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Refugee Week 2022 calendar of events  (20th – 26th June)

Refugee Week 2022 calendar of events  (20th – 26th June)

Refugee Week 2022 is from 20 – 26 June

We invite you to get involved! See calendar of events below.

Refugee Week 2022 poster jpg

Credit: Image by Nima Javan featuring ‘Healing’ illustration commissioned by Refugee Week.

Refugee Week is an umbrella festival, and anyone can get involved by holding or joining an event or activity. Please let us know about any activities you are holding or involved in so we can add them to the list below.

This Refugee Week is on the theme of ‘Healing’. Healing means recovering from a painful experience or situation, so that we can continue to live. No-one understands this better than those who have lost their homes and had to build new lives from scratch. We have much to learn from refugees about holding onto hope when going on seems impossible – as well as about how art, creativity and community can help us to heal.  Whether it’s about looking after ourselves and each other at difficult times, overcoming political divisions or coming together to fight for the survival of our shared planet, healing matters to all of us. Whoever and wherever you are, we hope you’ll join us for Refugee Week 2022 to imagine a world where healing replaces harm, and care becomes our shared currency.

Here are some of the things going on this Refugee Week 2022 in Winchester. You can also find out about events across the UK here.

SWVP campaign bus

Our friends at Southampton & Winchester Visitor’s Group (SWVG) First will be kicking off Refugee Week in Winchester with their campaign bus.
The bus will be the outer close of the Cathedral from 2pm – 5pm on Monday 20th, the start of Refugee Week. There will be activities to participate in. Please come down to visit. We welcome your support. There will be representatives available from SWVG and Winchester City of Sanctuary so please come and find out more about how you can raise awareness and stand Together with Refugees. Please come and say hello and show your support.

University of Winchester 

  • Beyond Our Shores: Schools of Sanctuary Mini-Conference (Tuesday 21st June 10am-2pm)The University of Winchester will be welcoming staff and young people from local schools and colleges to join us to explore how we can become places of Sanctuary in our classrooms and communities. The event is open to both current Schools of Sanctuary and schools interested in learning more about how they can create a culture of welcome and inclusion for refugees and people seeking asylum. Sign up is available via our email [email protected]
  •  University of Sanctuary Family Fun Day (Saturday 25th June 11am-3pm).The University of Winchester are excited to be hosting a Family Fun Day from 11.00am – 3.00pm. This event, held in partnership with Winchester City of Sanctuary, is for local families currently or recently seeking sanctuary in the UK, see further details here. If you would like to volunteer or get involved please email [email protected]

A range of partners will be joining us at the Family Fun Day including Hampshire Cultural Trust, The New Carnival Company and PlayMakers, amongst others.

  • New art instillation ‘Open Sanctuary’ (28th May – 28 June, West Downs Gallery) The University invites staff, students and visitors to create a striking new art instillation for contemplation and reflection. ‘Open Sanctuary’ is a sculpture made from hundreds of individual ceramic balls which, when completed, will form a circular space for visitors to sit quietly and meditate on what ‘searching for sanctuary’ means for them. A series of workshops and talks have taken place throughout recent weeks and the exhibition in the West Downs Gallery is open from 8am until 6pm Monday to Friday and 8.30am to 4.30pm on Saturday. Find out more – Media Articles – University of Winchester invites visitors to create ‘open sanctuary’ for contemplation and reflection – University of Winchester
  • A crisis that should never be repeated? A talk by Daniel Trilling (Tuesday 21st June 1-2pm, online via MS Teams) In the past year, two refugee movements have provoked very different reactions from European governments. When thousands of people tried to flee Afghanistan as the Taliban took over the country in August 2021, the immediate response of many political leaders was to vow that there would be no repeat of the crisis at Europe’s borders in 2015. Some commentators have even seen this hardening of attitudes as a dress rehearsal for the response to a potentially greater number of people displaced by climate change in the coming years. By contrast, the millions of people displaced from Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022 have been met with a striking openness elsewhere in Europe, even from governments that had previously set themselves against refugees. What does this tell us about the way the west is likely to respond to displacement in future – and what might the alternatives be?Daniel Trilling is a journalist and author based in London who writes for the Guardian, London Review of Books and others about migration, nationalism and human rights. His work has been shortlisted for the 2022 Orwell Prize for journalism and his most recent book, Lights in the Distance: Exile and Refuge at the Borders of Europe, was shortlisted for the 2019 Bread and Roses Award for Radical Publishing. Book online – A CRISIS THAT SHOULD NEVER BE REPEATED? | June 21, 2022 (eventcreate.com)

The Arc Winchester

The Arc in Winchester, which is working towards being a Library of Sanctuary and who have been a huge support locally, will be running a range of activities and events throughout Refugee Week in partnership with Hampshire Cultural Trust. More details to follow shortly.

Simple Acts

Simple Acts are everyday actions we can all do to stand with refugees and make new connections in our communities.

For Refugee Week 2022 (20-26 June) we invite you to do one or more of the eight Simple Acts, inspired by the theme ‘Healing’. See here for more details about Simple Acts. Here is one example with the illustration done by Karin Åkesson.

#SimpleActs #RefugeeWeek2022