BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Counterpoints - ECPv6.15.18//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:Counterpoints
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Counterpoints
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:Europe/London
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
TZNAME:BST
DTSTART:20160327T010000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0100
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:GMT
DTSTART:20161030T010000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
TZNAME:BST
DTSTART:20170326T010000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0100
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:GMT
DTSTART:20171029T010000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
TZNAME:BST
DTSTART:20180325T010000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0100
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:GMT
DTSTART:20181028T010000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
TZNAME:BST
DTSTART:20190331T010000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0100
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:GMT
DTSTART:20191027T010000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20180617T120000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20180617T170000
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20180424T140133Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145458Z
UID:10000303-1529236800-1529254800@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Refugee Week Launch at the V&A
DESCRIPTION:We launch this year’s Refugee Week with an event produced in collaboration with the V&A. \nThis is a very special year when we mark the 20th anniversary of  Refugee Week\, and we kick off the celebrations with another rich programme of artists’ installations\, workshops and performances. \nThe day is designed around the Simple Acts campaign\, inviting audiences to participate in one of the 20 ways of supporting refugees. With our contributors and audiences we will reflect on what this arts Festival has stood for over the last 20 years and how we imagine our future\, campaigning for refugee rights and for recognising contributions\, resilience and creativity of newcomers. \nThe programme will include artists from our networks\, visual\, live and musicians\, performing in galleries across the Museum. Refugee Week partners are bringing their own work and creative workshops\, and inviting audiences into conversations and activities based on Simple Acts. \nA number of organisations working across the arts and advocacy are joining the programme with another layer of creative activities. \nLastly\, and not to forget\, there may be a Refugee Week related treat in the Garden Café! \nAll will be revealed soon\, including the full programme! \nImage by Hufton+Crow\, for The Guardian. \n  \n \n  \n \n  \n \n  \n \n  \n  \n  \n  \n 
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/refugee-week-launch-at-the-victoria-and-albert-museum/
CATEGORIES:Multi-Art Form
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/VA-fb-image.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20180617T000000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20180617T000000
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20180518T150405Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145458Z
UID:10000321-1529193600-1529193600@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Through Our Eyes + Q&A with director Samir Mehanovic
DESCRIPTION:UK-Bosnia and Herzegovina-Germany-Lebanon-Republic of Macedonia 2018Dir Samir Mehanovic70minDigitalEnglish subtitles \nDoes humanity ever learn from past tragedy? BAFTA-winning director Samir Mehanovic investigates.\nBAFTA-winning director Samir Mehanovic asks whether humanity ever learns from past tragedy\, and makes a plea for the world to welcome and accept those fleeing conflict and terror. As a Muslim who fled to the UK from Bosnia in the 1990s\, he gives personal insight into the human catastrophe in Syria as he speaks to refugees in camps\, on trains\, and in their new-found places of exile.
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/through-our-eyes-qa-with-director-samir-mehanovic/
CATEGORIES:Film and Photography
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/through-our-eyes-01.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20180314
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20180320
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20171220T132349Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145458Z
UID:10000194-1520985600-1521503999@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Who Are We?
DESCRIPTION:Art\, migration and the production of democracy: Join us for a week of experimental production \nJoin Counterpoints Arts\, Loughborough University\, The Open University and Stance Podcast for a week of experimental production in partnership with the University of York Migration Network and many other collaborators. \nDrop in to activities spanning the visual arts: film and photography; design and architecture; digital cultures; the spoken and written word and Live Art. \nExamine connected questions around housing\, dis/placement and place-making; labour and inequality; and citizenship and the production of social democracy. \nEngage with the production of solidarities and of neighbourhoods and cities. Look into issues relating to knowledge and the commons\, and local ecologies and climate change. Investigate the production of communities\, identities and belonging\, public spheres\, and the transformative power of art and pop culture in tumultuous times. \nAs well as joining our drop-in activities at Tate Exchange\, engage with additional off-site activities happening in locations across the UK and beyond (alongside partners across Europe). Our off-site projects will be transmitted to Tate Exchange and our activities at Tate will be transmitted to our off-site collaborators. \nThis event is programmed by Counterpoints Arts\, Loughborough University\, The Open University and Stance Podcast Tate Exchange Associates. \nFor more information visit the Tate website
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/who-are-we/
CATEGORIES:Learning,Multi-Art Form
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/behjat.working-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20180307T143000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20180307T170000
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20180220T165256Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145459Z
UID:10000242-1520433000-1520442000@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Juan delGado’s Living Room: Crossing Thresholds in Wakefield
DESCRIPTION:A Learning Lab focusing on the participatory and social engagement work of Juan delGado – as seen through the lens of his two-stage ‘Living Room’ project set in the cultural and social landscape of Wakefield and at Art House. \nJuan conceived Living Room as a ‘welcoming’ space within Art House aiming to open up access to different groups from the local community. This resulted in the establishment of a Sanctuary Studio (at Art House) dedicated to supporting artists seeking sanctuary or whose status is currently defined by ‘no recourse to public funding’. \nLiving Room incorporates a range of conversations between civic agencies and individuals in Wakefield including the accommodation centre\, Urban House\, City of Sanctuary\, Wakefield Council and AxisWeb\, among other groups. Living Room also questions the concept of ‘validation [for artists] outside the gallery…system’ (Validation Beyond the Gallery\, AxisWeb).  \nLearning Lab will critically re-frame the Living Room project\, bringing together a range of artists\, activists\, curators\, programmers\, evaluators and policymakers to listen and feedback to Juan as he reflects and maps out the second and crucial stage of this work. \nLiving Room is commissioned by Counterpoints Arts as part of a Paul Hamlyn Foundation ‘Explore and Test’ grant. \nRespondents: Artists\, Brian Weston Temboman Mucheriwa and Mohammed Barrangi; AxisWeb Director\, Mark Smith; Evaluators\, Chrissie Tiller and Susanne Burns.  \nModerator: Co-Director Counterpoints Arts\, Áine O’Brien
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/juan-delgados-living-room-crossing-thresholds-in-wakefield-2/
CATEGORIES:Community & Participation,Visual Arts
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/juanimage.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20180228T160000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20180228T193000
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20180219T123156Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145459Z
UID:10000241-1519833600-1519846200@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Refugee Week 2018 planning event for museums and galleries
DESCRIPTION:The Migration Museums Network and Counterpoints Arts are hosting a free evening event at the Migration Museum to plan Refugee Week 2018 activities together.\nFollowing up the success of Counterpoints Arts sell-out Refugee Week planning event coming up on February 12\, we’ve decided to host an event on February 28 specifically aimed at those working in and with museums and galleries across the UK. This practical\, ideas sharing event will be an opportunity to hear from a range of museums and galleries active in Refugee Week in varied ways: What have they learnt? What are their tips? What are the opportunities to collaborate to increase our impact? \nOur aim is that this event galvanises efforts across our sector for Refugee Week 2018 (18–24 June 2018) – its 20th anniversary year! \nYou are warmly invited to join us. The event is free but registration is essential. \nVenue: \nMigration Museum at the Workshop\n26 Lambeth High Street\, London\, SE1 7AG \nClick here to register for the event (via Eventbrite) \nQueries or suggestions? Please contact Emily Miller at the Migration Museum: emily@migrationmuseum.org \nOr Emily Churchill Zaraa at Counterpoints Arts: emily@counterpoints.org.uk
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/4112/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Pink-girl.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20180212T100000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20180212T170000
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20171220T121036Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145459Z
UID:10000232-1518429600-1518454800@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Refugee Week Conference 2018
DESCRIPTION:Get set for Refugee Week 2018 \nJoin us for a day of listening\, learning and networking in preparation for the 20th birthday edition of Refugee Week\, 18-24 June 2018. Expect inspiring speakers\, engaging practical workshops and fabulous performances – visit the Eventbrite page for more details. \nRefugee Week is a partnership project coordinated by Counterpoints Arts
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/refugee-week-conference-2018/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Screen-Shot-2017-12-20-at-12.17.16.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20171122T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20171122T210000
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20171107T101724Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145459Z
UID:10000230-1511373600-1511384400@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Seeking Shelter Late at the Jewish Museum
DESCRIPTION:Hosted at the Jewish Museum\, we are delighted to be collaborating with the Museum on this Late event. Presented as part of the Migration Festival programme for the Museum’s Sukkot: Seeking Shelter installation\, in partnership with Camden Council. \nExplore the Sukkot: Seeking Shelter installation after hours and enjoy art installations\, crafts and talks inspired by themes of journeys\, migration and shelter. \nThe programme will start with Lord Dubs speaking about his experience of coming to the UK as a child on the Kindertransport and fighting for the rights of refugees. Artist Bern O’Donoghue will be taking inspiration from the Museum’s collection to create a moving installation of paper boats and Gil Mualem Doron will be inviting participation in his New Union Flag installation. Artist Orly Orbach will be serving up a new piece titled ‘Eat Your Own Identity’\, workshops in which visitors will be able to make their own ID cards using gingerbread dough. \nAs part of love music and spoken word programme Ethiopian singer Haymanot Tesfa will be performing songs of home and poets Edin Suljic and Alev Adil will be sharing their work and refugee experience. \nAlso\, there will be an opportunity to learn more about Camden based EMMA magazine\, the publication giving homeless people a voice and to look at the Museum’s objects that have travelled from around the world and to learn the stories of the refugees and migrants that brought them to the UK in a talk with a Curator.
