Do wars really end? A Mother Brings Her Son to be Shot (Sinead O’Shea) by Allan LEONARD for Shared Future News 19 April 2018 A Mother Brings Her Son to be Shot, a film directed by Sinead O’Shea and screened at the Belfast Film Festival at the Queen’s Film Theatre, is a story about Philip... Continue Reading →
Ensuring trustworthiness, quality and value in all our work
Ensuring trustworthiness, quality and value in all our work by Allan LEONARD for FactCheckNI 12 April 2018 The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) hosted an information seminar at Belfast City Hall, for staff from government organisations in Northern Ireland who have responsibility for statistics in their work (creating and/or applying). The audience was... Continue Reading →
Film review: Photo City
Film review: Photo City by Allan LEONARD 13 April 2018 Photo City is a documentary film by John Murphy and Traolach Ó Murchú, about the story of Rochester, New York, becoming the Silicon Valley of photography, with the clustering of image-based companies such as Xerox, Bausch and Lomb, and Kodak. And how this industry has... Continue Reading →
Ephemera to direct our future: Introduction to the Peter Moloney Collection
Ephemera to direct our future: Introduction to the Peter Moloney Collection by Allan LEONARD 10 April 2018 Peter Moloney, who collected Troubles-related ephemera for over 50 years, presented a personal lecture on how it began, why he decided to donate it all to the Tower Museum, and how he’ll keep on collecting. The negotiation to... Continue Reading →
Reflected Lives: Broadening the canvas of the past
Reflected Lives: Broadening the canvas of the past An oral history project at a Belfast interface by Allan LEONARD for Shared Future News 10 April 2018 Joe O’Donnell (Strategic Director, Belfast Interface Project) told the audience that the auspicious date for today’s exhibition launch was no accident. With reference to the much publicised conference at... Continue Reading →
Coming to terms with our interdependencies #GFA20
Coming to terms with our interdependencies #GFA20 by Allan LEONARD 10 April 2018 On the 20th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, it is easy to neglect the peace process that preceded it. My reference point is the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement, because I learned about the efforts of then Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald the year before,... Continue Reading →
Using our past better: Launch of Divided Society
Using our past better: Launch of Divided Society by Allan LEONARD for Shared Future News 22 January 2018 Twenty and two years in the making, the Linen Hall Library launched its website, Divided Society, which features documentary material in its Northern Ireland Political Collection, of the peace process during the 1990s, with over 500 journal... Continue Reading →
Photo Detectives: An exhibition of community-researched Irish photo history
Photo Detectives: An exhibition of community-researched Irish photo history by Allan LEONARD for Northern Slant 6 January 2018 Photo Detectives is an exhibition by the National Library of Ireland (NLI) at its National Photographic Archive site in Dublin, of a set of archive images that online Flickr users have assisted with research and providing illuminating... Continue Reading →
Mr Ulster buys a painting
Mr Ulster buys a painting30 November 2017 For my 50th birthday, I wanted a special gift, something that I would always attribute to that milestone event. I have long appreciated visual arts; I even took a few art history modules at university. I dabbled with drawing, which I enjoyed, but quickly realised that getting competent... Continue Reading →
Rewrite our future! Washington Ireland Program Thanksgiving Ball 2017
Rewrite our future! Washington Ireland Program Thanksgiving Ball 2017 by Allan LEONARD for Shared Future News 25 November 2017 The Thanksgiving Ball has become an annual tradition of the Washington Ireland Program, held at this time of year in recognition of the generosity of families in America who host visiting participants. Tonight’s event, with several... Continue Reading →
Peace by piece: Launch of interface exhibition @DoJ_Interfaces
Peace by piece: Launch of interface exhibition @DoJ_Interfaces by Allan LEONARD for Shared Future News 20 November 2017 Ulster University’s York Street campus, home to the schools of art and architecture, served as a fitting venue for the launch of an interface exhibition sponsored by the Department of Justice and featured ongoing community-based projects as... Continue Reading →
“The fightback begins in Northern Ireland!” says Byrnes
Siobhan SINNERTON, Jon SNOW, and Dorothy BYRNE. “The importance of journalism in an era of fake news”, Belfast Media Festival, The MAC, Belfast, Northern Ireland.“The fightback begins in Northern Ireland!” says Byrnes The importance of journalism in an era of fake news #BMF2017 by Allan LEONARD for FactCheckNI 17 November 2017 As part of the Belfast Media Festival 2017,... Continue Reading →