To celebrate International Migrants Day 2019, a special cultural event was held by musicians and poets.
Sky You Are Too Big was funded by the Community Relations Council (CRC) through its Small Grants Scheme.
Maria McManus, who organised the event through Quotidian – Word on the Street, noted the need for continuing cultural relations, and peace and reconciliation.
She said, “The event was also particularly poignant given the context of our turbulent political landscape, and the need for positive discourse of diversity, and language to articulate complex human lives.”
The event took place on 18 December 2019 in the Linen Hall Library Belfast. It included poets Maria McManus, Nandi Jola, Viviana Fiorentino, Csilla Toldy and Anesu Mtowa, with traditional musicians Joe Campbell McArdle and Jason O’Rourke. The ensemble read from their own poems in Italian, Hungarian, iXhosa, iZulu, and the music included Irish, Scottish and French tunes.
Quotidian – Word on the Street specialise in putting literature, especially poetry, into public spaces.
“We were lucky to be awarded a grant from the CRC for an event celebrating International Migrants Day,” Maria explained. “We strongly believe that the arts have a great deal to offer the conversation of cultural relations and peace and reconciliation and we believe in offering positive role-modelling, positive experiences and life-affirming approaches to transforming our future through the present.”
Further Information
Sky You Are Too Big was funded by the Community Relations Council’s Small Grants Scheme. Read more about our Small Grants Scheme.