February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
City Council Speaker Peter F. Vallone has announced that the City Council had earmarked $25,000 for the Irish Arts Center to support a Cross Cultural Exchange initiative between the City of Belfast and New York City.
“The struggle for peace requires a commitment to healing which the people of New York City understand,” Vallone said recently. “There is perhaps no better way to support that effort than to establish an ongoing cultural exchange that will allow the people of these two great citics to share those experiences through theater, art and music. The Council support of funding is a small beginning for a program that should only grow over time.”
The funding this year supported the recent production of “BinLids,” created and performed by JustUs Community Theater. It is the story of the courage of the women of the West Belfast community that celebrates their courage and the pride of the human spirit. The play was co-produced by the Irish Arts Center.
The Cross Cultural Exchange Program is intended to be a non-secular, apolitical vehicle to promote a better understanding of Irish culture and its relationship between the Irish American community and Northern Ireland.