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/seeking-shelter-late-at-the-jewish-museum/
CATEGORIES:Music
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Untitled-design.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20171019T000000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20171031T000000
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20170420T113951Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145459Z
UID:10000329-1508371200-1509408000@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Platforma Festival 2017
DESCRIPTION:The 4th national Platforma Festival for the arts by\, about and with refugees and migrants will take place in Newcastle\, Gateshead\, Stockton and Middlesborough 19-31 October 2017.  \nThe main event is the 2-day PLATFORMA CONFERENCE in Newcastle 27-28 October. \nFor more information contact tom@counterpoints.org.uk \nThe Platforma Festival 2017 is produced by Counterpoints Arts in partnership with Freedom City 2017\, Northern Roots\, ISIS Arts\, ARC Stockton\, Art and Christianity Enquiry\, the Platforma network and a range of other venues\, organisations and networks. Commissioned artists include Isabel Lima (pictured below)\, Henna Asikainen\, Juan DelGado\, Natasha Davis and Katia Kameli. \n \nThe FREE programme includes: \n19 October: As Free As A Bird!\, Tyne Theatre\, Newcastle (13.30-14.30) \nChildren from three east end primary schools in Newcastle have been hard at work in their schools\, singing\, dancing and rehearsing to put together a performance of a brand new musical As Free As a Bird! by Grumpy Sheep Music for the start of the Platforma Festival. See their first performance at Tyne Theatre! More details \n19 October: “Connecting Communities”\, ARC Stockton (14.00-19.00) \nA day of performances and conversations about how the arts can bring people together around issues relating to refugees and migration. Featuring a performance of Borderline by PSYCHEdelight\, and a new work by Natasha Davis. Plus a screening of Queens of Syria (directed by Yasmin Fedda) and contributions from United Voices. \nFull details and free booking here: http://arconline.co.uk/whats-on/community/connecting-communities-%E2%80%93-platforma-festival-2017 \nBorderline\nPSYCHEdelight facilitated art based workshops in Calais Jungle throughout 2015 -2016. Sophie Besse\, a theatre director and art-therapist\, witnessed among the refugees an eagerness for comedy as a way to contrast and express their tragedy. This experience gave her the impulse to create Borderline in collaboration with Frank Wurzinger\, a professional clown practitioner. The show is the result of 6 weeks devising period with an ensemble of European and refugee performers altogether from 7 different nationalities : Uk\, France\, Syria\, Afghanistan\, Chile and Sudan. It has played to packed houses in the past 12 months across the UK and internationally. (Borderline photos by Jose Farinha) \n \nQueens of Syria\nQueens of Syria (directed by Yasmin Fedda) tells the story of fifty women from Syria\, all forced into exile in Jordan\, who came together in Autumn 2013 to create and perform their own version of the Trojan Women\, the timeless Ancient Greek tragedy all about the plight of women in war. What followed was an extraordinary moment of cross-cultural contact across millennia\, in which women born in 20th century Syria found a blazingly vivid mirror of their own experiences in the stories of a queen\, princesses and ordinary women like them\, uprooted\, enslaved\,and bereaved by the Trojan War. \n \nT-Shirts by Natasha Davis \nWhat is your favourite t-shirt? Tell me a story about it… When did you get it\, was it a gift or did you buy it? Are there any special occasions you wore it for? Has it travelled with you across borders? Using t-shirts as the playful start of an exchange\, the performance choreographs memories into a visual poem\, with t-shirts becoming the link to vivid and faded colours in our lives\, stains and scars\, people and places we love\, and the choices we make when we can take very little with us on our journeys. A multi-media encounter with time and memory\, with losses and liberations of living in transit – from Natasha Davis\, an artist whose own performances and t-shirts have been crossing borders on five continents through the past decade. \n \n\n19-26 October: From Syria to Gateshead\, Shipley Art Gallery \nAn artistic and musical exploration of belonging among refugee-background Syrian young people living in Gateshead.  Over a three-month period\, the fourteen young people represented in this exhibition participated in research interviews and workshops with professional artists and musicians to produce works that reflect their ideas and experiences of belonging. From Syria to Gateshead is a partnership between Durham University\, GemArts and Gateshead CouncilFrom Syria to Gateshead is a partnership between Durham University\, GemArts and Gateshead Council with support from Shipley Art Gallery. Full details: http://www.platforma.org.uk/pf_events/from-syria-to-gateshead/ \n \n\n21 October: Gresham Wooden Horse (11.30-14.30\, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art) \nIsabel Lima will introduce her latest project made with the community of Gresham in Middlesborough and commissioned by MIMA and co-commissioned by partners including Counterpoints Arts. There will be an opportunity to see an exhibition about the project\, to join a community lunch\,  and to take the short walk from the gallery to see the horse itself in Gresham. For full details contact tom@counterpoints.org.uk \n \n21 October – Private View – Ritournelle (once more\, from the top) by Katia Kameli (14.00–16.00 St John the Baptist Church Grainger Street\, Newcastle NE1 5JG)\nRitournelle (once more\, from the top) is the result of Katia Kameli’s artist residency  with Art and Christianity Enquiry at St John the Baptist\, Newcastle\, which has been programmed in collaboration with Platforma. In response to the invitation to consider themes of residency\, migration and belonging within the context of this medieval church\, Kameli has produced new site-specific artworks. More information \n21 October – Screening: Place I Call Home (18.00-19.00\, New Bridge Project\, Newcastle) \nPlace I Call Home is a film about the migration of people to Hartlepool by Maxy Bianco & Students of Hartlepool Sixth Form College. In little over 150 years the population of Hartlepool has grown from thousands to tens of thousands\, over 160 nations have roots in our town. This film asks the question\, where do we come from? Produced by Jo Hislop and made by Maxy Bianco and students\, Anthony Graham\, Phoebe Hay\, Ely King\, Katie Kennedy\, Ruben Gonzalez\, Lydia Balmforth and Hayley Briggs. As part of a recent project with Hartlepool Youth Services the film was funded by HLF. A selection of other short films will also be shown. \n \n\n25-26 October: Counterpoints Arts strategic session (Newcastle / Gateshead) \nFollowing on from their first arts and social change “retreat” in Dartington last year\, Counterpoints Arts (the charity that manages the Platforma network) will be running discussions and workshops for invited guests on themes including popular culture and European networking. Feedback from this session will be presented as part of the Platforma Conference. \n\n27 October: PLATFORMA CONFERENCE Day 1 (Newcastle\, various venues): 10.00-18.00 \nJoin us to share practice\, ideas and inspiration with artists and organisations from across the North East\, the UK and internationally. This first day of the Conference will focus on new work commissioned for the Festival\, providing hands-on engagement with some of the most important issues relating to the arts by\, with and about refugees and migrants. All events in this programme are free and open to all (unless otherwise stated). \nTo reserve a place at the Conference please email tom@counterpoints.org.uk \n10.00-11.30: Conference launch at St John the Baptist Church\, Grainger Street\, Newcastle NE1 5JG\nFeaturing a new installation\, Ritournelle (once more\, from the top) by artist Katia Kameli (pictured below)\, a French-Algerian artist commissioned as part of the Platforma Festival by Art and Christianity Enquiry\, the leading UK organisation in the field of visual art and religion. Almir Koldzic and Áine O’Brien\, co-directors of Counterpoints Arts\, will introduce the Conference and outline the main themes attendees will be invited to explore. \n \n12.00-14.00: Art In The Park: Forage and The Big M\, Nuns Moor Park\, Newcastle NE4\nFrom the church we will walk about 30 minutes together to the park (alternative transport provided if required) where\, in partnership with ISIS Arts\, we present a new work by Henna Asikainen\, Forage. Produced with participants from local communities in Newcastle\, and with the co-operation of the National Trust\, the work will be made on the day from a collection of foraged materials. More details here: https://counterpoints.org.uk/artist/henna-asikainen-forage/ \n\n \nISIS Arts will also be presenting work curated by Juan Delgado in their unique inflatable gallery\, The Big M. \n \nPlus  there will be free food\, music\, and discussion around aspects of the work displayed. \n15.00-17.00: Parallel seminars  \n1) Counterpoints Arts’ Learning Lab: The Art of Self-Organising\, New Modes of Networking and Cross-Border Solidarities (venue & full details to be confirmed) \nSelf-organising has a long history in the arts and cultural sector influencing diverse methods of production and participation. Borne out of creativity\, politics and necessity it has to date produced a rich range of practices and ways of working. Join us – artists\, curators\, producers\, programmers\, activists\, educators\, critics – in this open forum to explore a timely re-thinking of how self-organisation today moves beyond the somewhat limiting labels of ‘non-profit’\, ‘artist-run’ or ‘alternative’. With visiting contributors from across the UK\, Europe and the US we will share initiatives exploring new models of governance\, new platforms for cultural participation and active citizenship plus innovative and strategic cross-border networking. Our discussion will be framed by a keynote from Adnan Abdul Ghani\, initiator of the autonomous Support Group Network (SGN) at Restad Gard Asylum Centre\, Sweden. This Learning Lab forum is a collaboration between Counterpoints Arts\, University of York Migration Network and the Cultural Significance of Place Research Group\, University of Newcastle. \n\n2)  Displacement and art in the age of hostility – Hatton Gallery\, Newcastle\n \nThe filmmaker Marusya Bociurkiw and the performance practitioner Elena Marchevska will discuss their most recent projects and will engage in a discussion with the audience about the ethical implications of creating work about displacement and migration. The session will start with a screening of an excerpt of the movie: This Is Gay Propaganda: LGBT Rights and the War in Ukraine\, the most recent documentary by Marusya Bociurkiw . This will be followed by a short presentation of The Study Room guide