What’s on in the Arts
25th January, 2022
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Duncairn and Beyond Skin presents: Concert for Musicians at Risk.
29 Jan, 7:30pm
An evening of music highlighting the plight of refugees & musicians at risk, where artists from different backgrounds share their music and experiences. Announced so far are Afghan musician Yusuf Mahmoud, Daragh Lynch (lankum) & Iona Zajac with more guests on the night.
The Duncairn and Beyond Skin are supporting the Campaign to Protect Afghanistan’s Musicians and, closer to home, The Campaign to End Direct Provision. There will be a limited audience and a live stream will also be available on the night. This event is a collaboration between The Duncairn and Beyond Skin, in partnership with ICFAM, MARRS & the Schweitzer Institute.
Donate to support musicians at risk in Afghanistan and displaced
For more information visit www.theduncairn.com
Scott’s Jazz Club: Scott's Jazz Club runs a weekly concert in Ballyhackamore club 1a Sandown Road every Friday Night from 9pm. The club provides a welcoming environment for world class jazz music to be experienced in a concert setting. Upcoming performances include:
- 28th Jan Hugh Buckley Organ trio.
Visit https://www.scottsjazzclub.com/
Portico of Ards: presents a new programme of events for 2022 with highlights including,
- 13 Feb, Phil Coulter
- 19 March, The Shamrock Tenors
To find out more about Portico or concerts coming up please visit porticoards.com
Northern Ireland Opera: presents, Into The Woods, at the Lyric Theatre from 9-27 February. Northern Ireland Opera is delighted to be bringing one of Stephen Sondheim’s most loved musicals to Belfast. ‘Into the Woods’ promises to be a real highlight for audiences in 2022: a wonderfully intriguing show that brings together and intertwines some of the beloved Brothers Grimm fairy tales, such as Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel, to ask what might have happened before “Once upon a time” and after “Happily ever after”.
This locally built and created musical will be presented at the Lyric Theatre, featuring some of Northern Ireland’s greatest musical and creative talent. Northern Ireland Opera is thrilled to be able to introduce Belfast to some wonderful new local talent while at the same time to be able to showcase some of the West End’s finest performers, some originally from Northern Ireland and making their debut performances back home.
‘Into The Woods’ follows three highly successful productions each February by Northern Ireland Opera at the Lyric: ‘The Threepenny Opera’ in 2018, ‘Sweeney Todd’ in 2019 and ‘Kiss Me, Kate’ in 2020. We look forward to welcoming audiences old and new to this latest production, opening on 9th February 2022. For more information visit www.niopera.com
Ruth McGinley at the Four Corners Festival, Grand Opera House, Belfast on Friday 4th February 19:30. Tickets are free to the public. Following on from interviews with the likes of Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody and Deacon Blue’s Ricky Ross, this year Steve Stockman sits down with Derry’s pianist Ruth McGinley, who won the piano final of BBC’s Young Musician of The Year 1994.
Ruth has had quite a journey with her music first leading her to success, then to almost giving up the piano altogether. You’ll be inspired as Steve and Ruth chat about how she rediscovered her gift and found deep gladness in finding musical common ground with divergent acts such as Duke Special, Ryan Vail, Neil Martin and The Priests. Ruth will soundtrack the evening with her astonishing playing.
This event will be In-Person and Online. For free tickets visit https://4cornersfestival.com/event/in-conversation-with-ruth-mcginley/
Ulster Orchestra: presents Salon Sessions. With the aim to expand their support of and collaboration with local music artists, the Ulster Orchestra is launched an exciting new digital series, Salon Sessions, which is available to watch on their YouTube channel. Salon Sessions is free to view. For further information on Salon Sessions, please visit www.ulsterorchestra.org.uk
The Ulster Orchestra also presents the following concerts this month and next:
- 26 January, Celebrating the Classical at the Marketplace Theatre, Armagh
- 27 January, Celebrating the Classical at the Alley Theatre, Strabane
- 29 January, The Brilliance of Williams, Waterfront Hall
- 4 February, Rustioni conducts Mahler’s Symphony No.4, Ulster Hall.
