Summer Solstice from the Brink!
Summer Solstice Weekender from the Brink!
Clear your calendar for the Summer Solstice weekend, Saturday 22nd & Sunday 23rd June: Summer Solstice from the Brink!
Join us to celebrate the start of the summer with local food, stories from growers & climate champions, live broadcast of local DJs on BBC, and a selection of food & climate films, to provoke & inspire.
This is the public launch of the Brink! site, bringing people together to discuss what should this city do, to have some fun, eat some nice food, and learn from each other.
The Brink! site in the heart of the city
On Saturday 22nd we will hear from regenerative farmers, climate scientists, community growers, and food producers, and go on urban safaris with Wild Belfast, from midday to 5pm, in our Marquee & Garden zones of the Brink! site..
And from 6-11pm BBC Summer Solstice Live from the Brink! will broadcast a selection of sets from some of Belfast’s finest DJs to celebrate the start of the summer.
On Sunday 23rd, from midday-9pm, we will host a series of food, climate & activist related films, interspersed with Q&A from local specialists to hear how these films relate to Northern Ireland.
FOOD. MUSIC. FILMS.
Chatting. Eating. Dancing.
Saturday 22nd June: (Program below)
Midday-5pm: Food & Climate Stories - Local food stalls, talks and stands / Urban Safari city-centre biodiversity walks with Wild Belfast
6-11pm: BBC Summer Solstice Live Broadcast from the Brink! - DJs playing chilled vibes & summer tunes: Timmy Stewart, Kwame, Warriors of the Dystotheque & Marion Hawkes
Sunday 23rd June: (Program below)
Midday-9pm: Film screenings (Food, Climate & Activism) with Q&A
Where:
This is the site location on Union Street, directly across the road from the Sunflower Bar, which is 65 Union St, Belfast BT1 2JG.
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These events are all FREE, and access to the site will be limited for safety, and on a 1st come 1st served basis.
Evening bar will be provided by the Sunflower Bar.
As a social enterprise we depend on the funding that we can raise, so if you like what we’re doing & could spare a little bit, we’d really appreciate a little donation. Signup to keep in touch & follow us @playthinkbrink
Program
Saturday: Marquee
Session One: 12.00 - 14.00
An afternoon of conversations around the six Brink! themes, asking the question. ‘What Should This City Do?’ challenging our speakers to provide some suggestions of how to achieve a greener & fairer future.
12:00 - 12:30: A GROWING STORY: Craig Sands (Grow NI) / Bryonie Reid (quarto) / Gemma Reid (quarto) / Paul Kelly (Brink!)
12:30 - 13:00: WE POWER: Dr Adrian Pugsley (School of Architecture, Ulster Univeristy) / Steven Agnew (Director, RenewableNI)
13:00-13:30: WE EAT: Miriam Turley (Social Farms & Gardens) / Sean McDermott (L’Arche Village / Source Grow) / Rory Blight (L’Arche Village / Source Grow)
13:30 - 14:00: WE LIVE: Ciaran Fox (Director of the Royal Society Of Ulster Architects) / Pauline O’Flynn (PPR / Grow NI)
Break: 14.00 - 14.30
14:00 - 14:30: Colour Stories Screening
A 30 minute break from our conversations to screen a short video about the Culture Bridge project Colour Stories, a plant-dying project between Artpark in Germany & Brink! in Belfast.
Session Two: 14.30-16.00
14:30 - 15:00: WE WEAR: Siobhan Purnell (Keep NI Beautiful)
15:00 - 15:30: WE WASTE: Liam McNally (International Synergies) / Eric Randall (Director, Bryson Recycling)
15:30 - 16:00: WE TRAVEL: Dr Neil Galway (School of Natural & Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast) / Andrew McClean (Northern Ireland Engagement Officer - Cycling UK)
Session Three: 16.20 - 17.00
16:20 - 17:00: FOOD STORIES: Mike’s Fancy Cheese, Bakari, Greg Sancho, & Biruk Sahle
A conversation with some local food heroes who are making a success of keeping it local, and being in tune with the craft of nature and food.
18.00-23.00: BBC Summer Solstice Live Broadcast from the Brink!
