Refugee Week is a nationwide annual event that is held in June and celebrates the creativity, contributions, bravery and resilience of refugees and others seeking sanctuary within the United Kingdom
Through a programme of arts, cultural and educational events, alongside media and creative campaigns, Refugee Week seeks to bring about positive encounters between communities, helping them to connect and learn from each other as well as promoting a friendly and welcoming culture.
Coventry Welcomes is Coventry’s annual Refugee Week festival involving various community partner organisations, who deliver activities and events for/with those seeking sanctuary and to raise awareness of the Asylum and Refugee process.
With the festival’s foundations rooted within Counterpoint Arts, they are responsible each year for selecting a theme; in 2021 the year’s theme was ‘We Cannot Walk Alone’. Taken from Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream Speech’, MLK turns to the white people amongst the crowd, who are beginning to realise that their fate and the fate of every Black citizen are inextricably intertwined.
The poignancy of this message has been reinvigorated, with unprecedented times and uncertain futures, standing together as one community has never been more important. The Coronavirus pandemic had exposed many issues within society, but it has also demonstrated just how interconnected we are, and that together, there is nothing we can’t do.
Standing in solidarity with Counterpoint Arts, Coventry City Council’s Migration Team have developed their own innovative and exciting week-long programme of activities, from cooking classes to social media campaigns and everything in-between!
Refugee Week takes place from the 14th of June to the 20th, with the CCC’s Migration Teams activities finishing on the 18th.
The activities are as follows:
Cooking
- Conversation Class
- #ReflectiveWalk Social Media Campaign
- More conversation Classes
- #SportsUnited Social Media Campaign
Refugee Week is in partnership with a number of organisations and is part of the wider ‘Coventry Welcomes’ festival, as such tickets to the events will be available through the Coventry Welcomes website, which goes live on June 1st. If you would like to order tickets for Refugee Week, click here.
Tickets to each event are FREE.
If you would like more information regarding Refugee Week or ticketing, please contact Indy.Donald@coventry.gov.uk