- 18 February, Humpreys plays Sibelius, Ulster Hall.
To view the full programme and to purchase tickets visit www.ulsterorchestra.org
Oh Yeah: The award winning NI Music Exhibition at Oh Yeah is now open for visitors. The NI Music exhibition at Oh Yeah is the only permanent exhibit for popular music in Northern Ireland. There is much to see, including a series of storyboards documenting and plotting the history and the stories of Folk, Punk, Rock, Jazz and more. There is a ‘Legends’ series of wall displays that hail the great achievers including Ruby Murray, Van Morrison, Terri Hooley, Bap Kennedy, David McWilliams and Henry McCullough to name a few. Exhibition cases display some unique rock and roll memorabilia including the Fender Guitar that Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol used to write ‘Run’ and ‘Chasing Cars’, a vintage street sign of Cyprus Avenue, made famous in a Van Morrison song, and a specially arranged exhibit of Gary Moore memorabilia.
Exhibition Opening Times
Mon – Fri: 10am-4pm
Sat: 12-5pm
More info will follow on when the Music Bus Tour will restart soon. To enquire about a visit, or for further info and group bookings please contact info@ohyeahbelfast.com or call 02890310845
ITMA: 'Drawing from the Well' is an online monthly ITMA series which connects artists with archival materials to inspire new art. To date, nine videos, podcasts and blogs have been created by leading traditional musicians, singers, and dancers, including Louise Mulcahy, Martin Hayes, Edwina Guckian and Cormac Begley. All episodes are free to view online at https://www.itma.ie/drawingfromthewell
Phil Taggart: ChillDaBeats is the brand new show from NI DJ, Phil Taggart. Every week he brings you a soft focus selection of the best alternative chill sounds along with the biggest guests picking some brain soothers in the Soul Food Selection. ChillDaBeats goes live every Sunday. Listen on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/show/0M2IpL7ldc1Rui2aa9meX3 This podcast series is supported by emergency funding through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Department for Communities.
Tommy Sands and Artsawonder: In this new online film series, legendary musician, Tommy Sands, films, sings, listens and learns from a singing five times world champion drum major Alan McBride, two young women, Jenna Stevenson and Wendy Graham Hanna, who initiate and drive an Arts hub shop, a rhythmic drum weaver rhythmic drum weaver Damien McKeown and a young woman Bronagh Kelly who lovingly echoes the poetry of her mother. To watch visit Media | Artsawonder (wixsite.com)
Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich: presents Music Corner, the best of traditional music with great traditional musicians every Saturday. Visit https://www.facebook.com/AnChulturlann/
FILM, LITERATURE, DANCE & DRAMA
Big Telly Theatre Company: Big Telly Theatre Company, pioneers of immersive, site-specific theatre production and experts in creative shops, will be returning to Mid and East Antrim as three new Creative Shop Projects will be delivered in the towns of Carrickfergus, Larne and Ballymena.
Story Café is inspired by the award-winning production of The Worst Cafe (BIAF, 2019). Members of the public can drop in to Carrickfergus Museum, 11 Antrim Street, Carrickfergus and order a moment from this menu packed with local ‘dishes’, pieces of history, mystery and suspense, served well-done or rare and all with a side order of craic. There may not be any food on this menu but there is plenty to savour in this fun fuelled feast of comedy, circus and chaos. This interactive experience will run from Tuesday 1 February – Saturday 5 February at the following times: Tues: 2.30pm – 4.30pm | Wed – Fri: 11am – 1pm and 2.30pm – 4.30pm |Sat: 1.30pm - 4.30pm
This experience is designed for adults and older children over the age of 11. If your family group includes a younger child, we also have a kids menu available.
Living Map will be taking place at 20 Main Street, Larne from Tuesday 8 February to Saturday 12 February at the following times: Tues: 2.30pm – 4.30pm | Wed – Sat: 11am – 1pm and 2.30pm – 4.30pm. It will take you into a giant walk through map of the world where you will discover new territories and tales from other travellers, whilst adding your own pieces to places you have already been too. Over the course of the week, the map will fill up with tales of travel - where people met, what places mean and how ports become portals to other places.
