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Imagine! Belfast Festival of Ideas & Politics

imagine! belfast festival of ideas & politics

Belfast

The 8th Imagine! Belfast Festival proved to be a successful offering involving 147 events and 359 speakers & performers during 21-27 March 2022. The eclectic week of talks, workshops, theatre, poetry, comedy, music, exhibitions, film and tours attracted an audience of 9,210 online and in-person attendees. Most of the events (82%) were free as the festival returned to live events after two years operating online. Although Covid continued to impact on our programme with 17 events cancelled due to illness, we were still able to roll out a huge range of events including headliners such as Michael Ignatieff, Tom Robinson, Helen Thompson, Michael Longley, Ece Temelkuran, Bill Neely and a host of exciting arts and cultural events – with many sold out or oversubscribed. We have conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the festival through an audience survey(3.5% sample). Our survey found that 95% of respondents felt the festival satisfied their expectations. It was particularly pleasing to find that 60% of audience members were attending a festival event for the first time and 37% of the sample had never been to a festival venue before, which suggests that we were able to reach new audiences and introduce them to new venues and partners. Other outcomes included: 12% of attendees came from outside Northern Ireland. Of these, 13% stated the festival was the main reason they were visiting Belfast. Audience spend: Our sample spent an average of £35 attending our events Number of festival partners: 52 Number of international participants: 40 with 27 events organised by participants from outside UK & Ireland Number of free events: 121 – 82% of total events Average ticket price: £7.8 Number of workshops: 14 Number of venues used: 35 Media coverage: Total number of items: 98. Reach: 4,022,796. AVE: £181,881. PR value: £545,644 Positive feedback was also elicited from survey respondents, detailed as follows: 95% of respondents felt the festival satisfied their expectations with only 1% reporting dissatisfaction (increased from 94% in 2021) 95.3% of people answered the question ‘after attending the festival, would you be more likely to attend other politics-related events’ (88% last year) 97.8 of respondents stated they were more likely to recommend the festival to family and friends after attending one of our events with 1.6% stating they felt the same When asked whether the festival promotes Belfast and Northern Ireland in a positive way, 98.4% said yes, with 1.6% responding as ‘don’t know’ People appeared to be reasonably well informed about the festival. 92% of the sample stated they were either well or somewhat informed about the festival prior to attending an event Respondents overwhelmingly found the subject matter of the event/performance as the main reason for attending the festival. However, familiarity with the speaker/performer was also cited as a factor. We also asked whether respondents considered themselves to be disadvantaged and found that 21% of the sample considered themselves to fall into this category which suggests were able to significantly engage with vulnerable and less well-off sections of the community. We invited the public to suggest and organise events in November 2021 and received a record 98 proposals, most of which we were able to support. This was a higher than expected level of public participation in the festival which resulted in more events than planned taking place in the 2022 programme. We also had a greater variety of events with more place-making events, exhibitions, music and discussions/workshop events compared to previous years.

Oasis Academy Enfield

oasis academy enfield

Enfield

Everything within Oasis Community Learning is framed by our ethos. Our ethos is rooted in what we believe and who we are. Grounded in our story, it is an expression of our character; a set of values that inform and provide the lens on everything we do. A passion to include A desire to treat people equally respecting differences A commitment to healthy, open relationships A deep sense of hope that things can change and be transformed A sense of perseverance to keep going for the long haul It is these ethos values that we want to be known for and to live by. We are committed to a model of inclusion, equality, healthy relationships, hope, and perseverance throughout all the aspects of the life and culture of every Oasis Hub and academy community. We encourage every member of our family, be that staff or student, to align themselves to these ethos values. The values themselves are inspired by the life, message and example of Jesus but we make it clear that we will not impose on anyone, the beliefs that underpin our ethos values. We recognise and celebrate the richness that spiritual and cultural diversity brings to our community, respecting the beliefs and practices of other faiths in the hope that we will provide a welcoming environment for all. The Oasis 9 Habits The Oasis Ethos is aspirational, inspirational and something that we have to constantly work at. It is important to remember that every organisation is made up of its people, and people don’t always get things right. This means that there can sometimes be a dissonance between what we say we are, as stated in our ethos values, and what we actually do and experience. Recognising this is helpful because it reminds us that we each have things to work on; we have space to grow, develop and change to become the best version of ourselves. To help us in this process of personal growth and development we have the Oasis 9 Habits. It is our bespoke and unique approach to character development. We know that by living the way of the Habits, the Oasis Ethos will become second nature to us. We also believe that this process of continually developing our character and being transformed to become the best version of ourselves is really important for every student and staff member alike. Therefore, we actively promote and practice the Oasis 9 Habits which are an invitation to a way of life characterised by being compassionate, patient, humble, joyful, honest, hopeful, considerate, forgiving and self-controlled. We believe that by becoming people who live this way, by becoming the best version of ourselves, whether we are a staff member or students, we are transformed, and we are also able to play our part in bringing transformation locally, nationally and globally.