Project Lighthouse
The Millennium Forum, in partnership with Hawk’s Well Theatre in Sligo and the John and Pat Hume Foundation for Peaceful Change, is proud to announce the launch of Project Lighthouse, a groundbreaking cross-border peacebuilding initiative. This exciting project has been awarded €202,000 in funding, supported by PEACEPLUS which is managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB).
Lighting the way for a generation born after peace. What does peace mean when you didn’t fight for it, but you’re expected to live it?
Project Lighthouse brings together 30 young cultural champions — from Sligo, Derry~Londonderry, and Strabane — to explore identity, difference, and belonging through the creative power of theatre, storytelling, and lived experience.
Led by two cross-border artists and supported by Millennium Forum Productions, Hawk’s Well Theatre, Children in Crossfire and the John and Pat Hume Foundation, this bold new programme asks young people aged 18–27 to become beacons of empathy, not just by talking about peace — but by living it, creating it, and sharing it on stage and screen.
Through a powerful exchange of stories, art, and perspectives, Project Lighthouse will shape a new roadmap of understanding for a divided island — and a divided world.
Launching on the International Day of Peace 2025.
"The John and Pat Hume Foundation is delighted to partner with Hawk’s Well Theatre and Millennium Forum theatre in this youth focused cross-border peacebuilding initiative. John Hume believed the Good Friday Agreement offered all generations a new future which would respect diversity and political difference. It is vitally important to engage with young people to tackle the unfinished business of reconciliation and build a more generous and inclusive society. In the words of John Hume’s Nobel Peace Prize lecture, ‘I want to see an Ireland of partnership where we wage war on want and poverty, where we reach out to the marginalised and dispossessed, where we build together a future that can be as great as our dreams allow."
"I am delighted that the Forum is teaming up with Hawk’s Well Theatre and the John & Pat Hume Foundation for this unique collaboration. We are grateful to Kieran at Hawk’s Well Theatre and to Tim Atwood of the Hume Foundation for their creativity and support for what promises to be a hugely engaging and important project. As we approach our 25th anniversary, we are very much looking forward to the unique collaboration on such a special project. I am also very much looking forward to the creative process for Project Lighthouse and look forward to the end performances."
"In a world where the shorelines of peace are unsettled, the lighthouse becomes a powerful symbol, not just of safety, but reaching across distances to guide people home to celebrate difference on shared ground. Together with our partners at the Millennium Forum and the John and Pat Hume Foundation, we are exploring how young people today can develop a roadmap to peace through their experience and response to conflict and how that roadmap can light the way for others. Project Lighthouse celebrates difference through creativity, conversation and connection. This shared island initiative is part of a wider commitment to making art accessible to all for generations to come and hopes for the promotion of a peaceful society. Hawk’s Well is proud to champion this transformative work and the extraordinary artists behind it."
