To celebrate the Autumn Equinox, Fri 20th – Sun 22nd Sept, Brink! has teamed up with Climate Craic to bring the best of climate and environmental workshops, panels and events to the heart of Belfast.
Topics will centre around food, waste, fashion, climate justice, and the importance of culture in inspiring change.
Workshops
A range of hands-on workshops engaging with food, clothing, reuse & repair
Panels
Hear from fantastic speakers across themes of waste, food, clothing and environment.
Events
Join us for music, films and Sunday market
The venue for this weekend is the Brink! site at the corner of Union Street and Kent Street. The space has been cleared to make way for Belfast Stories, a high-profile visitor centre that will celebrate the narrative of this city.
Brink! are demonstrating how creativity and greening can bring life an urban desert as the first chapter of the Belfast Story for this site.
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All day: Clothes Swap
11.30: Screening: The Need to Grow(95 mins)
1.30: Workshop: The Food Conversation (90 mins)
3.30: Presentation: Belfast's Food Data Map with Will Hancock-Evans QUB (30 mins)
4.00: Talk: Greg Sachno Landworkers Alliance : Heritage, Habitat & Humanity (30 mins)
5.00: Music: Blackjack & Jai Sian
7.00: Music: Night Division Official - House, Disco, 80s, Italo (7-11pm)
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Midday: Herbalism Workshop with Grá Fiánta Herbal (90 mins)
2.00: SUKI Tea: 'Journey of Tea' Workshop with Oscar Woolley #1 (45 mins)
2.45: SUKI Tea: 'Journey of Tea' Workshop with Oscar Woolley #2 (45 mins)
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Midday: 'Colour Stories: Joint Journeys of a Colour Garden’ : Plant dying workshop with ArtPark (Germany)
2.30: Artivism Banner Making: What should this city do? (90 mins)
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12.00-1.00 / 2.00-4.00: Stephen Beggs: Beach of Dreams - Tell your beach stories
1.30: Growing your food the no-dig way with Biruk Sahle - Hahu Organics & Climate+ Co-Centre (30 mins)
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All Day: Food & drinks on site with the Good Mood Cafe & Bakari
And the Sunflower Pub will be providing the bar in the evening
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All Day: Check out the clothes swap area
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All day: Clothes Swap
10.00: 'Worth Not Waste' with Bryson Recycling : Aileen Monahan & Anne Rafferty (45 mins)
10.45: 'The Farm to Garment T-Shirt' with Siofra Caherty Jump The Hedges (30 mins)
11.20: Writing For Change: What role does writing play in activism? (30 mins)
11.50: Climate Campaign Pitches (30 mins)
12.30: Reflecting upon the Global Week of Action for Climate Finance & Fossil Free Future: with Tony Weekes, Dearbhla Richardson and Rebekah Corbett (45 mins)
1.30: Talk on the Global Week Of Action For Peace And Climate Justice: with Dr Peter Doran,Niamh Small & Emma McKeever (45 mins)
2.30: The Science of Lough Neagh with Prof. Mark Emmerson (QUB & Climate+ CoCentre) (30 mins)
3.00: Lough Neagh: Storytelling for change with Bernadette McAliskey, John Barry, Mary O'Hagan, co-founder of the Save Lough Neagh coalition and head of campaign group S.O.S, and James Orr (90 mins)
5.00: The Peace Bell
5.00: Music: Trad Sessions with Paddy McKeown & Myles McCormack (2 hours)
7.00: Bea & The Groove Collective (2 hours)
9.00: Music: Night Division Official - House, Disco, 80s, Italo (9-11pm)
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10.00: Campaign Space
Friends of the Earth, No Gas Caverns, White Head Oil Terminal, Save Our Sperrins / CAIM (3 hours)1.30:Vintage Kicks:
Sneaker Restoration (60 mins)3.00: Titanic Denim RESCUED (2 hours)
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10.00-2.00: Campaign Space: Badge making, postcard writing, signing petitions
2.00-4.00: 'Colour Stories: Joint Journeys of a Colour Garden’ : Plant dying workshop with ArtPark (Germany)
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All day: Artivism banner making in the gazebo
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All day: Bryson Play Resource Craft Space
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Food & drinks on site with the Good Mood Cafe, Truffleupagus Vegan Yums & La Tia Juana
And the Sunflower Pub will be providing the bar in the evening
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All Day: Check out the clothes swap area
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All day: Clothes Swap
Midday-6.00: The Sunday Market with traders serving up treats, gifts & info
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Midday-6.00: The Tiny Cinema screening a range of climate related short films from Friends of the Earth, NI Science Festival, PPR, This Egg and British Council
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Midday-2.00: Foxyroks: From skateboard to skate art
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12.00-6.00: Stephen Beggs: Beach of Dreams - Tell your beach stories
All Day: Artivism banner making in the gazebo
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All day: Bryson Play Resource Craft Space
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Food & drinks on site with La Tia Juana & bar with the Sunflower Pub
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All Day: Check out the clothes swap area
Evening Music
After a day of great chat & trying new things you can let your hair down with some great music. All evening gigs are free, but can only hold 250 people in the space, so its first come first served.
