So what are the key things you see happening at this year’s festival?
I will be building on the legacy of the Imagine! Belfast Festival, keeping the radical nature of the festival as predominantly community orientated. At least 70 per cent of the events are community created and we have a very open application process. We rarely say no to anything.
I think the second element is to continue the idea that art and politics are connected, that activism and the arts are fused together. I have always thought that all art is political, so I want to maintain and build on that aspect of the festival.
Those two elements, that of community creation and the connection between arts and politics, offers the possibility for all sorts of themes and ideas to emerge. Often you will find issues at the festival which you really don’t hear discussed anywhere else. We think that the festival offers a unique opportunity to have conversations about the issues which really inspire our community.
Is there anything else you want to achieve with the festival?
I want to create a structure which allows the festival to stand on its own two feet financially. Of course we think the festival deserves to be publicly funded, but we also need to be in a position where we are not wholly reliant on public funding.
Everyone in the arts is facing this dilemma at the moment, with the deep and continual cuts to arts budgets. In order to allow the festival to be around for a while, and me along with it, it has to be sustainable financially.
Are there any themes arising?
A few. Things like Artificial Intelligence will be discussed, Bio-Diversity and Capitalism, there will be panels on Ska and Reggae and the music of resistance. Artists against Genocide will be hosting an event with Palestinian DJ’s, there will be a global film programme, and Jinx Lennon and Lemn Sissay will be performing.
If there is an overarching theme, it is one of Hope in the face of social media algorithms which profit from despair and division. We will be hearing from real people with big ideas against the backdrop of the global political landscape.
