THE annual 4 Corners Festival concluded its vibrant run across the city with events that captured hearts and stirred minds, all under this year’s unifying theme of 'Journey'.
Since its inception, the 4 Corners Festival has brought people from across Belfast’s diverse communities together through arts, dialogue, performance and sport, fostering connection and mutual understanding. The 2026 edition embraced the theme Journey as both a literal and spiritual motif, inviting all participants to reflect on where they have been, how far they have come, and where they are going — together.
From creative workshops and powerful keynote speakers to sport, music and ecumenical friendship, the festival invited participants to reflect on the paths we travel – both outwardly and inwardly – in pursuit of understanding, compassion and unity.
Across ten days of events – including photography exhibitions, community workshops, inspiring talks and artistic performances – the Festival showcased journeys of creativity, resilience, faith and reconciliation. Highlights included Knit and Natter gatherings emphasising community ties, interactive sessions exploring disability and belonging and masculinity and inter-community sport events that brought young people together across divides.
In Conversation sessions spotlighted personal and artistic journeys. One standout moment came during 'In Conversation With Andy White: 40 Years Since Rave On and a Journey in Life and Art', when Festival curator and commentator Steve Stockman described the evening not just as a concert but as something spiritually profound: “A holy Belfast night... so many ways to love God.” His reflection pointed to the powerful fusion of community, music, memory and hope that emerged from the dialogue.
Andy White
A defining moment of the Festival came on the final evening through the contribution of keynote speaker Dr Jemar Tisby, whose powerful testimony and analysis challenged the audience to pair reconciliation with justice, calling for both vulnerable relationship-building and concrete change to the structures that sustain inequality.
Dr Jemar Tisby
The Festival’s reach extended even beyond Belfast through a pilgrimage to Rome during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, where organisers connected with ecumenical partners, engaged with church leaders, and experienced prayer at the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls, reaffirming 4 Corners’ commitment to shared journeying.