Paddy McKeown
Paddy McKeown is a Belfast based guitarist and multi-instrumentalist musician. He works at the intersection of traditional, electroacoustic, improvisatory and experimental music. Paddy released his first solo album, The Good Step, in 2020, and its follow up is currently in development. He has just released a new album with Córas Trio, which can be heard on their recent Radio 6 live session. He is an active session musician with past projects having seen him play festivals such as EFG London Jazz, Celtic Connections, and Birmingham TradFest.
Paddy has received multiple awards including from Arts Council NI and Freelands Foundation, and his various projects have received airplay on KEXP, BBC and NTS radio. He is now working towards a PhD titled “Developing Irish Traditional Music Performance through Improvisation and Feedback Musicianship”.
Check him out on Sat 21st 5-7pm.
Bea and the Belfast Groove Collective
Bea and the Belfast Groove Collective bring together the best local musicians in the nu-soul and R&B genres, drawing inspiration from the greats such as Nina Simone, Etta James, and Amy Winehouse.
You can see them out on Sat 21st 7-9pm.
Myles McCormack
Wether as a solo artist, a member of trad-folk group Lonesome George or his vital presence in Belfast’s world-beating folk clubs, Myles McCormack is a master of his quietly emphatic craft. Recent collaborations with the likes of Réalta, Cathy Jordan have doubled down on the strengths of his solo work.
The follow-up to 2019’s Real Talk, Myles’ second solo LP, To Better All Things, doubled down on the promise of something special back in January. On highlights like ‘Julie’ and ‘Every Time,’ the Belfast multi-instrumentalist paired sublime harmonies and fingerpicking finesse to wonderful effect
A jam-packed few months of shows and collaborations with the likes of Réalta and Cathy Jordan has just been capped off with the news that McCormack has been selected as one of 12 recipients of the NI Arts Council’s Artist Career Enhancement Scheme (ACES)
Providing funding to the North’s most talented emerging and mid-career artists, it’s well-earned recognition for a musician set to break a whole lot of new ground in 2024. If you’ve got thechance to see him live - even just the once - you’ll know that few artists mean it more.
Check him out on Sat 21st 5-7pm.
Night Division Official
Night Division Official are two DJs who run pop-up electronic music nights across Belfast city.
Check them out on Fri 20th 7-11pm & Sat 21st 9-11pm.
What & where is Brink!
Brink! are creating a space that can demonstrate what can happen when we look at our city centre differently – how we can connect with it, make it grow, find space to play, experiment and educate ourselves in the face of climate change.
Site location: Brink! Belfast Stories
https://maps.app.goo.gl/LcqfL7NyEtgidbvNA?g_st=ic
Located on Union Street, directly across the road from the Sunflower Bar, 65 Union St, Belfast BT1 2JG.
Please try to walk, bike, or take public transport to get here. Here are the best bike routes to the site.
The Sunflower Bar will be running the bar on the site for the evening events.
Climate Craic CIC
Climate Craic is a community-driven initiative dedicated to celebrating the joy and beauty of climate and environmental action through creative arts and inclusive events. As the hosts of Northern Ireland’s first Climate Action Festival at Stormont in 2021, and a second at Ormeau Park in 2022, we bring together voices from across the movement to highlight Northern Ireland’s passionate commitment to environmental stewardship. Our festivals connect people with climate and environmental action through music, poetry, art workshops, and interactive storytelling, all centred around nature and sustainability.
Each festival brought together 2,000 - 3,000 people, 50 - 70 exhibitors, activities and artists, and was made possible by a fully voluntary team, led by 3 core organisers.
Our mission is to make climate action accessible, engaging, and filled with hope. We believe that everyone, regardless of background or experience, has a role in the fight against climate change. By offering an inclusive and fun platform, we promote sustainability, environmental awareness, and community cohesion.
Beyond festivals, Climate Craic hosts workshops and events, collaborating with other groups to spotlight the incredible work being done across the climate movement. We emphasise creativity and intersectionality, recognising the connections between climate action and social issues. Our approach is to embrace and celebrate the diversity of solutions, understanding that there is no one "right way" to create change. By bringing together people from all walks of life, we aim to amplify our collective impact, inspiring meaningful climate action and building a better future for all.
Thank you to our partners for helping to support this event