From 6-11pm the BBC’s House Party show will braodcast Summer Solstice Live from the Brink! with a selection of sets from some of Belfast’s finest DJs to celebrate the start of the summer playing chilled vibes & summer tunes: Timmy Stewart, Kwame, Warriors of the Discotheque & Marion Hawkes
5.30pm: Doors open
6-8pm: Houseparty live on BBC Radio Ulster with Timmy Stewart
8-9pm: Kwame Daniels – Inna Rhythm set
9-10pm: Warriors of the Dystotheque DJ set
10-11pm: Marion Hawkes DJ set
Saturday: Garden
Wild Belfast Walks: 12.30 & 15.00
12.30 & 15.00: Wild Belfast are supporting a biodiversity corner on the Brink! site, and will be hosting two urban safari walks across the city centre throughout the Saturday afternoon.
Stalls / Vendors: 12.00 - 17.30
A Growing Story (Grow NI & quarto)
Barista Academy (Good Mood Coffee)
Brink! Mushroom Tea
Sunday: Marquee: Outdoor Cinema
A beginner's guide to fungi, narrated by Björk and presented by Merlin Sheldrake
Session One: Life starts in our soil: 12.00-15.00
12:00 - 12:40: FUNGI: WEB OF LIFE
12:45 - 14:15: SIX INCHES OF SOIL
14:15 - 14:45: Q&A with Prof Mark Emmerson (Co-Director, Climate+ Co-Centre and Professor of Biodiversity, School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast) & John McCormick (Helens Bay Organic Farm)
Session Two: Change is in your hands: 15.00-18.30
15:00 - 15:14: PIE NET ZERO
15:20 - 16:00: RIGHTS OF NATURE
16:10 - 17:40: 2040
17:40 - 18:10: Q&A with Prof Mark Emmerson (Co-Director, Climate+ Co-Centre and Professor of Biodiversity, School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast) & James Orr (Director, Friends of the Earth NI)
Session Three: What will you do?: 18.30-21.00
18:20 - 18:30: WAR ON THE WALL (Taqi Spateen, Bethlehem)
18:30 - 18:55: THE WORLD'S END: COP26
19:00 - 20:30: THE YES MEN ARE REVOLTING
20:30 - 21:00: Q&A with Prof John Barry (Professor of Green Political Economy, Queen’s University Belfast) & Declan Owens (Ecojustice Ireland)
Sunday: Garden
Wild Belfast Walks: 12.30 & 15.00
12.30 & 15.00: Wild Belfast are supporting a biodiversity corner on the Brink! site, and will be hosting two urban safari walks across the city centre throughout the Saturday afternoon.
Stalls / Vendors: 12.00 - 17.30
Brink! Mushroom Tea
Evening bar will be provided by the Sunflower Bar.
We are working with Grow NI, quarto & SourceGrow to bring together the Food Stories, and the NI Science Festival to help us run the event.
The Climate+ Co-Centre will be on site during the weekend to discuss how they’re approaching research, innovation, and policy development across the interlinked challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and water degradation on the islands of Ireland and Britain.
Members of the Brink! project A Growing Story will be on site to explain what we’re doing with the growing on site.
Wild Belfast are supporting a biodiversity corner on the Brink! site, and will be hosting urban safari walks across the city centre throughout the Saturday afternoon.
Hope to see you down to kick off the summer with us & talk about what this city should do.
Follow site progress and event info via the Brink! social channels by searching for @playthinkbrink.
Thank you to all of our funders, resource partners, volunteers & supporters for all of your help in getting us to here.
National Lottery Heritage Fund, DAERA, Belfast City Council, Friends of the Earth NI, Allstate, The Community Foundation., AHRC, Queen’s University Belfast, Natural World Products, Destination CQ, International Synergies, Camden Group, JP Corry, Jam Media, Wild Belfast, Million Trees, Woodland Trust, Beechgrove Nursery, Survitec, Babcock Rail, The Boxman, Titan Containers, EEL, Aurora, Haldane Fisher, Nobletts, Graffic Belfast, Grow NI, quarto, SourceGrow, NI Science Festival, Belfast Film Festival, 3rd Source, Sunflower Bar, Ulster University, Stretch Tents, Whitehead Dye Garden, National Trust, Heritage Fruit Tree Nursery, Bryson, Climate+ Co-Centre, Faculty of Medicine, Health & Life Sciences, Transition Together, Necessity, Hearty Growers, and an army of individuals.
Brink! Stories CIC is a social enterprise set up to deliver community workshops and events around themes attached to climate change. The Brink! site will be a storytelling space to discuss, educate and act on climate change, social justice and how we adapt to a net zero society. https://www.playthinkbrink.com/