The Imagine! Belfast Festival of Ideas and Politics invites you to imagine new ideas on politics and culture and discuss contemporary political and societal issues.
PERFORMANCES, DEBATE, AND DISCUSSION
Welcome to the festival which brings you a unique way of imagining the future by discussing the big issues of our times, including new ideas on politics, culture, and activism. As a non-profit organisation, reflective of the wider community, the festival has been put together by a team of volunteers as an annual provocation where people can submit ideas and run their own events to imagine new ways of promoting performances, debate, and discussion on often contentious issues.
CURATED BY THE PUBLIC
The festival is uniquely curated by a public submission process where over 100 proposals are received from individuals and groups each year to run events as part of the festival. Venues are booked and support is given to new organisers to run their own events as part of the festival. The festival is not aligned with any political party or group – it is strictly non-partisan and aims to encourage participation from people not normally involved in political debate. Artists and creatives are encouraged to examine controversial issues through their practice and fund new projects that engage political themes.
NEW IDEAS ON POLITICS, CULTURE, AND ACTIVISM
Now in its tenth year, the festival is organising over 160 events and a number of special projects from 18 to 24 March, 2024. Supported by over fifty partner organisations, the diverse seven-day festival programme is an eclectic mix of talks, workshops, theatre, poetry, comedy, music, film, and performances. The mission of the festival is to provide high-quality showcases of new ideas on politics, culture, and activism. To date, over 1000 events involving over 100,000 people have been organised on issues that normally are not debated in Northern Ireland's rather "tribal" political discourse.