This experience is designed for adults and older children over the age of 11. If your family group includes younger children, you’re also very welcome.
Lastly, for the children, bring your bear along to Bear Hospital at Unit 72, Tower Centre, Wellington Street, Ballymena. Have it whisked away by hospital porters in the AmBEARlance, get it assessed by the BEARiatrics team of doctors and try not to end up in Intensive BEAR! This experience will run from Wednesday 16 February to Saturday 19 February. It is a 20 minute experience and will run at the following times: Wed – Sat: 11am, 11.30am, 12pm, 12.30pm, 2.30pm, 3pm, 3.30pm, 4pm. Booking is advisable due to limited capacity. Tickets are free of charge and can be booked at https://buytickets.at/bigtellytheatrecompany. For ages 6+.
Kabosh Theatre Company: presents Belfast and 18 – 26 February, regional tour. This poignant new political play follows the lives of Bridget, Helen, Martin, Jason, and Tommy - five gay/lesbian people who sought sanctuary and community through Cara-Friend - a phoneline and befriending service set up in 1974 to support our hidden LGBTQ+ communities'.
Created by local playwright Dominic Montague, and directed by Paula McFetridge this compelling piece of queer theatre is grounded in research and conversations with Cara-Friend’s early service users. From rallying against the Save Ulster from Sodomy campaign to celebrating the right to exist won through the Dudgeon vs UK trial, Callings looks at the historical challenges faced by local LGBTQ+ communities, and tells a series of powerful personal stories that will make you laugh, cry, and consider just how far we’ve come. Featuring a talented local cast of Vicky Allen, Paula Carson-Lewis, Christopher Grant, Chris Robinson, and Simon Sweeney, Callings explores how these bright and resilient individuals found themselves and each other during oppressive times.
Callings will run at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, from the 15 – 17 February, followed by a regional tour:
18 Feb
Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin, Derry~Londonderry
(part of the Sole Purpose Festival of Theatre for Social change)
19 Feb
Market Place Theatre, Armagh
22 Feb
The Ardhowen, Enniskillen
23 Feb
Strule Arts Centre, Omagh
25 Feb
An Táin Arts Centre, Dundalk
26 Feb
The Riverside Theatre, Coleraine
For further information on Kabosh and its work, visit www.kabosh.net
Seamus Heaney HomePlace: has released details of their new winter-spring 2022 seasonal programme of events.
Highlights include:
- An Afternoon with Michael Longley
- A Wintering Out celebration with Simon Callow and Charles Owen
- Eleanor McEvoy in concert
Visit www.seamusheaneyhome.com for tickets and information.
Grand Opera House: presents a new season of programming with highlights including,
- Maggie’s Feg Run, 24 Jan – 5 Feb 2022
- Scottish Ballet presents The Nutcracker, 9-12 Feb 2022
- Phil Coulter, 16 Feb 2022
For tickets and to see the full programme of performances visit www.goh.co.uk
Millennium Forum: presents a new programme for 2022 with highlights including,
- The Rock Orchestra by Candlelight, 27 Jan 2022
- The Undertones, 28 Jan 2022
- Jake O’Kane, 4 Feb 2022
- Phil Coulter, 18 Feb 2022
- Swan Lake, 2 March 2022
Visit www.millenniumforum.co.uk for tickets and to view the full performance programme.
