Making time for politics, drama, literature, music and debate

The record will show that the 15th John Hewitt International Summer School in Carnlough, Co Antrim, took its theme, Neither Native Here or Anywhere-the Outsider, from Hewitt's poem Ireland, and explored what it means to belong, to live, to co-exist through the mediums of politics, drama, literature, music and debate.

What the record will not show is the relief of this journalist, the school's programme co-ordinator, in having met his responsibilities to the school and its participants.

It is somewhat fashionable to belittle the work of summer schools as being a middle-class conceit, mere talking shops. Nothing could be further from the truth in my experience of Hewitt over the years as visitor, speaker and committee member. It is a democratic situation where politician meets people, the writer the readers, the dramatist the audience.

The school is the only one - as far as I am aware - which is entirely residential. Being residential brings with it advantages and disadvantages. For the speaker, there is the opportunity to mix with people in the dining hall or bar long after the formal session has finished.

This social interaction and informality has been at the heart of Hewitt since its foundation in 1988. Given that Carnlough is in north Antrim, about 45 miles from Belfast, lecturers tend to stay for a night or two, which allows time to form acquaintances and discuss views.

The challenges for volunteer organisers are in attracting an audience for the week and winning a financial and emotional commitment year after year. The school, with the support of local councils, has a bursary scheme.

By awarding bursaries from across the various districts in the North and to people in the Republic, we bring people of different backgrounds together and ensure that the audience never assumes the elitist airs and graces of a purely academic gathering.

Against that positive experience of recruitment, there is the difficulty of attracting passing trade in a region which traditionally experiences a mass exodus in July. This exodus has been aggravated by the Drumcree crisis.

Astoundingly, the John Hewitt International Summer School is the only cultural event in Northern Ireland during July. Unfortunately, potential participants leave in droves due to political events. That the school has survived at all is testament to the place it has won, but needs to develop, in Northern society.

If experience has taught us anything, it is that excellence is what attracts and sustains an audience. Challenge people with ideas and thoughts across a wide range of social, political, historical and linguistic issues and they respond with their own questions and thoughts.

This year's keynote address was delivered by the Deputy First Minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the leader of the SDLP, Mark Durkan, who addressed the ongoing difficulties of Northern society. Later in the week, a former UDA leader, Andy Tyrie, and a former Drogheda mayor, Sean Collins, talked of cross-border co-operation.

Yet Northern society is greater than the sum of its political parts. We remember Hewitt and his achievements by continuing to honour the dignity of the written word as practised by living artists.