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SUMMARY:Refugee Week 15-21 June 2026
DESCRIPTION:Refugee Week is the world’s largest arts and culture festival celebrating the contributions\, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary.\nEstablished in the UK in 1998\, Refugee Week is co-ordinated by Counterpoints Arts and takes place every year around World Refugee Day (20th June). It has grown into a global movement with over 2 million participants\, across over 20 countries. Through an exciting programme of thousands of events\, activities and media campaigns\, Refugee Week brings together people from different backgrounds to connect beyond labels\, and foster a deeper understanding of why people are displaced\, and the challenges they face when seeking safety. \nRefugee Week 2026 will be 15-21st June with the theme of Courage. \nBy providing a platform for people who have sought sanctuary to share their experiences\, perspectives and creative work on their own terms\, our vision is for refugees and asylum seekers to be able to live safely within inclusive and resilient communities\, where they can continue to make a valuable contribution. \nThis year\, Quentin Blake’s joyful illustrations will sit at the centre of the Simple Acts campaign — a series of nine everyday actions anyone can take to show solidarity with refugees and help build more welcoming communities. Blake’s bright\, playful drawings will appear on postcards\, posters and other materials for communities\, schools\, libraries \, arts organisations and individuals to use at their own events. \nRead more about Refugee Week\, including how you can take part.
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/refugee-week-15-21-june-2026/
CATEGORIES:Refugee Week
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260626T193000
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SUMMARY:It Sounds Like Courage: Music and Solidarity
DESCRIPTION:A celebration of music and spoken word shaped by migration – brought together by courageous creative talents for Refugee Week.\nCo-curated by Southbank Centre with Anoushka Shankar and Counterpoints Arts\, It Sounds Like Courage brings a unique blend of artists who stand in solidarity with displaced people all over the world. \nFull details and booking via the Southbank Centre website. \nConnected by the unifying theme of ‘courage’\, the night features music and poetry born from generations of migration\, mapping the sounds and creativity that grew out of resistance movements. \nFeaturing artists with lived experience of displacement\, musicians with migrant heritage and high-profile allies in the fight for justice and equality\, It Sounds Like Courage is a night to imagine new possibilities together\, with community and solidarity at its centre. \nHosted by comedian Nish Kumar\, with performances from singer and flautist Nai Barghouti with the London Contemporary Orchestra\, Mozambican rapper MoYah and spoken word from Nikita Gill and Salena Godden\, with more to be announced. \nThis event sits at the heart of Refugee Week during our 75th anniversary year and is presented by Southbank Centre in partnership with Counterpoints Arts. \nAnoushka Shankar. Photo by Laura Lewis
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/it-sounds-like-courage-music-and-solidarity/
LOCATION:Royal Festival Hall\, Southbank Centre\, SE1 8XX
CATEGORIES:Music,Refugee Week
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260627T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260627T150000
DTSTAMP:20260416T175203
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SUMMARY:Counterpoints Lecture with Elif Shafak
DESCRIPTION:Global bestselling writer and renowned activist Elif Shafak explores whether creativity can help heal our divided world in the inaugural Counterpoints lecture.\nFor this first iteration of the annual Counterpoints lecture\, Shafak explores how imagination and artistic practice shape our understanding of the world. \nFull details and tickets from Southbank Centre website \nShafak reflects on the link between creativity and courage\, and how creativity can open paths to belonging\, imagination and collaboration in times of conflict\, fear and political division. \nDrawing on academic\, literary critic and activist Edward Said’s concept of the ‘counterpoint’ perspective of displaced people\, Shafak considers how artists from regions affected by war\, violence and political extremism can offer vital insights and new ways of seeing\, questioning and imagining. As part of this\, Shafak unravels the idea of ‘storyland’ as a motherland. \nElif Shafak is an award-winning and highly acclaimed British-Turkish novelist whose work has been translated into 55 languages. The author of 21 books\, including 13 novels\, she is a bestselling author in many countries around the world. \nShafak holds a PhD in political science and is President of the Royal Society of Literature and a Public Humanities Fellow at the School of Advanced Studies (SAS). She is a leading voice on freedom of expression\, women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights. \nPart of Southbank Centre’s Refugee Week 2026 programme\, presented in partnership with Counterpoints Arts. Refugee Week is a nationwide festival celebrating the contributions\, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary. Inspired by refugees\, the theme this year is ‘courage’. \nPhoto by Ferhat Elik
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/counterpoints-lecture-with-elif-shafak/
LOCATION:Royal Festival Hall\, Southbank Centre\, SE1 8XX
CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word,Refugee Week
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