{"id":21132,"date":"2023-03-20T09:42:13","date_gmt":"2023-03-20T08:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/?p=21132"},"modified":"2023-03-20T09:42:13","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T08:42:13","slug":"imagine-belfast-festival-of-ideas-politics-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/2023\/03\/imagine-belfast-festival-of-ideas-politics-begins\/","title":{"rendered":"Imagine! Belfast Festival of Ideas &#038; Politics Begins!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>\u00ad-One of Belfast\u2019s most innovative and thought-provoking festival returns this week<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Imagine! Belfast Festival of Ideas &amp; Politics kicks off this week (20<sup>th<\/sup> \u2013 26<sup>th<\/sup> March) and will explore the theme, \u2018Brain Food: A Feast of Ideas for A Better World\u2019 with a programme of film, humour, talks, music, poetry, theatre, exhibitions, tours, discussion and workshops.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-21133\" src=\"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/1-13-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"477\" height=\"268\" \/>Now in its ninth year, 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. \u00a0Keynote speakers include the world-renowned intellectual Noam Chomsky; American political scientist Francis Fukuyama; British environmentalist Jonathon Porritt; Belfast poet Medbh McGuckian; campaigner George Monbiot; visual artist Colin Davidson: journalist Sally Hayden and satirist Oliver Callan.<\/p>\n<p>Commenting on this year\u2019s programme, Festival director and founder, Peter O\u2019Neill said: \u201cThis year\u2019s programme is jam-packed with a diverse range of events that will cater to a variety of tastes.\u00a0 Our events will nourish the mind and provide food for thought in this volatile world. We aim to put the fun into politics with lots of humour, performance and discussion, so please join us for this feast of ideas and view the events at <a href=\"https:\/\/imaginebelfast.com\/\">https:\/\/imaginebelfast.com\/<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There are many notable events in the programme including a politics quiz, a poetry and politics pub tour, and a special \u2018Poetry and Politics\u2019 performance, hosted by William Crawley, where local politicians will talk about their favourite poems.\u00a0 Owen McCafferty\u2019s new play, \u2018Agreement\u2019 premieres at the Lyric Theatre and examines this landmark moment in the history of Northern Ireland.\u00a0 Other new productions include Five Days &#8211; a new play by Joe Nawaz, and the premiere of Reunion by Julie Dutkiewicz and Kabosh Theatre.<\/p>\n<p>Musicians include legendary performer, John Otway; alternative punks, Wood Burning Savages; the acclaimed Australian song writer, Robert Forster; and a talk by Paul Gorman on the rise and fall of the music press. Comedy is well represented with Tiff Stevenson and Fin Taylor alongside poets such as Henry Normal, Luke Wright, and Clare Pollard taking to the stage.<\/p>\n<p>Tickets and further info are available from: <a href=\"https:\/\/imaginebelfast.com\">https:\/\/imaginebelfast.com<\/a><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00ad-One of Belfast\u2019s most innovative and thought-provoking festival returns this week \u00a0 The Imagine! Belfast Festival of Ideas &amp; Politics kicks off this week (20th \u2013 26th March) and will explore the theme, \u2018Brain Food: A Feast of Ideas for A Better World\u2019 with a programme of film, humour, talks, music, poetry, theatre, exhibitions, tours, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/2023\/03\/imagine-belfast-festival-of-ideas-politics-begins\/\">Continued<\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21132"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21132"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21134,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21132\/revisions\/21134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}