on The Displaced and Privilege\, project that Elena Marchevska developed this year in collaboration with Live Art Development Agency and Counterpoints Arts. Full details \n \n \n3) Broken Chords Can Sing A Little – Isabel Lima; ISIS Arts\, 5 Charlotte Square\, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4XF \nThis seminar will critically reflect upon the process of developing Gresham’s Wooden Horse\, a participatory project developed with disparate communities living in Gresham\, Middlesbrough. Inspired by the myth of the Trojan Horse\, this project uses its symbolism to stimulate collective action among Gresham’s populations. Many of Gresham’s grids of terraced houses have been demolished or boarded up in recent years. Its population is diverse\, including British workers and asylum seekers. Social deprivation discourages local people from finding mutual commonalities and reports suggest that different communities rarely interact with one another. Gresham’s Wooden Horse sets up an informal forum for cultural exchange. The project is a vehicle for residents of Gresham\, old and new\, to establish a sense of ownership of their neighbourhood\, enabling a collective process of reimagining the area’s identity. This session will focus on the ethics of engagement; collaboration; stakeholders and sustainability of artist-led participatory artworks within communities. \n17.00-18.30: Hatton Gallery special viewing \nAn opportunity to see the “Kurt Schwitters: Collage & Assemblage”  exhibition at the newly refurbished Hatton Gallery. Schwitters\, who fled Germany in 1937 for Norway and then England\, is one of the most important figures in post-War art. Schwitters: Collage & Assemblage focuses on Schwitters’ pioneering career long use of collage\, a significant development in 20th century art practice. Fascinating dialogues exist between these works and those of the Independent Group and early pop artists on display in Hatton Gallery’s “Pioneers of Pop” exhibition and Schwitters’ Merz Barn Wall\, permanently displayed in the Hatton Gallery. \n18.00-20.00: Stranger Tales\, Settle Down Cafe\, 61-62 Thornton St\, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4AW \nCapacity limited – first come\, first served. \nStranger Tales is an intimate storytelling experience that will take you across the globe\, traversing time and distance\, travelling from Siberia to a UK city street\, bringing you stories that have never been told before. Created by theatre maker Stella Barnes with two professional performers and the input of 20 members of the public who shared their stories\, Stranger Tales is part of Stella’s ongoing work in the field of arts and migration. She has a special interest in the notion of hospitality and how it relates to arts practice and attitudes to migration. The work is a frame for exploring complex and sometimes conflicting perceptions and offer a ‘performance’ of hospitality. The word hospitality has its roots in the word ‘host’ which has two origins: the Latin for stranger or enemy\, and conversely guest. Stranger Tales is presented as a work in progress in collaboration with The Southbank Centre\, Counterpoints Arts and idle women. This event is not suitable for small children. \nImage (below) by Candice Purwin \n \n\n28 October: PLATFORMA CONFERENCE Day 2 – 10.00-16.00 \nNewcastle City Library\, 33 New Bridge St W\, NE1 8AX\n \nThe second day of the Conference will be a chance to hear about a range of different projects and artistic interventions from around the country and internationally. There will also be a chance to reflect on work seen on Day 1 and elsewhere in the Festival. We will then be inviting attendees to consider a range of questions about their own approaches and what they have seen elsewhere\, working towards ideas for a new Platforma Manifesto on the arts by\, with and about refugees and migrants. \nInspirations will come from artists including: \nManif Halbouni & Farhad Berhaman\n \nWorkshop sessions will be led by Stella Barnes and David Nguyen. \nAll welcome\, regardless of previous experience in this work and whether you are able to attend on the 27th or not. Please email tom@counterpoints.org.uk to confirm attendance. \nAt 3pm we will present a performance of the brilliant Borderline by PSYCHEdelight\, the acclaimed “comedy about a tragedy” made collaboratively by a company of young refugees and European actors and a sell-out hit at venues across the country. \n \nPlus there will be a performance by dance and choreographer Tim Rubidge and Afshin Emam drawing on work done for the Make/Shift dance project. \n \nAttendance is free and open to all\, whether you are able to attend Day 1 or not. Please email tom@counterpoints.org.uk to reserve a place. \n8pm: Borderline at Gosforth Civic Theatre \nAnother chance to see the acclaimed show from PSYCHEdelight developed with and performed by refugees who lived in the Calais camp on their way to the UK. “High Comedy amidst the Poignancy. Powerful. Important.” Huffington Post. Booking: https://www.gosforthcivictheatre.co.uk/borderline \n\n31 October: Migration Museums Network event\, Main Hall at Discovery Museum \nThis is an event to bring together and share learning from the pilot of the Migration Museums Network. This network is aiming to increase and improve outputs associated with migration and related themes in museums and galleries across the UK. The event in Newcastle will be a practical day. Full details to come. \n \n\nThe biennial Platforma Festival brings together artists\, organisations\, funders and others for discussions\, workshops and the chance to share practice and showcase new work. The first three took place in London (2011)\, Manchester (2013) and Leicester (2015). \nPlatforma arts and refugee network supports and develops arts by\, about and with refugees and migrants from marginalised communities. It brings together groups and artists / performers of any background or political status (e.g. refugees and non-refugees)\, whose work examines the varied experiences of refugees and migrants both before and after they arrived and settled in their host country. Platforma is managed by Counterpoints Arts in partnership with organisations across the country.  \n \nCounterpoints Arts is a leading national organisation in the field of arts\, migration and social change. Our mission is to support and produce the arts by and about migrants and refugees\, seeking to ensure that their contributions are recognized and welcomed within British arts\, history and culture. \nAbout Freedom City 2017 \nThe Platforma Festival is being presented as part of Freedom City 2017. On 13th November 1967\, Newcastle University awarded Dr Martin Luther King an honorary degree\, the only UK university to do so in his lifetime. On accepting this award\, Dr King made what was to be his final public speech outside of the US before his assassination in April 1968. In a moving address\, he called for us to join him in the ongoing struggle against war\, poverty and racism. Freedom City 2017 brings together international artists\, musicians\, filmmakers\, academics and community groups to inspire a new generation to contribute towards tackling the issues that Dr King spoke of in his acceptance speech. \nOn Sunday 29th October a great drama will engulf NewcastleGateshead\, inspired by Dr Martin Luther King Jr. and epic civil rights struggles from across the globe\, both past and present. Out of the buildings and through the streets of NewcastleGateshead will come a unique afternoon of theatre\, music\, dance\, circus and art to celebrate the courage and sacrifice of those who have led the long march for civil rights. Starting from different locations across the city\, the stories from Alabama 1963\, India 1919\, South Africa 1961\, Manchester 1819\, and Tyneside 1936 will be woven together in a unique immersive performance featuring a local cast of hundreds that will develop throughout the day. As night falls\, an uplifting climax will bring the city to a standstill for a memorable moment of light\, sound and theatre. \n 
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/platforma-festival-newcastle-the-north-east/
CATEGORIES:Learning
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Borderline_Show_SB-2-cropped-870x350-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170719
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170721
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20170712T100312Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145459Z
UID:10000227-1500422400-1500595199@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Learning Lab on Migrant Mothers and Daughters – Participation Arts and Social Action in Research
DESCRIPTION:This two-day Learning Lab focuses on Migrant Mothers and Daughters – Participation Arts and Social Action in Research at a pivotal stage of its development. We will critically re-examine film footage shot throughout the Migrant Mothers and Daughters research\, collectively reflecting on the collaborative process enacted across ‘walking methods’ and ‘participatory theatre’\, together with listening and learning from participants and diverse contributors to the project. \nInvited artists\, researchers and performers\, Jane Arnfield and Natasha Davis – whose respective work explores and challenges the boundaries of (auto)biography\, identity\, memory\, citizenship\, belonging and participation – will engage in comparative dialogue with the Migrant Mothers and Daughters’ research team and with participants\, creative contributors and project advisors. \nA central focus of Learning Lab is to probe the overlaps\, differences and conceptual tensions between social science–led PAR (Participant Action Research) and the participatory methodologies conducted across the field of visual arts and performance practice. A key goal will be to inform the shaping of an online toolkit providing training tools for social science researchers. \n2-Day Learning Lab Programme \nTaylor Digital Studio\, Tate Britain \nWednesday 19th 2017 \n10:00 – 10:30: Intro to research team and other learning lab participants \n10:30 – 11:30: Conversation with research team – reflecting on process to date \n11:30 – 1:00: Invited artists\, Arnfield and Davis\, present and explore comparative methodologies and practice – auto/biography\, participatory practice through performance \n1:00 – 2:00: Lunch \n2:00 – 3:00: Arnfield and Davis continued \n3:00 – 5:00: Film workshop examining/commenting on three streams of research footage – the process of making a ‘living archive’ \nThursday 20th 2017 \n10:00 –1:00: Reflecting and listening to feedback from participants and advisors \n1:00 – 2:00: Lunch \n2:00 – 4:00: Film workshop continued \n4:00 – 5:00: Final reflections and actions \nIndicative Learning Lab questions include (among others): \n\nWhere are the potential methodological exchanges between the above fields\, PAR and visual arts and performance?\nHow is co-production of knowledge and content understood and practiced in both?\nWhat emerges when a camera is introduced into the research process?