The Lyric Theatre: presents a new programme for 2022 with highlights including,
- Into The Woods, presented by Northern Ireland Opera, 3-27 Feb 2022
- Callings, written by Dominic Montague and directed by Paula McFetridge
- Patrick Kielty, 15-20 March 2022
- Breadboy, 28-31 July 2022
For further details on all events and to buy tickets visit www.lyrictheatre.co.uk
The MAC presents a new programme for 2022 with highlights including,
- Benyounes Quartet presented by Moving On Music, 27 Jan 2022
- Craig Taborn presented by Moving On Music, 30 Jan 2022
- X’ntigone (After Sophocles’ Antigone), 2-13 Feb 2022, c0-production between The Mac and Primecut Productions
- Belfast International Arts Festival and Riham Isaac present Another Lover’s Discourse, March 2022
For further details on all events and to buy tickets visit www.themaclive.com
The Playhouse: presents
The White Handkerchief, 30 Jan – 5 Feb 2022
Performed at The Guildhall. Sunday 30th January marks 50 years in from Bloody Sunday. The White Handkerchief is an impassioned, sensitive, reverent elegy; a major new drama premiering live across the world on Bloody Sunday’s 50th Anniversary. Book and lyrics by Liam Campbell with music by Brian O’Doherty. The drama is produced by The Playhouse and is directed by Kieran Griffiths.
The show will be broadcast live on Sunday 30th Jan and is available to book and watch back for ten days. Tickets are £20 live in The Guildhall or £10 online.
For further information visit www.derryplayhouse.co.uk
DU Dance (NI): presents Belfast Boys, physical dance theatre for boys aged 7-11 years at the Crescent Arts Centre. Classes at 2-3pm every Saturday. No experience is necessary. Book at info@dudanceni.com
Crescent Arts Centre: continue their monthly Book Festival events until March 2022. Details of all events can be found at https://belfastbookfestival.com/whats-on
Declan McConaghy Show: Newry based former BBC broadcaster, Declan McConaghy has created a new series of short films where he talks in-depth to creatives from Newry and the surrounding area who have made a contribution to theatre, music, dance and the performing arts in general. The view the films visit https://www.facebook.com/DMCSHOW or https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaH9LxmhE8O1Af3Csk-k6vA
Duncairn: has released details of their new programme of theatre, music and digital classes. Highlights include:
- A Concert for Musicians at Risk featuring Daragh Lynch (Lankum), Iona Zajac, Yusuf Mahmoud and more, 29 Jan 2022.
- Spanner In The Works presents Deception, 1 Feb 2022, 7:30pm Watch as an ordinary family falls victim to scams and see how they learn and move on from the experience. Written and directed by Patricia Downey.
- Sam Amidon, 5 March 2022, 7:30pm. Sam Amidon is an American folk artist, originally from Vermont, US. His parents are Peter Amidon and Mary Alice Amidon, both well established folk musicians who raised him on a diet of old Irish and Appalachian folk. Amidon is a member of the Icelandic music collective/record label Bedroom Community, and is a multi-instrumentalist. As well as singing, Amidon plays fiddle, guitar and banjo.
Duncairn Player: all of the previous video projects can now be viewed from the Duncairn Player including The Duncairn Virtual Cabaret, Take 2, Carlingford and the Ring of Guillion Sessions. Visit www.edenplaceartscentre.com
Wheelworks: unique to WheelWorks Arts is their state of the art ArtCart — a mobile arts studio that travels to your venue and opens up to provide an additional studio space for workshops and is packed full to the brim with digital equipment such as ipads, music and film making technology.
Virtual ArtCart activities take place at your own venue. Where outdoor space is limited, Wheelworks bring the ArtCart creativity inside your centre. They also come with a full outdoor suite — marquees, stage sound, lighting and outdoor heaters.
This unique space allows your young people the opportunity to experience professional equipment in a custom-made studio. It allows your centre to offer a range of socially distance spaces and utilises outdoor space. To book your perfect digital and arts activities just email www.wheelworksarts.com
Streetwise: Fancy learning how to juggle and other circus skills?! In response to Covid 19 Streetwise Community Circus has developed a team of tutors who are now working via Zoom to reach out to those who can no longer participate in workshops. To take advantage of this opportunity all you have to do is email Streetwise on streetwiseathome@gmail.com. Suitable for participants who range in age from 8 to 80 plus.
