NORTH STAR Comes to the Irish Arts Center in June 2026

North Star, created and directed by Kwame Daniels, is coming to the Irish Arts Center in June 2026.  Performances will run Wed, Jun 3 - Sun, Jun 21, 2026.

North Star is a live music and spoken word performance inspired by the speeches of abolitionist Frederick Douglass during his historic visit to Belfast in 1845. Conceived and developed by Kwame Daniels, this collaborative, immersive standing-room show fuses artistic responses to Douglass’s experience from an eclectic range of contemporary artists—including hip-hop, jazz, gospel, electronic and classical musicians, poets, and young people from Belfast and New York—in a moving, provocative artistic journey rooted in Black cultures, and inspired by Douglass’s deep connection with Belfast.

North Star features Musical Compositions by Kaidi Tatham, Winnie Ama, Leo Miyagee, and Hannah Peel; Arrangements and Music Supervision by Kaidi Tatham; Choral Arrangements by Jennifer John; Musical Direction by Si Francis; Text and Spoken Word by Nandi Jola, Colin Salmon, and school pupils of Belfast and New York City. The production is produced and presented by Irish Arts Center and Solab  in association with the Lyric Theatre, Belfast.

PERFORMERS

Kaidi Tatham, band leader, multi-instrumentalist
Nandi Jola, poet
Winnie Ama, singer-songwriter
Leo Miyagee, hip-hop artist
Colin Salmon, actor
Oli Savill, percussion
Rick Swann, trumpet
Joseph Leighton, guitar
Ben Flavelle Cobain, bass
Additional artists to be announced

CREATIVE TEAM

Lighting design by Aimee Wiliamson
Video design by Macy Stewart
Projection design by Macy Stewart
Original creative producer (Belfast) Rachael Campbell Palmer
Original sound design by David Sheppard and John Best