\nWhen is filming ‘participatory’\, ‘collaborative’ and ‘observational’; when is it ‘documentation’?\nHow do we unpack the differences between modes of documenting and participatory storytelling?\nHow might the methodological values of PAR a priori shape post-production of outputs;\nWhat might emerge and be discovered through the retrospective editing process?\nHow best to identify the ‘change’ and ‘transformative’ moments in the footage and documentation?\nWhat are the ethical challenges of PAR when working with and alongside vulnerable subjects?\nWhat supports need to be in place for both subjects and research teams when navigating difficult revelations and emotions?\nHow is ‘well-being’ understood and practiced in PAR and within the visual arts and performance?\nWhat is the fault line between ‘data’ and first and second person storytelling?\nHow do we join the storytelling arc between PAR and policy-practice?\n\n Migrant Mothers and Daughters – Participation Arts and Social Action in Research is a collaborative project led by Umut Erel\, Open University with Tracey Renolds\, University of Greenwich\, Maggie O’Neill\, University of York\, Research Fellow\, Erene Kaptani and filmmaker\, Marcia Chandra. \nThe project is structured across three integrated strands: (i) participatory methods with migrant parents’ and young people on intergenerational communication (ii) participatory methods with families with no recourse to public funds in conversation with policy-practice; and\, (iii) …developing training tools for social science research in collaboration and consultation with Counterpoints Arts… and the Runnymeade Trust. \n Migrant Mothers and Daughters – Participation Arts and Social Action in Research is funded by the ESRC/NCRM \nLab is now full. \nModerator: Áine O’Brien\, Co-Director Counterpoints Arts \nCo-Producer: Nelli Stavropoulou\, Counterpoints Arts
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/learning-lab-on-migrant-mothers-and-daughters-participation-arts-and-social-action-in-research/
CATEGORIES:Learning
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Walking-Maggie.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20170718T093000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20170718T130000
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20170626T125243Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145459Z
UID:10000222-1500370200-1500382800@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:What does it mean to have a rights-focused approach to arts participation?
DESCRIPTION:Join us for a free seminar where we’ll explore diverse rights-focused approaches to arts participation. \nGuest speakers will present a range of perspectives and methods\, providing insights into how these have applied to specific audience groups they’ve worked with. Speakers will then host a series of open roundtable discussions encouraging an open dialogue and exchange of ideas around the following issues: \n• How are rights-focused methods and processes applied in an arts context? \n• Why are rights-focused approaches important in the recruitment of participants and community engagement more broadly? \n• What participant\, institutional and sector-wide changes can take place as a result of incorporating a rights-focused approach? \nThe notion of ‘rights’ brings into focus the duties institutions have to engage with diverse audiences. Using a rights-focused approach we can pay closer attention to the responsibilities publically- funded arts organisations have to the public\, as well as the power relationships that shape and hinder participation. In this way\, a rights- focused approach provides a starting point with which to address access issues between audiences and institutions\, through utilising agency\, advocacy methods and change processes. \nThis event marks the end of a year- long project called Canvas(s) funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Canvas(s) has explored access to cultural spaces with young people from refugee backgrounds. The project was formed around a diverse group of arts and migrants rights organisations: Autograph ABP\, Counterpoints Arts\, Migrants Rights Network\, Asylum Aid\, British Red Cross and the National Gallery. \nThe Canvas(s) project is managed by Autograph ABP. \nFull details: http://autograph-abp.co.uk/events/what-does-it-mean-to-have-a-rights-focusedapproach-to-arts-participation
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/what-does-it-mean-to-have-a-rights-focused-approach-to-arts-participation/
CATEGORIES:Visual Arts
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/canvass.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20170713T100000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20170713T160000
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20170628T105552Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145459Z
UID:10000226-1499940000-1499961600@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Learning Lab: Unlearning the Role of the Artist: Part 2
DESCRIPTION:This Learning Lab\, Unlearning the Role of the Artist: Part 2\, is framed by the interdisciplinary methodologies and comparative arts practice of London-based artist\, Eva Sajovic. \nPrior to the launch of Eva’s exhibition at the MediaNox Gallery in Maribor\, Slovenia\, Learning Lab invites artists\, curators\, activists\, educators and interested practitioners to partake in a day of critical debate and co-production.This will include critical panels\, co-production workshops\, and the preparing of food and eating together. \nEva’s work pushes the boundaries of participatory and collaborative arts\, challenging the dynamics of power and assumptions made by artists when working with and alongside communities of place and dis/placement. Her participatory photography and social portraiture to date will guide our conversation\, specifically focusing on work produced during a recent two-part residency on climate change and displacement at Darat Al Funun Foundation in Amman\, Jordan. \nLearning Lab will facilitate critical dialogue and a questioning of participatory photography as a tool of agency and emancipation.We will also explore how different types and practices of citizenship can be enacted through photographic practice\, and how natural plants and ecology act as catalysts for new modes of citizenship and community. \nWe aim to convene a co-production workshop and invite participants to bring photographs of plants and people relating to issues of migration\, climate change\, and displacement. Our aim is to layer the photographs with aural and written statements collated through our conversations and to transform and/or re-contextualise the images to communicate a collectively forged/defined narrative. \nThis methodology is based on the model of the tape slides medium\, largely used by community photography groups in the UK in the 70s\, as a means of creating alternative modes of communication. \nLearning Lab builds upon an ongoing\, collaborative conversation between artist\, Eva Sajovic\,Agnes Czajka (Open University) and Áine O’Brien and Dijana Rakovic (Counterpoints Arts) initiated at the Who Are We? project at Tate Exchange London. It is co-produced with Terra Vera\, Slovenia. \n \n  \n 
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/learning-lab-unlearning-the-role-of-the-artist-part-2/
CATEGORIES:Learning
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Learning-Lab-Photos-Slovenia.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20170708T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20170708T180000
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20170426T140406Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145459Z
UID:10000202-1499511600-1499536800@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Shahre Farang\, Refugees Welcome and Shed Your Fears
DESCRIPTION:“If you could never return home\, what would you do and where would you go if you were granted just one minute to go back there?” \nThis question is the starting point for Iranian photographer and artist Farhad Berahman’s artwork Shahre Farang\, which explores memories of home of Iranian asylum seekers living in the UK. \nBerahman collaborated with twenty Iranian asylum seekers\, asking them to describe places they would re-visit if they would go back to Iran for one last time. These memories were then passed on to a network of photographers based in Iran\, who were tasked with creating photographic interpretations of these memories. \nBerahman’s custom-made sculpture is a unique design based on a traditional Shahre Farang. A Shahre Farang is an Iranian version of a portable peep box traditionally taken around the country by wandering storytellers\, showing images of European cities as a form of exotic entertainment. \nBerahman has built a contemporary version of the box for the UK audiences\, where three viewing lenses are used to invite visitors to see a moving display of back lit images. \nThe images have a wonderful cinematic sense to them as ‘freeze frames’ of people’s memories. It is a work which does not only speak of one specific cultural context but more importantly asks viewers to consider how personal memories of home\, of far off cultures and of the past are filtered through photography. As an interactive artistic experience\, Shahre Farang transports viewers to another place and time. \nBerahman’s work will be presented at the b-side Outpost project space on Portland\, Dorset during Refugee Week  (17-22nd June)\, leading to its appearance at Bournemouth University’s annual  Festival of Learning in July 8th. The project will also be part of the 4th national Platforma Festival taking place in Newcastle and across the North East\, between 19-28th October 2017. \n \nImage of  ‘Shahre Farang’ courtesy of b-side  \nOn July the 8th\, Bournemouth University’s Festival of Learning will also host two Counterpoints Arts’ commissions. \nAlketa Xhafa Mripa presents her Refugees Welcome installation\, comprising of a Luton tail lift van – a potent symbol representing refugees crossing borders. The interior of the van is revamped to resemble  a ‘living room’ with soft furnishings\, visuals and a neon ‘hope’ sign evoking the ‘British Welcome’. The van and its contents act as a prompt for conversations with visitors\, extending the gesture of ‘fancy a tea with a refugee’. The mix of agitprop\, site-specific happening\, installation and live encounter engages with current shifts in attitudes to ‘welcome’. Visitors are asked to leave their thoughts in the comments book\, where stories will be shared via social media and local radio. \n#FancyaTeaWithaRefugee \n  \nRichard deDomenici’s Shed Your Fears is a non-denominational\, non-hierarchical booth\, into which two people get to confess their fears to each other\, privately\, anonymously and safely. Designed as a response to recent sociopolitical upheavals\, the piece invites participating audiences to share their innermost fears\, and by sharing them\, hopefully transcend them\, to the point where they can also share hopes and dreams. \n@ShedYourFears \nBoth Refugees Welcome and Shed Your Fears are on a tour around the country.
