Exploring Lisburn's local art heritage

The project is supported by the European Union’s PEACE IV Programme and managed by the Special EU Programmes Body.

A total of 100 participants supported by the Institute for Conflict’s Research programme are to be drawn from the area and will engage in a range of artistic programmes.

They will attend arts and heritage workshops and events relating to traditions, crafts and social history by considering places of artistic significance locally, throughout Northern Ireland and across the border.

Using engagement with the arts, with a focus on identity and heritage, the Programme participants will work with local artists and organisations such as the R Space Gallery, Lisburn and national institutions including the Royal Ulster Academy and the John Hewitt Society.

Councillor Jonathan Craig, Chairman of the Lisburn and Castlereagh PEACE IV Partnership, said: “While the arts clearly provide an important lens through which to attract tourists, they also play a crucial role in creating a neighbourly and safe environment for those from our own and other traditions.”

Bringing a taste of Israel and Poland to Old Warren and playing at the event were the critically acclaimed Asif Sirkis International Quartet featuring the Polish singer Sylwia Bialis. Speaking at the event Denise Hughes from the Institute for Conflict Research said: “It is wonderful to see how music crosses cultural boundaries and makes connections and to have artists of this calibre play.”