Role of culture and art in industrial city divided by cultural differences

September 26, 7 pm IZOLYATSIA organizes meeting with David Boyd and Paul Marshall (Belfast, Northern Ireland) on role of culture and art in industrial city divided by cultural differences. Artists will talk about the conflict in Northern Ireland, history of community arts centers and their struggle for peace and reconciliation. 

David Boyd and Paul Marshall are working in Mariupol to draw parallels between conflict in the East of Ukraine and in Northern Ireland. Artists are meeting local activists, creative people, representatives of local art scene to share their experience of reconciliation through arts and culture.

David Boyd — director of Beat Carnival organization in Belfast, Northern Ireland, that organizes large-scale carnival for 25 years in order to reconcile two conflicting parties: pro-British loyalists and Irish nationalists. During the meeting, David will tell about the parallels between situation in Eastern Ukraine and Northern Ireland and about the ways for civil and cultural activists to start a process of reconciliation in the country.

Paul Marshall is an artist from Belfast working with multimedia on post-industrial and post-conflict themes, examining people and places, architecture and culture, connections and sense of identity. Master of Fine Arts from Ulster University’s Belfast School Of Art and 2015 Royal Ulster Academy award winner.

Beat Carnival (the Beat Initiative) has been at the forefront of carnival arts in Northern Ireland since its inception in 1993. Since then Beat has been providing education programmes; development and work facilities; and producing carnival parades and large-scale performances involving thousands of people each year. Beat Carnival is unique in the Northern Ireland marketplace due to the scale of events they provide in terms of audience and artist participation, float construction, creation of props and costume and the high level of artist expertise.

The event will take place at 8 Naberezhno-Luhova Street, Second floor.