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/iranian-photographer-farhad-berahman-explores-memories-of-iranian-asylum-seekers-through-his-shahre-farang-sculpture-at-bournemouth-universitys-festival-of-learning/
CATEGORIES:Multi-Art Form,Visual Arts
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/FARHAD-BERAHMAN-4--e1493219596210.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20170625T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20170625T163000
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20170511T100051Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145459Z
UID:10000214-1498388400-1498408200@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Different Pasts\, Shared Future: a Refugee Week special event
DESCRIPTION:As part of Refugee Week 2017\, we are collaborating with the British Museum to bring a special event and celebrate this year’s theme – Shared Future. \nJoin us for a rich range of happenings and activities taking place across The British Museum’s Great Court – from music performances\, to visual installations\, youth workshops and much more. Prompted by this year’s Refugee Week\, ‘Our Shared Future’\, the programme is curated to encourage full participation. Catering for all ages\, it’s a heady mix of theatre\, song\, making\, engaging or simply watching and listening. \nINSTALLATIONS AND GALLERY TOURS \nDead Reckoning by artist Bern O’Donoghue: \nDead Reckoning is an ongoing project bearing witness to the thousands of migrants and refugees who have died\, and continue to die\, attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea in search of sanctuary and a better life. Each tiny\, hand-marbled paper boat is marked with a relationship to another person\, a fragile reminder of the individuals caught up in the biggest humanitarian crisis in Europe since World War II. \nShed Your Fears by artist Richard Dedomenici: \nA non-denominational\, non-hierarchical booth\, into which two people get to confess their fears to each other\, privately\, anonymously and safely. Designed as a response to recent sociopolitical upheavals\, the piece invites participating audiences to share their innermost fears\, and by sharing them\, hopefully transcending them to the point where they can also share hopes and dreams. \nRefugee-led Gallery Talks: No Single Story\, 13.30- 14.15pm (Room 34) \nJoin tour guides Ameen and Ahmad on a journey through the British Museum’s Islamic World gallery. ‘No single story’ started as a pilot tour-guiding programme\, in which volunteers from refugee backgrounds were trained to give gallery talks at the Museum. Through selected objects\, Ameen and Ahmad will share their personal responses to these beautiful collections. \nMUSIC STAGE \nAar Manta\, 15:00pm: \nDescribed as ‘the voice of our generation’ by many young Somalis\, Aar Manta is a multi instrumentalist who mixes many musical styles with traditional Somali music. He is working with the UNHCR\, traveling to refugee camps in Ethiopia and working with young Somali refugees. \nSimo Lagnawi\, 14.10pm: \nSimo Lagnawi is a Moroccan Gnawa master who mixes his Berber origins with deep gnawa grooves. Simo studied with Gnawa masters in Morocco for over twenty years before moving to London in 2008. He is a serial collaborator and is considered UK’s leading guembri musician (camel-skinned bass instrument). Gnawa music consists of a series of spiritual chants\, and Simo’s music transports his audiences with his high-energy acrobatic dancing combined with his strident vocals\, krakebs (metal percussion instruments) and guembri playing. \nVoice of the Movement\, YouPress\, 1.30pm: \nWhat if you had to leave your home\, and the life you once knew? Could you take a personal journey\, not only leaving your home but leaving yourself to become someone new? Ten true life stories come together in this vibrant piece of the theatre which challenges the stigma associated with displacement. \nMOVING WORLDS FILM PROGRAMME (STEVENSON LECTURE THEATRE) \nSink into your seat and watch a series of short and feature-length films\, which capture refugee and migration-related stories about ‘rescue at sea’\, imagining and re-designing precious neighbourhoods\, the resilient power of arts and culture\, stepping into the shoes of those who have had to flee\, plus the building of new\, precarious lives by young refugees. Moving Worlds includes panel discussions with filmmakers\, artists\, advocates and activists working to create change and build social solidarity across communities and sectors. \nSession One: 11.15- 13.30pm \nSolidarity: Art Across Borders \nScreening Where do Art and Migration Meet and They Will Have to Kill Us First. \nPanel speakers: Johanna Schwartz (Director\, They Will Have To Kill Us First); Ahmed Tobasi (Actor); Hassan Abdulrazzak (Writer). This panel will be chaired by Yasmin Fedda\, filmmaker and creative producer at Highlights Arts. \nSession Two: 13.45- 16.15pm \nCrossings: At Home in the World   \nScreening At Home in the World\, Ellis\, Home\, MOAS Rescue at Sea\, My Refugee Story\, The Architect and Twinning Towns. \nPanel speakers: Matthew Saltmarsh (Senior Communications Officer\, UNHCR); Laura Padoan (External Relations Officer\, UNHCR); Jennifer Laws (Fundraising and Communications Officer\, MOAS); Juan delGado (Artist and Filmmaker). This panel will be chaired by Counterpoints Arts Co-Director\, Áine O’Brien. \n  \nSCREEN IN THE GREAT COURT \nShowing a collection of short films by artists and partners\, including: \nShed Your Fears\, Richard deDomenici\, Who Are We? Project\, by Marcia Chandra \nDead Reckoning\, Bern O’Donoghue\, Who Are We? Project\, by Marcia Chandra \nVoices of the Movement\, by YouPress \nI am a Refugee! by David Newman \nBelong\, Coram Young Citizens and Coram Life Education – ‘In association with Nicely Wrapped Films (early cut – work in progress)’ \nI Am Just Like You\, Kazzum\, film by Benjamin Bate \n  \nThe event is free and suitable for all ages.
