April – June 2019 ...You are an agent of change. A better world is possible. By taking the time to share, listen and understand each other, we can change the things that matter to each of us, together. Difference doesn’t have to mean division and success doesn’t rely on the failure of others. Welcome to the Festival of Debate 2019. Coordinated by Opus, the festival is a Within our reach we have the ideas and the means to tackle non-partisan city-wide programme of events that asks us to explore the most important social, economic, environmental and political issues of the day. the problems we all face. Many possible solutions already exist, but we need to act together. We need to learn how to CONTENTS make change. We need to be ambitious, loving and clever. We need to talk. 4. STRANDS 6. FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS What you think and do matters. Now more 10. APRIL EVENTS than ever, we need to carry hope in our fists 12. OUR DEMOCRACY HUB DAY and remember that nothing about us, without 14. APRIL EVENTS 15. MAY EVENTS us, is for us. 18. OUR PLANET HUB DAY 20. MAY EVENTS 32. LIVING TOGETHER HUB DAY 34. PROGRAMME AT A GLANCE 37. VENUES & ACCESS 40. PARTNERS & FUNDERS www.weareopus.org www.festivalofdebate.com 43. BECOME A ‘FRIEND OF OPUS’ STRANDS WHO WE ARE Contemplating who we are, what we do and what defines us. Strand sponsored by Abbeydale Brewery OUR DEMOCRACY Questioning where power lies, the systems that exist and the status quo. Strand sponsored by The Sheffield College OUR PLANET From climate crisis to alternative food production, discovering the natural world, the forces at work and our impact on them. Strand sponsored by Sheffield Climate Alliance & Regather Light | Pale | Well Hopped LIVING TOGETHER Making connections, creating a fairer society and welcoming diversity. Strand sponsored by Create Sheffield, Cohesion Sheffield & Learn Sheffield LOOKING FORWARD Exploring where we are going, where we want to be and how we get there. Strand sponsored by Barnsley Digital Media Centre TICKETS & AccessiBILity Tickets for Festival of Debate events are mostly available through our main ticket outlet Tickets For Good. To buy tickets for paid events or to sign up to attend free events visit festivalofdebate.com, click ‘Events’ and find the relevant link. All paid ticket prices are subject to a booking fee. A guide to this year’s venues can be found at the back of this brochure. If you have any questions regarding ticketing, accessibility or how to get to venues, please 4. contact [email protected] FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS DEMOCRACY, DATA AND ELECTION THE LIFE, WORK & LEGACY OF HARRY LESLIE SMITH: CLIMATEKEYS ft. ASAD SCANDLALS ft. SHAHMIR SANNI IN CONVERSATION WITH JOHN LESLIE SMITH REHMAN & LOLA PERRIN Wed 24 April | 38 Mappin St, Workroom 3 Thu 25 April | Barnsley Digital Media Centre Sat 11 May | Theatre Deli Photo: Urszula Soltys Urszula Photo: AFUA HIRSCH: BRIT(ISH) - ON GEORGE MONBIOT & GEORGE MARSHALL: HOW TO BREAK THE RACE, IDENTITY AND BELONGING SILENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL COLLAPSE JAMES O’BRIEN: HOW TO BE RIGHT Mon 13 May | SU Auditorium Thu 16 May | SU Auditorium Sat 18 May | Pennine Lecture Theatre 6. 7. FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS Photo: Tanya Rosen-Jones Photo: Tanya ROGER McGOUGH: LIVE THE GUILTY FEMINIST: LIve Steve Silberman: NEUROTRIBES Tue 21 May | Abbeydale Picture House Thu 23 May | City Hall Sat 25 May | Charles St Lecture Theatre SHEFFIELD QUESTION TIME ft. PAUL MASON: CLEAR BRIGHT FUTURE JULIA UNWIN: POWER IN OUR HANDS? MAGID MAGID & ASH SARKAR Wed 29 May | Pennine Lecture Theatre Thu 30 May | The Circle Sat 1 June | Millennium Gallery 8. 9. APRIL APRIL WORDLIFE: FESTIVAL OF DEBATE OPEN MIC ft. JACKIE HAGAN & AMY KING DEMOCRACY, DATA & ELECTION Fri 19 April | 7:30-10:30pm | DINA | £6/£4 SCANDALS: HOW DO WE RESPOND? An event celebrating some of the North’s most radical voices within poetry. Wed 24 April | 6:30-8pm | 38 Mappin St, Workroom 3 | Free In association with The Crick Centre & The University of Sheffield Jackie Hagan is a multi-award winning poet, playwright and performer, who in 2018 became a Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellow and was nominated for a Digital campaigning is now normal, but recent elections have resulted in Women of the World Award for effecting social change using spoken word. To sign up for open mic email scandal. This event brings together Vote Leave whistleblower Shahmir [email protected]. Sanni, the author of the recent Electoral Reform Society report Reining in the Political ‘Wild West’: Campaign Rules for the 21st Century and Dr Kate Dommett (University of Sheffield) to explore the implications of ILLEGALISED online campaigning trends for democracy. Fri 19 - Sat 20 April | 7:45-9:15pm | Theatre Deli | £6.95-£9.07 ‘I would like to ask the British what visa they had when they ruled us for 150 years?’ ILLEGALISED, from British-Romanian collective BÉZNA Theatre, is a MAKING OUR VOICES HEARD journey through the Home Office’s human rights abuses against ‘the other’, Thu 25 April | 6:30-8:30pm | Church of Christ in Darnall | Free exposing the immigration-industrial complex and the profit made from the illegalisation of human beings. Join us for a conversation about how to make the voices of people from Darnall heard when decisions are being made in the city and in our neighbourhood. Councillor Jim Steinke, Cabinet Member For Neighbourhoods Photo: Laura Hallett HOUSING HORROR VS PEOPLE POWER and Community Safety, will be joining us to get things started. Tue 23 April | 7:30-8:30pm | Quaker Meeting House | Free In association with ACORN Sheffield ACORN Sheffield host a public conversation about the local impact of a THE LIFE, WORK & LEGACY OF HARRY national housing crisis and the ambitious ideas that could revolutionise housing in Sheffield. ACORN are campaigning to hold rogue landlords LESLIE SMITH: IN CONVERSATION WITH who profit from unsafe housing to account. Panel featuring Councillor Jim Steinke, decision makers, JOHN LESLIE SMITH campaigners and tenants. Thu 25 April | 6:30-8:30pm | Barnsley Digital Media Centre | £2 Barnsley-born Harry Leslie Smith had a tremendous impact through his THE PERSONAL IS STILL POLITICAL: A writing and media appearances. His last book before his death Harry’s Last Stand achieved critical acclaim. His son John Leslie Smith joins FACILITATED DIALOGUE Festival of Debate in conversation with LEP Board Member and Doctoral Wed 24 April | 7-9pm | 108 The Moor | Free Researcher Laura IH Bennett to discuss the life, works and legacy of In association with Cohesion Sheffield his father. Current social and political issues affect us at every level. They are mirrored in our workplaces, in our relationships and even in ourselves. More than ever, we need spaces for deeper dialogue, opportunities to hear and try to understand one another. If you MANDATORY REDISTRIBUTION PARTY are interested in what creates cohesion or division in Sheffield, join us. Fri 26 April | 8-10:15pm | Regather Works | £7/£6/£4 Everyone’s favourite - and possibly the only - radical leftist live comedy “At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.” show returns to Festival of Debate for a third year. Join Sean Morley Frida Kahlo and Jack Evans as they brave the classic comedy subject matter of late 10. capitalism, the re-emergence of fascism and the inexorable descent into 11. barbarism. SAT 27 APRIL : DAY OF ACTION! SAT 27 APRIL : DAY OF ACTION! OUR DEMOCRACY HUB DAY 2:30-3:15PM | WORKSHOP | DIRECT ACTION GETS THE GOODS: HOW TO TAKE ON YOUR LANDLORD AND WIN SAT 27 APRIL | 1PM-9PM | THE CIRCLE Join ACORN Sheffield for a short workshop and Q&A on the union’s highly DAY: SUGGESTED DONATION £5 | EVENING: £4/£3 effective, sometimes controversial, use of direct action against landlords and In partnership with Voluntary Action Sheffield (VAS) letting agents. 2:30-3:15PM | WORKSHOP | TRANSPORT POVERTY In the wake of the EU referendum it is clear that we have a democratic deficit in the UK - that a range of different voices with a host of genuine concerns are not being heard or enabled to speak to power Cycling currently accounts for just 2% of measured trips. Under 30% of effectively. households in Sheffield City Region don’t have a car, but with public transport changing routes and raising fares, many are in ‘transport poverty’. Join The Festival of Debate Our Democracy Hub Day explores some of these unheard voices - as well as the Cycle Sheffield to debate how to enable the majority to travel across Sheffield mechanisms by which those voices are able to engage in the democratic process - through a series of sustainably. concurrent workshops and panel discussions. The day will culminate with a high profile panel discussion on new forms of local democracy, followed by a screening of the acclaimed documentary Brexitannia and 3:30-4:45PM | WORKSHOP | REBOOTING POLITICS a Q&A with director Timothy George Kelly. From health to housing, why is the government failing to tackle societal challenges? Unlock Democracy host this workshop exploring how to shake up 1:30-2:15PM | WORKSHOP | WHAT DOES 21st CENTURY WORKPLACE stale politics, get big ideas heard and push for radical change - with a focus DEMOCRACY LOOK LIKE? on action. Sheffield TUC explore workplace democracy, the role of unions and 3:30-4:45PM | TALK | THE GENDER PAY GAP: ONE YEAR ON legislation in aiding workers. How much of a voice can workers exercise in contemporary employment, which is often characterised by low pay and The Women’s Equality Party discuss the gender pay gap: What can be done for insecure work? women from all backgrounds to achieve parity with men? What challenges lie ahead after regulations in April 2018 requiring companies to reveal differentials in pay? 1:30-2:15PM | WORKSHOP | DISABILITY AND DEMOCRACY IN HEALTHCARE The government says it wants to create a society where disabled people can 5-6:45PM | PANEL | RADICAL NEIGHBOURHOODS: HOW IS LOCAL realise their aspirations and potential.