Arts Care: has a wonderful range of arts activities available online on their Arts Care 4U Premium +, their online arts delivery channel that everyone can access. Arts Care’s new dedicated online arts and well-being workshop resource, ‘Break-Time’, accessed via their website to support the mental, emotional and physical well-being of children and young people through the Arts. New art, music, dance & exercise, drama, creative writing and clown doctor’s CDTV videos will be uploaded regularly and it’s all FREE. Visit https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ85xLA2BlQQdrnWBhKw1hw
University of Atypical: presents The C word, Paradox and Optimism of the Will
Sinéad O'Neill-Nicholl
3rd February - 18th March 2022
University of Atypical is delighted to welcome you to join them for a new solo exhibition by the 2020, Graduate Award recipient Sinéad O'Neill-Nicholl opening as part of Belfast’s Late Night Art on the 3rd of February 2022.
Informed by field recordings made during periods of significant life events, the sound composition serves as both a personal antithetic response to late-stage capitalism and patriarchal structures - an exploration of paradoxical experience.
Living in a seemingly perpetual state of existential crisis, exacerbated by her father’s death from Cholangiocarcinoma (a rare and aggressive cancer) the artist began to collect sounds that captured the essence of the experience.
Following the outbreak of Covid-19 in March 2020, this practice continued as a way of reflecting time and the daily experiences that accompanied our collective containment. This sound installation can be further considered as an examination of the limitations of human knowledge and phenomenological experience. Visit www.universityofatypical.org
Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich: presents,
Eimear Nic Roibeaird
Eimear Nic Roibeaird is delighted to debut her solo exhibition An Chéad Bhean/The First Woman in the Gerard Dillion Gallery. An Chéad Bhean tells the story of Irish womanhood through paintings and written work based on the Cailleach figure. The Cailleach figure appears in Irish lore and heritage. The Cailleach is a character is based upon the villainous image giving to Irish woman who possessed unattainable power that neither Nationalism nor Christianity could possess. In this exhibition she will be depicted as the “wicked” Aoife, the venturous Cessair, the frightful Morrigan and the heroic Sadbh. Weaving together myth and realism, this narrative exhibition is a compelling body of work that has been developed by Nic Roibeaird the past 18 months. She is inspired by her Gael heritage and culture and the stories of Mythology she was raised with and her own experiences as an Irish woman. For further details visit www.culturlann.ie
Kevin Hamilton
Traditional Cultures in this part of Ireland can often be abused and misused as a negative commentary, ‘a stick to beat the other side with.’ We are more than just flags and kerbstones. All cultures have an intrinsic beauty within, which is often overlooked. My new series of work I have focused on aspects of the built landscape which have traditionally been associated with one or the other side. Buildings and locations such as Stormont Castle, Clonard Monastery, Milltown cemetery and Windsor Park, created intriguing symmetrical compositions divorced from its previous traditional associations. Through this selection of work, I want to encourage all to see beyond the history of a place and appreciate the beauty within. My work is kaleidoscopic pieces drawn from locations and landmarks previously identified to be one or the other culture, from divided cultures here. Highlighting the beauty which is visible everywhere if you know how to look, a true beauty found in each culture which can be appreciated without prejudice. For further details visit https://www.culturlann.ie/en/visual-arts
ArtisAnn: presents SCIENCE fiction from Wed 2nd February to Sat 26th February, 2022
Part of the NI Science Festival
Tue – Fri: 11am to 6pm ; Sat: Noon to 5pm
This exhibition, which is part of NI Science Festival, celebrates the creativity in art and science and how artists respond to the great science fiction books and films that have inspired them.
Artists showing include
Tony Bartley
Magdalena Blazejewicz
Leo Boyd
Wilhelmina Peace
Rachel Lawell
Harry McMahon
Neil Shawcross
All artworks are available to buy. You can also buy art from this exhibition through the Arts Council supported Own Art scheme which gives you an interest-free loan over 10 months (and you still get to take the art home immediately the exhibition ends). Visit www.artisann.org
Craft NI: Visit www.craftni.org
Golden Thread Gallery: presents God is Meditating: Still – a new exhibition by Edy Fung.
15 Jan – 19 Feb 2022.
GTG is delighted to present a new solo exhibition by Edy Fung in the Project Space, curated by Sarah McAvera.