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/different-pasts-shared-future-a-refugee-week-special-event/
CATEGORIES:Multi-Art Form,Music,Visual Arts
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/websites.image_.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20170624T120000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20170624T190000
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20190507T070130Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145459Z
UID:10000206-1498305600-1498330800@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Refugee Week at Southbank Centre
DESCRIPTION:This year’s collaboration with the Southbank Centre is a programme of theatre\, comedy\, choir performances\, a live art performance\, Balkan music and more. We celebrate across the Southbank spaces: \nYou\, Me and Those Who Came Before \n1pm – 6.45pm \nQueen Elizabeth Hall Foyer; Free \nInvestigate your ancestry and help create a wall of portraits at this drop-in drawing workshop. Suitable for all ages. \n  \nFull Circle \n1pm – 1.45pm \nThe Clore Ballroom\, Level 2\, Royal Festival Hall; Free \nFull Circle is an award-winning community opera project inspired by the story of a Newham resident who arrived as a young refugee. It features music and spoken word created by pupils from 15 local schools working with John Barber\, Hazel Gould\, Mohammed Yahya and Laila Sumpton. \nA collaboration between Newham Music\, Music For Youth\, Lister Community School and Counterpoints Arts. \n  \n As Far as Isolation Goes \n1pm – 3pm & 4pm – 6pm \nQueen Elizabeth Hall Foyer; Free \nWhat does it feel [1] like to be a refugee? Drop in to our interactive performance installation by artists Tania El Khoury and Basel Zaraa to get an insight into the hardships faced by people in detention centres\, through painting\, touch and sound. \n  \nWhat’s Far Is Near by Staging Sisterhood \n2.30pm – 3.30pm \nPurcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall; £5* \nThis theatre piece features two simultaneous performances: one here and the other in Beirut\, with a live video link between them. It is the culmination of a three-month devised theatre project for participants from refugee or asylum-seeking backgrounds\, taking place between London and Lebanon using technology to create a shared space. \nPresented by Seenaryo\, in partnership with Women Now for Development\, Counterpoints Arts and Southbank Centre. \n  \nSinging Our Lives \n2.30pm – 5.30pm \nThe Clore Ballroom\, Level 2\, Royal Festival Hall; Free \nSinging Our Lives brings together musicians from refugee\, migrant and local UK backgrounds to compose and perform together. Produced by Together Productions in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration and Refugee Week. \n  \n2.30pm Singing Our Lives Massed Ensemble \nHundreds of voices unite for this ensemble performance\, featuring five choirs and members of the Orchestra of Syrian Musicians. \nMusical director Jeremy Haneman \n  \n3pm The Sing for Freedom Choir \nThis choir builds community between local residents and refugees and asylum seekers who are survivors of torture. Together\, they sing songs of hope and peace. Musical director Gemma Storr \n  \n3.20pm Royal Opera House Thurrock Community Chorus \nThe 120-strong chorus performs It Takes A Village\, which uses famous opera choruses to explore what happens when we open our hearts to outsiders. \nMusical director Jeremy Haneman\, accompanist Ashley Beauchamp \n  \n3.50pm The Mind and Soul Choir \nThis community choir promotes wellbeing through singing as well as aiming to reduce the stigma around mental illness. They rehearse weekly at the Maudsley Hospital and are open to new members. \nMusical director Nicola Wydenbach \n  \n4.10pm The Islington Refugee Choir \nThe Islington Refugee Choir meets regularly to share music from different cultures and write songs together. Today they perform traditional and well-known pieces alongside their original work. \nMusical director Romain Malan \n  \n4.30pm The Orchestra of Syrian Musicians \nMembers of the Orchestra of Syrian Musicians take you on a trip to the Middle East with their uplifting Arabic melodies. \nLed by Basel Saleh and Hamsa Mounif \n  \n4.50pm The Mixed Up Chorus \nThis chorus sings together to build understanding and empathy. Today they perform songs \ninspired by this year’s Refugee Week theme: \n‘Generations – You\, me and those who came before’. Musical director Jeremy Haneman \n  \nA Day \n4.15pm – 5pm \nQueen Elizabeth Hall Foyer; Free \nIn this poetic performance of words and song\, the Women for Refugee Women Drama Group tell us their experiences of life in the UK by exploring what a typical day might bring. It is followed by a post-show discussion. \nA collaboration with Rainbow Sisters\, a group of lesbian and bisexual asylum-seeking women. \n  \nBalkan and Roma Sounds \n5.30pm – 7pm  \nQueen Elizabeth Hall Foyer; Free \nGet footloose at a free early evening party of Balkan and Roma sounds\, featuring musicians from Counterpoints Arts network\, jazz and classical guitarist Stefan Melovski and the London based Gypsy Roma jazz band – Faith and Branko. \n  \nNo Direction Home  \n7pm – 9pm \nPurcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall; £12* \nNo Direction Home is a stand-up comedy course for people from refugee and migrant backgrounds\, taught by comedian Tom Parry. See the results at this performance\, hosted by Parry and with Suzi Ruffell and Romesh Ranganathan as guest headliners. \nPresented by Counterpoints Arts and Camden People’s Theatre. \n  \n*Transaction fees apply: £3 online; £3.50 over the phone. No transaction fees for in-person bookings\, book via Southbank Centre website and box office. \n  \n 
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/refugee-week-at-southbank-centre-2/
CATEGORIES:Multi-Art Form,Music,Visual Arts
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/RefugeeMarketPlace-3412.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20170624T120000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20170624T190000
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20170511T074650Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145500Z
UID:10000208-1498305600-1498330800@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Refugees Welcome
DESCRIPTION:Visit Alketa Xhafa-Mripa for a conversation\, and a cup of tea\, inside her installation Refugees Welcome. \nAlketa Xhafa Mripa’s mobile installation comprises a Luton tail lift van: a potent symbol of the border crossings braved by refugees. \nThe interior of the van has been revamped with soft furnishings and visuals evoking the ‘British Welcome’. There are vintage armchairs\, a rug and a coffee table that holds the offer of ‘Tea with a Refugee’. The back interior wall bears a Union Jack with a neon sign that reads ‘Hope’. \nMripa begins each conversation inside the installation with a memory of how she was welcomed as a very young person\, and of what that meant to her and her family. \nBorn in Kosovo in 1980\, Mripa came to London in 1997 and completed her studies at Central Saint Martins. Her artistic practice advocates for women’s liberation and independence\, using many forms such as paintings\, photography\, embroidery\, films and installations. \nRefugees Welcome is a Counterpoints Arts commissions\, presented here in partnership with Southbank Centre.
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/refugees-welcome/
CATEGORIES:Visual Arts
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170624
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170626
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20170511T081206Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145459Z
UID:10000212-1498262400-1498435199@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Dear Home Office 2: Still Pending
DESCRIPTION:Watch a play performed by ten young refugee men\, telling versions of their own stories. \n\n\n\n\nFollowing the sell-out success and Amnesty Freedom of Expression Award nomination for Dear Home Office\, Phosphoros Theatre has created a sequel. \nThe new play is performed by the same ten refugees. Kareem is settled in London\, but the sudden arrival of his destitute brother forces him to re-navigate the system. Now 18 and independent\, but with no refugee status\, Elgi tries to stay optimistic despite the stalling of his university prospects. Failed asylum seeker Akram embarks on a stressful appeal\, until he makes a chance connection that might just be the thing that saves him. Stardom beckons for Filmon as he is courted by TV producers – but is his face ‘refugee enough’? \nDear Home Office 2: Still Pending explores stories of coming-of-age in extreme and challenging circumstances through the company’s signature blend of comedy\, raw talent and celebration. \nPerformances are: \n24th June – 19:00 \n25th June – 14:00 & 18:00
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/dear-home-office-2-still-pending/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dearhomeoffice.web_.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170621
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170626
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20170511T080046Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145459Z
UID:10000209-1498003200-1498435199@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Gift Giving: printmaking sessions with young refugees
DESCRIPTION:Explore gift fiving as part of a live printmaking session across second part of Refugee Week. \nArtists Afshin Dehkordi and Saeed Taji Farouky are collaborating with a group of young refugee and asylum-seeking people to give voice to social meaning and its loss through basic printmaking techniques.\n\n\n\n\nJoin the artists and young people inside a freestanding printing workshop inside Royal Festival Hall\, specially commissioned from an architect. At each printmaking station a young refugee passes on their newly acquired printmaking skills to a member of the public. \nPrinted works will be pinned to the structure as they come off the printing press\, so the installation evolves throughout the week. You can also take a free print home with you. \nThese young people are experts in their own experiences: the focus of this art is not the physical prints themselves\, but the intangible dialogue\, sharing and connection created between the visiting public and the young people. \nThis free event is presented in partnership with Southbank Centre.
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/gift-giving-printmaking-sessions-with-young-refugees/
CATEGORIES:Visual Arts
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170619
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170703
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20170511T080737Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145459Z
UID:10000211-1497830400-1499039999@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Charwei Tsai: Hear Her Singing
DESCRIPTION:Encounter perspectives from women refugees in the UK through film portraits of song and storytelling. \nHear Her Singing is a project by artist Charwei Tsai which takes the universal nature of song to create a platform for women refugees in the UK.\n\n\n\n\nTsai’s film portraits are a result of singing and storytelling workshops with women at Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre in Bradford and a group supported by the London-based charity Women for Refugee Women. The project looks to share and give visibility to the personal experiences of those seeking refuge. \nHear Her Singing is presented as part of Refugee Week. It is produced in collaboration with Music in Detention and Women for Refugee Women. With thanks to the Ministry of Culture\, Taiwan.
