Emily from Counterpoints Arts talks about what Refugee Week is and how you can get involved. Refugee Week 2022 is 20-26 June and the theme is ‘Healing’.
What is Refugee Week?
Refugee Week is a celebration – a celebration of welcome, and a celebration of the courage and creativity of refugees and all the ways they enrich our shared society.
Refugee Week focuses on arts and culture as powerful tools for us to connect and really hear each other across our differences. Through arts and creativity, it provides a platform for people who have been displaced to share their experiences, perspectives and creative work on their own terms.
And Refugee Week is for everyone, so whoever and wherever you are, we warmly invite you to join us.
Refugee Week is a partnership project coordinated by Counterpoints Arts.
And it’s an umbrella festival, which means that everyone is welcome to hold their own event or activity and all kinds of organisations and people get involved every year, from big museums and arts venues to schools, councils, faith groups, and everything in between.
And they hold all kinds of events, big and small, from performances and artistic commissions to schools activities, community get togethers, meals, football tournaments and much more.
How can you get involved?
Refugee Week 2022 is 20-26 June and the theme of Refugee Week 2022 is healing, and we invite you to respond to the theme in your Refugee Week activities in whatever way you feel inspired to.
Whether it’s recovering from illness or bereavement, healing division or the healing of our planet, healing connects all of us. Healing is about the human ability to start again, sometimes when starting again seems impossible, and no-one understands this better than those who have lost their homes and had to build new lives from scratch.
Building communities of belonging, creating together, growing things, sharing food, imagining different futures together all contribute to healing, and are things we can bring into our Refugee Week events.
Simple Acts
At the end of March we will share our Refugee Week 2022 Organiser Pack, which will include the Simple Acts for this year. Simple Acts are everyday actions we can all do to stand with refugees and help change how we see displacement, and you can use them as building blocks or inspiration for your Refugee Week event.
Simple Acts come with resources to help you – for example watch a film links to our Moving Worlds film programme and Share a Book comes with ideas of books to read and share.
Timeline
Everyone that shares our Refugee Week shared values is welcome to hold a Refugee Week event. You don’t have to ask us or get your plans approved. The shared values are in the about section of the Refugee Week website.
Refugee Festival Scotland operates a bit differently, they have an open call for participation, and you can find details on the Scottish Refugee Council website.
After the Refugee Week conference in February, videos and notes will be available on the Refugee Week website.
In March, we will continue our Refugee Week and Platforma Monthly Meets, which are usually on the first Thursday of every month.
March will also be the start of our Refugee Week Ambassador project, which we run with our partners IMIX, supporting people from refugee backgrounds to share their experiences and perspectives in the media.
The organiser pack will be released in March, and in May you can expect the Refugee Week schools pack and social media resources, as well as Refugee Week t-shirts and a special range of products created by the Anqa Collective of refugee entrepreneurs.
Once you have a date and a title for your event, you can add it to the Refugee Week calendar on our website – you can do this any time but the earlier the better, and by the middle of May is ideal if you can.
Counterpoints Arts is here to support you, whether that’s through our Platforma network that supports artists and arts organisations working on themes of migration, through our partners IMIX that can advise on media or through helping to connect you with other organisations.
It is really worthwhile to link with other organisations and people involved in Refugee Week in your area, which you can often find by googling, or you can ask us.
Finally, the best way to make sure you hear about Refugee Week resources and updates is by signing up to our newsletter on the Refugee Week website, if you haven’t done so already.
Join us!
Whatever you choose to do for Refugee Week this June, you’ll be joining 100s of others across the UK and the world who share a belief in a kinder and fairer world. Thanks for listening, keep in touch with us, keep in touch with each other, we’re honoured to be a part of this amazing movement and look forward to celebrating Refugee Week 2022 with you.
Thumbnail image: The Great Walk Together by St Augustine's Centre, Refugee Week 2021
