduced as “poet, theologian, retreat leader and mediator”. He began by talking about a trip last year to …

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Changing the conversation about the media … do you feel the hand of vested interests? #xss14

Friday morning at Xchange summer school began with a two hour session looking at how to change the conversation about the media. Denzil McDaniel was joined on the second hand sofas by former journalist and spin-doctor Lance Price, digital investigative journalist Steven McCaffery and ex-newspaper editor, columnist and commentator Nick Garbutt. It was Lance Price’s first trip back to Enniskillen since covering the 1987 bombing for the BBC. Later he worked in 10 Downing Street as deputy communications director (under …

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

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 …

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