Beat Carnival Belfast: Can creativity transform social tension?

Beat Carnival Belfast: Can creativity transform social tension? Art, participation, and public space | lecture and discussion

Come and listen to a lecture and discussion about the origins of Beat Carnival Belfast, a carnival that softens the edges of a long-standing conflict and eases social tension!

....Belfast, 1993. Northern Ireland is still living through The Troubles, decades of deep sectarian division, conflict, and violence in the streets. It was then that Beat Carnival was born, and for over thirty years, it has been exploring how creativity can offer a different way to inhabit and experience public space together.

Music, costumes, large-scale objects, and collaborative performance. Beat Carnival brings together people from different communities to create art projects, which they then take to the streets in the form of parades, performances, and creative interventions. Today, it is one of the most prominent participatory and carnival arts organizations in Northern Ireland, and it operates its own Beat Carnival Centre in Belfast for creation, education, and community collaboration.

Visiting Prague will be: Andrew Loretto, Artistic Director & Chief Executive; Matt Vernon, Carnival Arts Worker

Through photographs, film clips, and practical examples, they will present their work and open a discussion on the question: Can participatory art help transform social tension, create encounters across divides, and turn conflicted public space into shared space?

Moderated by Paul Wade, Director of the British Council.

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Please register for the event here.

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Part of FUK – Festival of Arts and Creativity in Education, on the eve of the 15th Velvet Carnival. In cooperation with Velvet Carnival, the British Council and Charles University