God is Meditating: Still explores our current state of uncertainty through investigating the potential of determinism and the possibilities of predictions. Through installation, sound, text and drawing, Fung uses instances of meteorology as an allegory for the possibility of the pre-determined. Referencing a range of thinkers and theories, such as LaPlace and Land, God is Meditating: Still uses the seemingly innocuous topic of weather to force us to question our own beliefs and disbeliefs around the ability to predict the future. Visit www.goldenthreadgallery.co.uk
The MAC: presents the following exhibitions:
Alfred Wallis: Artist and Mariner, 8 Dec – 27 Mar, presented in the Tall and Sunken Gallery.
Alfred Wallis (1855–1942) was a mariner and scrap merchant born in Devonport, Plymouth, who spent most of his life in Cornwall. He started painting around the age of seventy, with no formal training and little income. Despite these challenges, his artistic output was prolific. After going to sea as a cabin boy at the age of nine, Wallis spent his early life working on lugger and deep-sea fishing boats off the Cornish coast and in the Atlantic. He later set up a marine scrap store in St Ives. Following the death of his wife, he turned to making art as a creative release from the loneliness he felt. All works in the exhibition are by Alfred Wallis and from the collection of Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge.
Ronnie Hughes: Isobar, 8th December – 27 March 2022, Upper Gallery, The MAC
Ronnie Hughes is one of Ireland’s most dynamic abstract painters. Hughes’ elegant and poised works are executed with complex technical skill yet retain a lightness of touch. While his finished paintings display a diversity of styles, at heart they share a common concern with the lived experience, and what Hughes has described as “the beauty, the fragility and the violence of being.”
Ronnie Hughes’ works evolve over a long time and are generally process-driven to the extent that there is no plan or, in most cases, any sense of the outcome until the works are close to completion. “My role is to steer and nuance their evolution; to balance the elements and, just as often, to disrupt them resulting in the emergence of waves, nebulae, constellations, lattice structures and fields”.
In recent years Hughes’ work has become more ‘optically’ charged, colour and shape are presented as vibrational energies where the haptic qualities that a painting’s surface contains and its ability to record, hold and represent time are amplified.
Hughes’ work is complex and multi-dimensional. The painted surface is constructed through a layering of stratas revealing a range of associative and representational qualities simultaneously. What appears to be random or chaotic is revealed to have a hidden template, structure or pattern, the regimented order of which is constantly gnawed at and undermined.
For further information visit at www.derryvoid.com
Belfast Exposed: Presents the following exhibitions:
Studio Gallery: Imprint
Imprint is an exhibition which celebrates local artists who have been a part of the Belfast Exposed family. The diversity of the work is balanced by real life environment and experience. With such introspection, the artists turn their lenses to social justice issues which have affected their lives such as transgender, racism and urban vs rural. These are issues which audiences can easily relate to and draw their own parallels and experience from as the human connection to these issues is evident within the work. The works allow the viewer to stop and connect with the issues at hand.
Street View: ‘Portraits of Saying Goodbye’ by Mark Bell
Mark Bell's Portraits of Saying Goodbye will be displayed on our award-winning Street View screen. This exhibition explores connections we make with those closest to us throughout our life and ignites those difficult emotions we experience when it is time to say goodbye. The Japanese term 'Mono No Aware' perfectly summarises the respect we all most give to the transience of relationships and moments and how one must make the most of the time we have. Bell has used his camera as a vehicle to add meaning to his relationships and value each moment in his attempt to freeze time through his series of portraits.