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/charwei-tsai-hear-her-singing/
CATEGORIES:Visual Arts
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/charwei.web_.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20170618T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20170618T170000
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20170511T070218Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145500Z
UID:10000203-1497794400-1497805200@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Our Shared Future - Refugee Week
DESCRIPTION:For the third year running Refugee Week 2017 is launched in London in partnership with Southbank Centre. The music programme is part of Southbank Centre’s Meltdown Festival. \n‘Our Shared Future’\, is an afternoon of global beats curated by M.I.A as part of the Meltdown Festival\, featuring Liverpool-based Iranian rapper Farhood\, ‘first lady of Arabic hip hop’\, Palestinian-British rapper Shadia Mansour and DAM Palestinian hip hop group. \n 
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/our-shared-future-refugee-week/
CATEGORIES:Music
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/mia.meltdown.web_.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20170617T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20170617T190000
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20180306T161718Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145500Z
UID:10000220-1497697200-1497726000@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Learning Lab: The Politics of People and Place
DESCRIPTION:Venue: Taylor Digital Studio\, Tate Britain\, London SW1P 4RG \nThis Learning Lab reflects on three place-based projects – each forming part of a Paul Hamlyn ‘Explore and Test’ programme run by Counterpoints Arts. \nDeveloping new partnerships/collaborations between local arts and civic organisations in addition to community groups and wider networks\, the three projects below engage in different ways with the impact of austerity policy on local communities\, specifically in areas of high migration and/or with low access to the arts. \nTom Molineaux: Blackburn with Darwen \nTom Green’s Tom Molineaux works with theatre and playwriting to forge links between local boxing clubs and arts and community organisations in areas of high migration. In collaboration with Kerry Tuhill and a team of volunteers at Blackburn-based arts organisation Action Factory\, the project ran workshops with boxers from diverse backgrounds\, refugee groups and schools. It did so through highlighting and staging the life story of American boxer\, Tom Molineaux\, who came to the UK in 1810 as a freed slave and ended up fighting for a national title in front of 20\,000 people. With a methodological mix of creative writing\, producing\, theatre and youth workshops\, Tom Molineaux taps into young people’s feelings about sport\, identity and the local communities that they live in. The project was supported by funders including Arts Council England. \nGresham’s Wooden Horse: Gresham\, Middlesbrough \nIsabel Lima’s Gresham’s Wooden Horse\, is set in the Gresham area of Middlesborough in a diverse community that has experienced a stalled re-generation of housing scheme. Through a series of workshops led by Lima and her collaborators (including the artists TILT)\, and a group of local people\, Gresham residents crafted a giant wooden horse. This site-specific and co-producing methodology offers a vehicle for residents of Gresham\, both old and new\, to establish a sense of ownership of their neighbourhood – enabling the collective process of re-imagining the area’s identity via informal cultural exchange and skills sharing. The wooden horse was wheeled through the streets in a procession from Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA) to Gresham. Gresham’s Horse has kick-started a process of community activity that will include gardening and football. The project was part of a commission for MIMA with funders including Arts Council England. \nForage: Newcastle & Northumberland \nDeveloped during an ISIS Arts research residency\, Henna Asikainen’s Forage is set in the rural landscape close to Newcastle. With the support of free-access to National Trust land\, newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers\, local ramblers and other community members walked together and simultaneously engaged in conversations about ‘belonging’\, dis/placement’\, the right to visit state-funded cultural institutions\, the concept of ‘roaming’ and the ‘commons’. Implementing a mix of walking methodologies and storytelling\, the project enabled refugee and asylum groups to form relationships with local residents and vice versa\, to share comparative stories\, knowledge and skills related to the natural environment and to access long-term settled locals’ experiences and knowledge of their communities. During the walks\, participants gathered foraged materials\, which were transformed into an installation on the bandstand at Nunsmoor Park during Platforma Festival in October 2017. Funders for the project included Arts Council England. \nLearning Lab will combine a series of artist presentations and open discussion with contributions/feedback from project participants\, partners and invited respondents and evaluators. Discussion topics will include: building new ecosystems and creative infrastructures through participatory arts; the power dynamics and challenges of place-based\, durational work; working with unusual allies and sustaining community connections and co-production; understanding the importance of securing local legacy and cross-sector collaboration and cooperation. \nModerated by Áine O’Brien\, Co-Director – Counterpoints Arts
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/learning-lab-the-politics-of-people-and-place/
CATEGORIES:Learning
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/GrenichHorse.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20170617T000000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20170617T000000
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20170418T154914Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145500Z
UID:10000327-1497657600-1497657600@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Alketa Xhafa Mripa's ‘Refugees Welcome' mobile installation at University of York
DESCRIPTION:Artist Alketa Xhafa Mripa will be presenting her dynamic installation Refugees Welcome as part of York University’s festival York Festival of Ideas welcoming members of the public into the back of her Luton tail lift van to share personal narratives and experiences on the theme of welcome. \nAlketa\, who is originally from Kosovo\, re-engages with her personal experience of being warmly welcomed on her arrival to the UK\, which she hopes will facilitate reflections on the reception of refugees today. By creating a parallel between ‘then’ and ‘now’\, she hopes to challenge and redefine what it means to be living in a multi-cultural society – a question more topical than ever. \nRefugees Welcome is commissioned by Counterpoints Arts and following a successful debut at the British Museum as part of Refugee Week 2016\, has just been showcased as part of the ‘Who Are We?’ six-day cross-platform initiative at the Tate Exchange (16-19th March 2017) that hosted a range of artists and installations exploring notions of identity\, belonging\, citizenship\, solidarity\, and migration. \nRefugees Welcome is currently touring different locations across the UK. If you are interested in bringing this project to your area please contact hello@counterpoints.org.uk \n \nRefugees Welcome by Alketa Xhafa Mripa from Counterpoints Arts on Vimeo. \nSave
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/alketa-xhafa-mripas-refugees-welcome-mobile-installation-at-university-of-york/
CATEGORIES:Community & Participation
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/alketatate99.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170615
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170624
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20170511T114534Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145500Z
UID:10000216-1497484800-1498262399@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Refugee Week 2017 Special Film Programme at the BFI Southbank
DESCRIPTION:To celebrate Refugee Week 2017\, Counterpoints Arts have partnered with BFI again this year\, to create  an exciting film programme of cinematic and virtual reality stories that invite audiences to witness and engage with experiences of displacement. \nThe programme includes four different screening experiences: \nThursday\, 15th June\, 14.00PM at NFT1 General Admission \n \nScreening of restored Oscar-winning period drama\, Julia\, which will be  introduced by the magnificent Vanessa Redgrave (work permitting). The film is based on Lilian Hellman’s account of a wealthy childhood friend who turns her back on privilege to follow her ideals and support victims of the Nazi regime in Germany prior to world War Two. \nWednesday 21st June\, 18.10PM at NFT3 \n \nScreening of Stranger in Paradise – a provocative and fresh appraoch to documentary filmmaking\, featuring an actor posing as a teacher who confronts newly arrived migrants/refugees with extreme political viewpoints from their host country. The screening will be followed by a discussion exploring the innovative storytelling techniques employed in the documentary and the tensions between media discourses\, lived experiences\, and politics. \nFriday\, 23rd June\, 15.00-18.00PM at the Blue Room and Atrium\, followed by discussion  \n \nThe Refugee Journeys programme is a non-bookable drop-in event (15.00- 18.00pm) including award-winning VR immersive documentary HOME: Aamir\, produced by National Theatre and Surround Vision\, which follows the story of a young man escaping the threat of murder in Sudan. The programme also includes VR short story We Wait exploring one Syrian family’s story as they wait to cross the Aegean seas\, produced as part of the BBC Connected Studios ‘Future of Content’ programme\, and Channel 4 News’ interactive video story Two Billion Miles\, using real news footage documenting the journey of displaced individuals. \nThe Refugee Journeys programme will be followed by a discussion (18.15pm) exploring the synergy between 360 technology\, virtual reality and documentary storytelling\, while also addressing ways of ‘seeing’ and understanding the ‘refugee crisis’. The discussion is free but please book in advance by calling the BFI box office on 020 79283232 due to limited capacity. \nFriday\, 23rd June\, 20.45PM at NFT2 \n \nScreening of The Good Postman – a documentary that follows the story of a postman living in a Bulgarian border town\, who decides to challenge the establishment by proposing a radical policy of welcoming ‘refugees’. Drawing on the events and real-life experience of the cast\, this blend of documentary and lavish cinematography delivers a poignant\, pertinent and deeply affecting story from the life of a community. \nFor information about the events and for booking options please visit the BFI website. \nRefugee Week (19-25 June 2017) is an annual nationwide celebration of the contribution of refugees to the UK.
