Belfast Festival Serves Up a Dinner Party with Difference

You may have heard of “singing for your supper” but what about weebling for your dinner?  That is exactly what TV personality Lynda Bryans, MLA Anna Lo and LASI Project Coordintator, Etain O'Kane did on Wednesday 27 October in the iconic Dome of Belfast’s Victoria Square, as part of this year’s Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen’s.

The unusual event, ‘We/ Them /Other – A Dinner Party for Eight People’ , the brainchild of Austrian born artist Noemi Lakmaier who is a wheelchair user, saw eight very different people from the world of politics, arts and entertainment enjoy a gourmet four-course meal together. The catch? All participants will be seated in Lakmaier’s spherical “weeble” creations and Northern Ireland’s Shared Future strategy: Cohesion, Sharing and Integration, was the dish of the day.

Speaking on the event Chris Ledger, Chief Executive Officer of the Arts and Disability Forum, said, “This is fun but the ‘shared future’ theme isn’t just a gimmick; guests agree to give up control for a few hours, to share with very different people  and to be observed doing this...We’ve had so much support and that can only bode well for future inclusivity.”

Roisin McDonough, Chief Executive of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, said, “This unique debate illustrates how effective the arts can be in breaking down all kinds of barriers. The arts offer us the perfect means to explore our worlds and define ourselves, as well as engaging with other people whose values may be quite different from our own.”

The event was organised by the Arts & Disability Forum with project partners: Victoria Square, Bbeyond, the Golden Thread, Outburst Queer Arts, Disability Action, Switch New Media, Tech7, DSD, Gardiners  restaurant. Funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Unite Against Hate and Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen’s.