Dates: 3rd February - 26th February. For further details visit www.belfastexposed.org
R-Space: presents the following exhibition:
Places, Spaces and Traces by Cas Holmes
8 Jan – 4 Feb 2022
Cas Holmes is an award winning artist based in Kent. She graduated in Fine Arts from University College of Creative Arts, followed by research into paper-making and textiles in Japan. Renowned for her use of 'the found', she is the author of five books for Batsford, including her most recent ‘Embroidering the Everyday’ (2021) and ‘Textile Landscape:Painting with Cloth in Mixed Media’ (2018). Her work takes an eclectic view on how different places, everyday subjects and the landscape we live in, can inform your textile work
Places, Spaces, Traces reflects on her Romani heritage. She is interested in the commonalities we have as people, the need for a place of our own, family and food. With migration, changes in our working lives and increasing opportunities to travel, our certainty about who we are and where we fit in is unsure. Visit https://www.rspacelisburn.com/exhibitions/05-06-50
CCA: CCA Derry-Londonderry presents
FEROX 14 Jan – 12 March 2022
CCA Derry-Londonderry is proud to present FEROX – its first exhibition of 2022, and artist Ciaran O Dochartaigh’s most extensive solo show to date. Ciaran makes use of a wide range of media – customised tools made of ceramic, marble, granite, sound recordings, technical drawings – in an attempt to deal with themes of generational grief, trauma and healing and how these lived experiences are indivisible from the landscape. Sources for Ciaran’s work are found in his research garnered from historical documentation and archival footage, as well as personal experience and storytelling.
FEROX focuses on Lough Fad East, Donegal – a small body of freshwater that supplies drinking water to the surrounding townlands in the Inishowen peninsula. The ecosystem of the lough has been damaged in recent years, most significantly by the introduction of a new fish species that has irreversibly altered its biodiversity which had previously been unaltered since the last ice age.
<Throughout the duration of FEROX there will be a series of accompanying events, pending pandemic restrictions. Visit www.ccadld.org
Belfast Children’s Festival: On the back of a 2-year hiatus for live events, Belfast Children’s Festival 2022 is returning from 4-13 March 2022 with a line-up of gigantic proportions.
From contemporary dance ‘MORF’, creating the magical out of the everyday, to theatre performances of ‘A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings’, incorporating magical realism, and ‘Birdboy’, celebrating the power of imagination, offering a vision of hope and connection. A newly commissioned opera ‘Nobody, Somebody’ will focus on real issues of homelessness and mental health and ‘Touch’ a new exhibition created by local children will explore the impact of social distancing during lockdown, reflecting on and creatively responding to the pandemic impact. International performances will return to this year’s festival with ‘Do As I Say’ from Sweden, a dance performance exploring issues of bullying and authority, and ‘No Man is an Island’ from the Netherlands which brings connection, cooperation, communication and creativity together, collectively making sure that the line-up for Belfast Children’s Festival 2022 is combining reality with the magic of escapism.
In addition, the 2022 programme will feature a new production from Replay Theatre Company ‘Harbour’ An enchanting multi-sensory baby opera, where parents and little ones can discover this strange new world together. Festival favourites will return including the ‘Giant Family Day Out’ at Cathedral Quarter, ‘Acoustic Picnic’ and ‘Baby Rave’, for all of the little dancers and big dancers too!
View the full programme at https://readymag.com/u2245057935/bcf-2022/
Look North: North Belfast’s rich culture and built heritage is to be recognised in a new Festival whose aim is to celebrate the story of North Belfast with its vibrant and diverse community.
This debut weekend festival - Look North! The North Belfast Festival - will take place from Friday 25 to Sunday 27 February in a wide range of venues along the new North Belfast Cultural Corridor. In just over one mile you can find 15 historic buildings and sites which stretch back to the 18th Century. It is an area also renowned as the birthplace and alma mater of such international literary talent as Brian Moore, Helen Waddell, John Hewitt, Ciaran Carson, Sinéad Morrisey, Anne Devlin, Gerald Dawe, Bernard MacLaverty, and Anna Burns.
The festival programme is jam-packed with activities to showcase and celebrate North Belfast’s rich heritage and its cultural, creative and literary talents, with appearances from local authors, artists and young people, though it is not all limited to the area. To this end the programme reflects a wide range of activities and interests, including talks, poetry readings, panel discussions, walks, historic tours, the visual arts, music and comedy performances, creative writing classes for adults and the launch of the first Look North! Short Story Literary Awards in association with Intercomm North Belfast. Visit northbelfastfestival.com for full details.
