Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival 2021 Hope, Courage, Resilience: 15th Sept - 24th Oct
Wednesday, September 15, 2021
Click Here for Schedule
Smashing Times and Front Line Defenders in partnership with Amnesty International, Fighting Words, Irish Council for Civil Liberties, National Women’s Council of Ireland, Trócaire, and Poetry Ireland will implement the 2021 Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival to showcase and highlight the extraordinary work of human rights defenders in Ireland and around the world, past and present, and the role of the arts and artists in promoting human rights today. The festival will run for ten days from Friday 15 October to Sunday 24 October 2021. The artistic curator for the festival is Mary Moynihan, Artistic Director, Smashing Times and the human rights curator is Laura O’Leary, Front Line Defenders.
This year’s festival will contain both online and in-person events in line with current Covid-19 guidelines, and will facilitate the opportunity to share, celebrate, remember, explore, provoke and promote the arts for human rights. Join us as we bring together artists, activists, citizens, families, communities and all those interested in using the arts to celebrate and promote human rights and equality for all. The theme of this year’s festival is Hope, Courage and Resilience: The Story Continues, celebrating human rights and linking the arts to civil society, active citizenship and politics through a series of inter-disciplinary performances, film screenings, documentaries, theatre, music, dance, visual and digital art, poetry, literature, historical memory, discussions and arts-based workshops, featuring Irish and international artists and guest speakers celebrating and promoting dignity and respect for all people equally.
Over ten days, the festival brings audiences a mix of artworks that include the very best performances, vibrant dance acts, live music, visual art exhibitions and family fun, combined with stimulating discussion and debate. An assortment of workshops in performance, music, and song-writing are available for all ages as a part of this unique and vibrant festival of culture, arts and equality. The festival is a collaborative partnership showcasing world-class programming and presenting new and diverse artists and acts, with something for everyone to enjoy. Join us for a celebration of the arts and human rights – a festival not to be missed. The festival will bear witness and remember the past, explore the present and celebrate the future linked to equality and rights for all, highlighting the role artists can play in a new society.
Events will take place online and in person. Site specific shows featuring theatre, poetry, literature, song, music and dance presented alongside digital/film projections onto the building walls of Rathfarnham Castle and creative pop-up installation in the grounds of Rathfarnham Castle; Live performances of theatre, dance and music will be presented on the rooftop garden of the Chester Beatty Library; A exhibition of visual artworks and film art pieces will be presented at dlr Mill Theatre Gallery Sace; and a discussion on human rights, poetry and the environment will be held at the NUI Galway Human Rights Centre.
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Key events include:
State of the Art: Nation State as Both Violator and Protector of Human Rights Visual Art Exhibition
This exhibition showcases artworks created by artists from across the island of Ireland who have worked together on the State of the Art: Nation State as Both Violator and Protector of Human Rights project. Presented in the dlr Mill Theatre, Dundrum. Supported by the Arts Council. Hosted by Smashing Times, in partnership with the Mill Theatre. Artwork by Dr Sinead McCann, Hina Khan, Amna Walayat, Noelle McAlinden. 15 – 24 October.
The Art of W/Rights: A Literary Carnival of Arts and Rights
A series of new artworks will be presented in Rathfarnham Castle Park to create a ‘gathering space’ to celebrate stories of care and compassion and to act as a catalyst to generate creative conversations on visions of a better world. Artworks will include large-scale projections on the walls of Rathfarnham Castle, as well as performances on the grounds. We are holding as open call asking members of the public to tell us who has inspired you, a person from the past or present who has inspired or shaped you in some way and who has promoted equality, compassion and rights in your life and the lives of others. Submit here. A selection of 100 of these stories and poems will be displayed in a ‘digital book’ online via the Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality gallery and digital arts platform, set up to promote the arts for equality, human rights and diversity and supported by The Arts Council. Presented by Smashing Times, in partnership with Rathfarnham Castle and Pearse Museum, 23 – 24 October.
Forgotten Voices: Stories of Hope, Courage and Resilience from the Holocaust and WWII
Writer Feilim James has created a new piece of theatre, based on research into forgotten voices from the Holocaust and WWII, with visual artist and theatremaker Aine O’Hara creating a virtual background. Supported by the Europe for Citizens programme. Presented by Smashing Times, in partnership with IFES COOP, Valencia, Spain; University of Leibniz, Hannover, Germany; and Akademia Humanistyczno-Ekonomiczna w Lodzi, Poland.
The Social Life of Misinformation: A Challenge
In the face of a global misinformation crisis, many journalists and scientists have gravitated to fact checking as a solution. Provide the correct counter-information, the theory goes, and those who follow QAnon or far-right extremists, who are spreading false information about elections, refugee populations, or COVID, will start spreading the correct information instead. This roundtable discussion will address the impact misinformation has on social media and in relation to the work of human rights defenders. Hosted online by Front Line Defenders, Tuesday 19 October, 2pm.
Disability and Defence of Human Rights
Human rights defenders across the globe can include those with disabilities, and they constitute vital voices in the defence of human rights and promotion of inclusivity, equity and justice. Speakers on this panel will share their experiences, explore how the dominant culture of ableism creates challenges, and how assumptions about disability prevents human rights defenders from being fully visible in their work. Hosted online by Front Line Defenders, Thursday 21 October, 1.30pm
For further information please contact
Freda Manweiler, Company Manger,
Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality
Coleraine House, Coleraine Street, Dublin 7
Tel: + 353 (0) 1 865 6613 Tel: + 353 (0) 87 221 4245
Email: freda@smashingtimes.ie
Website: www.smashingtimes.ie
Facebook: www.facebook.com/smashingtimescentre
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Smashing_Times
FRONT LINE DEFENDERS – THE INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
Second Floor, Grattan House, Temple Road, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland
Email: info@frontlinedefenders.org
Tel: +353 1 212 3750
For more information visit https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/
Twitter: @FrontLineHRD
Instagram: @frontlinedefenders
Starts: 15 September 2021
Ends: 24 October 2021
Location: Online and In-person