Vision
A community of thought, conversation and activism inspired by the progressive period of the Enlightenment in late eighteenth-century Belfast.
Mission
To re-engage with Belfast’s radical, enlightened and innovative past to address our political, economic, and social future.
Objectives
- Reclaim the Past: Promote public re-engagement with Enlightenment history through conferences, talks, tours, publications, and social media campaigns.
- Reclaim the Future: Generate progressive ideas to shape the economic, social, and political future of Belfast and of Ireland, north and south.
- Reclaim Diversity: Work across historic divisions to build discourse that celebrates differences in gender, religion, and ethnicity, while respecting cultural and linguistic diversity.
Goals in 2026
- Continue to lead the Assembly Rooms Alliance campaign to secure the building for public and cultural use.
- Support wider steps to preserve the built heritage of the Cathedral Quarter.
- Continue to campaign for fairness and equality in education through the Education Reform Group.
- Develop plans for a major conference on slavery and on the treatment of refugees and immigrants.
- Continue to focus on the radical ideas of the United Irishmen and other reformers as present-day inspiration.
- Celebrate radical aspects of heritage on occasions such as Burns Night and Bastille Day.