Good Friday Agreement Celebrated Through Rededication of Campus Mural

Content

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the signing of the landmark British-Irish peace accord known as the Good Friday Agreement, the University of Massachusetts Amherst will welcome the return of muralists Danny Devenny and Mark Ervine for a rededication of their mural “Justice, Diversity, and Opportunity,” Monday, April 10 at 1 p.m. on the lower level of the Campus Center. The artists will join the hybrid event virtually.

The mural, commissioned by UMass Amherst as part of peacebuilding efforts to highlight the power of art in conflict transformation, was painted in 2010 by Devenny and Ervine, two of the leading muralists during the North/Northern Ireland conflict and transition to peace, along with members of the UMass community. Devenny is an ex-Irish Republican Army political prisoner and Ervine is a British loyalist whose father served in the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force and was a negotiator on their behalf for the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.

Joining the artists at the rededication ceremony, which will be followed by a reception, will be UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy; Peter Abbott, OBE, British consul general; Laoise Moore, consul general of Ireland; and Leah Wing, senior lecturer II in the Legal Studies program of the Department of Political Science and founder of the Art of Conflict Transformation event series.

The event, part of the UMass Amherst Art of Conflict Transformation Spring 2023 Event Series “The Good Friday Agreement @ 25,” is free and open to the public, though attendees are asked to register in advance. The ceremony will also be available to view live online via Zoom. Registration for both in-person attendance and the Zoom livestream can be completed on the same page.

The Art of Conflict Transformation Event Series brings to UMass scholars, artists and conflict resolvers to explore the geography of conflict, the spaces in and on which conflict has been imprinted and expressed, and the emerging terrains of resistance, resilience and transformation.

The event is sponsored by the Office of the Chancellor, the Legal Studies program, UMass Women into Leadership and Falls Community Council (Belfast). Co-sponsors from within the university include the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences (SBS), Women for UMass Amherst, the Center for Justice, Law and Societies, the Graduate School, the Psychology of Peace and Violence Program, the Interdisciplinary Studies Institute, SBS Conference and Visitor Grants, the Commonwealth Honors College, the College of Education, an anonymous College of Education faculty member, the Modern European Studies Program, the Department of Political Science, the School of Public Policy, the Center for Women & Community, the National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution, Auxiliary Enterprises and Facility Services. This program was also co-sponsored by Quabbin Mediation Program and made possible in part by grants from the UMass Arts Council and the Mass Cultural Council.