Name: Not Just BS (Breakfast Symposium) Belfast
Start: 2025-10-03T10:30:00+01:00
End: 2025-10-03T12:30:00+01:00
Location: The MAC

Not Just BS (Breakfast Symposium) Belfast

This key event in the Bounce 2025 programme recognises the need to offer a setting for artists and activists to meet and engage. The events, which are hosted on two different days across Derry-Londonderry and Belfast, include speakers and panel discussions, alongside short music, film, visual art, and literary interludes. The panel discussion is on the theme ‘Not Just…’: exploring diversity and intersectionality within the arts and disability sector.
The panel will be chaired by Ruth McCarthy. Ruth is Artistic Director of Outburst Arts and Outburst Queer Arts Festival. She has been a queer curator and activist for 35 years, working with intersectional feminist approaches and non-normative narratives.
The panel also includes:
Alice McCullough is a poet, writer, comedian, film-maker and disability rights advocate from Belfast.
Julie McNamara is a QueerCrip, working class Butch Dyke, playwright, theatre, filmmaker and disability activist.
Paula Clarke is a performance artist, actor, and a sign language poet. Paula was born Deaf, and grew up in the Deaf community. She is personally and professionally active in the Deaf, neurodivergent and disability communities.
Tobi Balogun is a multidisciplinary artist. His background and training span dance, fashion, film and visual art. He lives with an invisible disability.
Edel Murphy, CEO and Artistic Director of University of Atypical, disabled, queer, Donegalian and Gaeilgeoir who has worked across the arts sector in Northern Ireland.
The event includes guest speaker Pádraig Naughton, Executive Director of Arts & Disability Ireland which champions the creativity of artists and promotes inclusive experiences for audiences.
Oluwatobi (Tobi) Balogun presents his short film ‘Lows of the Highlife’. His artistic practice fixes the lens on black masculinity and cultural sustainability and community. Tobi has performed for and created performances with Cois Ceim, Cathy Coughlan, Story of the Sei, Dance Ireland and more.