Sole Purpose: a new festival in Derry-Londonderry will highlight the power of theatre as a positive force to create social change. Organised by Sole Purpose to celebrate its 25th anniversary, the Festival of Theatre for Social Change (14th-20th February) will address issues including the impact of Bloody Sunday, LGBTQ+ rights, breaking down barriers for deaf and disabled people and theatre from a range of Arab countries.
Highlights include: Sole Purpose staging Scenes from an Inquiry by Dave Duggan to mark the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday; multi-award-winning Khayaal Theatre Company's A Collection of Muslim Heritage Tales; and London-based Graeae Theatre's residency with Derry's Lilliput Theatre Company. Visit www.solepurpose.org
Waterways Storymaking Festival: Over the past four years, the Waterways Storymaking Festival has offered a chance for people all over Northern Ireland to reflect and connect in a deeper way with the unique beauty of our waterways. With the continuing support of the National Lottery through the Arts Council, the festival this year will run through the first six months of 2022, offering an opportunity to share with each other thoughts, reminiscences or pure flights of fantasy on the theme of 'Waterways'. Story submissions to the 2022 festival competition are invited from all ages and abilities. There are also free online creative writing workshops to spark some inspiration with talented local writers in January and February. Visit https://www.thewaterwayscommunity.org
Linenhall Library: The inaugural Linen Hall Library Enlightenment Festival is to launch on February 1st to 5th in a special creative collaboration with two of the world’s most highly acclaimed artistic producers in international multi-arts festivals and events, Seán Doran and Liam Browne. The special series of talks, debates, readings, recordings and recitals planned for the library and in other atmospheric venues across Belfast will catapult abstract centuries old (17th-18th) ideology straight into 2022.
Through a contemporaneous Enlightenment lens, the festival will give rise to conversations on issues such as feminism and anti-racism. It will explore the benefits of new social contracts and coffee shop culture; the impact of populism on politics, the rights of individuals to choose versus state, innovation in science, the pursuit of knowledge etc. Visit www.linenhall.com for full details.
Out to Lunch Festival: The 17th edition of the Out To Lunch Festival returns from 8-30 January 2022 with a packed programme of music, comedy, talks and drama. Due to Covid-19 the Festival recently announced that a number of shows have had to be rescheduled with some being live streamed. For full information please see their website www.cqaf.com
IMBOLC Festival: The IMBOLC International Music Festival returns to Derry-Londonderry from 30 Jan until 6 Feb 2022 featuring concerts, workshops, masterclasses community events plus sessions for young people. IMBOLC International Music Festival is firmly embedded in Derry’s cultural calendar and is one of Ireland’s leading folk, trad and roots music festivals. The festival offers high quality blended concert experiences, with a mixture of favourite international artists, alongside new and emerging talent. Highlights of this year’s festival include:
- 6 Feb, Geordie Hanna, the Man and The Songs. A concert in celebration of the songs of Geordie Hanna featuring Daoiri Farrell, Len Graham, Rita Gallagher, Mairead Walls, Gabriel McArdle, Niall Hanna and others. Hosted by Professor Malachy O'Neill with discussion from book author, Martin J. McGuinness.
- 4 Feb, Landless//Jarlath Henderson. Landless are Ruth Clinton, Meabh Meir, Sinead Lynch and Lily Power. They sing unaccompanied traditional songs from Irish, Scottish, English and American traditions in close four-part harmony. Their repertoire features songs of love, death and lamentation, as well as work songs, shape-note hymns and more recently penned folk songs. Landless have performed in a variety of settings, both in Ireland and abroad, and are closely involved with traditional singing sessions in Dublin and Belfast.
Hailing from County Armagh, Ireland, Jarlath Henderson is the first Irish solo artist to win the prestigious BBC Young Folk Musician of the Year Award, which has led to performances at festivals throughout Europe and to GlobalFest in New York City. He is a masterful balladeer, three times ‘All Ireland Champion’ Uilleann Piper, a teacher both in Ireland and Scotland and has featured in numerous BBC television programs on piping and music. A talented and versatile multi-instrumentalist, Jarlath also plays whistle, flute and cittern.
Visit www.imbolcfestival.com for full programme information and to buy tickets.