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/refugee-week-2017-special-film-programme-at-the-bfi-southbank/
CATEGORIES:Film and Photography
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/The-Good-Postman-CA-Blog-post.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170613
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170619
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20170609T093659Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145500Z
UID:10000219-1497312000-1497830399@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Project Refuge/e
DESCRIPTION:Part of M.I.A.’s Meltdown \nGet an insight into the conditions experienced by many refugees with Refuge/e\, a new project that gives a first-hand sense of Syrian refugee lives in the Middle East. \nSyrians who flee to neighbouring Lebanon are provided with a ‘New Arrivals Kit’ by UNHCR: basic materials for a shelter that they must build and reinforce themselves. The artists learned first-hand how people coped with this challenge\, then shipped a shelter kit and local materials back to the UK to make this reconstruction. \nThe tent is furnished with plaster and brass castings of possessions typically found in these homes and is covered with old plastic advertising boards\, now used for insulation. Through the space you can listen to refugees speaking about their daily experiences of living for years in tents or shells of buildings\, struggling for normality in displacement. \nAn installation by AMP Art \nSupported by Arts Council England\, the British Council\, Holman Fenwick Willan\, the A M Qattan Foundation\, the Art Fund and individual donations.
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/project-refugee/
CATEGORIES:Visual Arts
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Hero1600x630-2017.06.09_Project-Refuge_Meltdown_Display-Space.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170530
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170601
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20170515T131853Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145500Z
UID:10000217-1496102400-1496275199@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Learning Lab:  Support Group network-SGN & Re:Act\, Valand Academy\, Kultur i Väst\, Outgrain\, and Counterpoints Arts\, London
DESCRIPTION:We wish to invite you to a Learning Lab scheduled for 30/31 May 2017\, inspired by the self-organising\, cooperative arts and culture work of the Restad Gård ‘’Support Group network-SGN & Re:Act project of Save the Children’ in different refugee camps and municipalities across Sweden and Europe. \nThe specific aim of the Learning Lab is to explore the dynamic methodologies of cooperation enacted by SGN & Re:Act and to simultaneously connect and engage artists\, activists\, educators\, civic leaders\, policy and decision makers. \nLearning Lab partners include Support Group network-SGN & Re:Act\, Valand Academy\, Kultur i Väst\, Outgrain\, and Counterpoints Arts\, London. \nThis Learning Lab is driven by a series of interconnected questions: \n• What can the self-organizing arts sector learn from the deep cooperative arts and culture work at Restad Gård? \n• How might the SGN Restad Gård model be a force for social change offering an inclusive and resilient model of cultural and social integration? \n• How might the creative networking methodologies at Restad Gård shed light on new ways of organizing\, new forms of knowledge\, pedagogy and civic participation? \n• What role does arts and culture play in the creation and sustaining of social and political equality and new modes of citizenship? \n• How might we come together – across silos – to exchange ideas\, ways of working and create meaningful change in relation to integration and civic inclusion? \nThe ethos of the Learning Lab method – which is directed by Counterpoints Arts – is to bring diverse actors and creative practitioners together; to learn through doing\, to collectively reflect in order to make change. To this end\, Learning Lab will comprise workshops\, film screenings\, case studies\, roundtables and an open forum allowing for a rich range of activities and peer-to-peer interaction (see here: http://learninglabeditions.org/). \nA central goal for the Learning Lab on 30/31st May is to co-design conceptual and practical actions in the form of a shared manifesto toward strategic cooperation and collaboration across the arts\, culture\, civic\, educational and policy sectors. \nVenue: Valand Academy \nTimetable: \nTuesday 30 May: 9.30-10.00 (Registration and Teas/Coffee) – 17.00pm (with additional cooking and eating together from 17.00 to 20.00pm) \nWednesday 31 May: 9.30-10.00 (Teas/Coffee) – 17.00pm \nPlease RSVP to Áine O’Brien\, Co-Director\, Counterpoints Arts: aine@counterpoints.org.uk \nMore details on the program to follow once the full list of participants are confirmed. \nFeatured photograph credits: ©Jose Farinha 2017
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/learning-lab-support-group-network-sgn-react-valand-academy-kultur-i-vast-outgrain-and-counterpoints-arts-london/
CATEGORIES:Learning
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/piano.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20170329T113000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20170329T150000
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20170418T154634Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145500Z
UID:10000325-1490787000-1490799600@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:No Boundaries 2017 - a symposium on the role of arts and culture
DESCRIPTION:On 28 and 29 March 2017\, split across two venues in Manchester HOME and Hull Truck Theatre\, this year’s No Boundaries conference hosted a diverse range of contributors from the UK arts and culture sector to examine important questions around the role of arts in society. \nSupported by Arts Council England and the British Council\, the two-day conference combined live and live-streamed presentations across five different panels\, touching upon a range of issues including inclusivity and accessibility in the arts\, collaborative practices and cross-sector partnerships\, as well as shifting pathways to audience development\, loyalty\, and engagement. \nCounterpoints Arts Co-directors\, Áine O’Brien and Almir Koldzic\, were amongst the invited speakers\, addressing the transformative potential of art as a catalyst for social change\, focusing on the importance of “unusual alliances” and cross-sectoral partnerships in dialogue with communities and artists\, in order to create a more sustainable and democratic environment for social change to take place. \n“Art is not a salve\, or a band aid for political situations\, but artists can\, and have successfully stepped into this void” in order to instigate change\, raise awareness and render visible what is frequently being excluded. Drawing from examples  from Counterpoints Arts‘ latest collaborative six-day initiative\, Who Are We? at Tate Exchange\, including Alketa Xhafa Mripa’s Refugees Welcome Luton tail lift van installation\, which engaged audience members in conversations around refugees and welcoming\, over a cup of tea; Richard DeDomenici’s ‘Shed your Fears’ booth\, which invited participants to confess their innermost fears to a complete stranger; and Gill Mualem- Doron’s The New Union Flag project\, which re-imagined a multicultural sense of belonging through an alternative flag\, O’Brien and Koldzic\, explored the role of art as “a non-threatening framework for audiences to come together\, learn more\, participate\, appreciate\, deepen sympathy and find new ways to connect” in an increasingly diverse social space.   \nO’Brien and Koldzic highlighted the importance of embedding agency and democratic participation within the final artwork\, and in particular as part of the process of artistic engagement between audiences and artist\, to truly facilitate meaningful dialogue. The ‘Who Are We?’ multi-platform event was invested in the creation a shared\, collective space where the boundaries between viewers and artists became blurred\, through the collaborative pursuit of answers to the question ‘Who Are We?’. \nNo Boundaries offered the opportunity for practitioners\, artists\, community groups and organisations to engage with some of the major issues currently facing the arts as well as served as a testimony of the “breadth\, ambition and innovation of work being made by practitioners and organisations of all scales”\, as described by a-n The Artists Information Company. \nFor more information about the conference\, including video recordings of speakers\, you can visit the No Boundaries website.
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/no-boundaries-2017-a-symposium-on-the-role-of-arts-and-culture/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/No-Boundaries_628x460_onpattern.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20170320T103000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20170320T170000
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20170308T143334Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145500Z
UID:10000157-1490005800-1490029200@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Learning Lab: Brexit\, Migration and Communities – A Call to Creative Action
DESCRIPTION:Image: The Stuart Hall Project\, 2014 \nLearning Lab engages the Platforma North West Hub\, but also seeks to include artists\, cultural workers\, organisations\, activists\, academics and change-makers interested in forging alliances through working together. \nIt will mix lively debate\, share ways of cooperative working and learn from active case studies from different regions. \nLearning Lab is shaped by the following provocations: \n\nWhat role does art and culture play in a post-referendum landscape?\nHow can arts and culture engage with communities experiencing the harsh reality of austerity policies?\nCan arts and culture bring communities together in a time of increasing political and social division?\nHow might the arts tap into the deep resilience of communities?\nHow can arts and culture inspire communities to build capacity\, respond to ongoing challenges and define their own futures?\n\nLearning Lab partners include: Community Arts North West (CAN)\, Counterpoints Arts and the University of York\, Northern Migration Network. \nFilm \n6pm-8.30pm: Film Screening / Post screening Q&A \nTitle: The Stuart Hall Project \nFull running time (including credits): 103 mins \nCountry of origin: United Kingdom \nLanguage/s: English \nSynopsis:  \nHighly acclaimed at the 2013 Sundance and Sheffield Documentary Festivals\, this film from award-winning documentarian John Akomfrah (The Nine Muses) is a sensitive\, emotionally charged portrait of cultural theorist Stuart Hall. A founding figure of contemporary cultural studies and one of the most inspiring voices of the post-war Left\, Stuart Hall’s resounding and ongoing influence on British intellectual life commenced soon after he emigrated from Jamaica in 1951. Combining extensive archival imagery – television excerpts\, home movies\, family photos – with specially filmed material and a personally mixed Miles Davis soundtrack\, Akomfrah’s filmmaking approach matches the agility of Hall’s intellect\, its intimate play with memory\, identity and scholarly impulse traversing the changing historical landscape of the second half of the 20th century. (BFI) \nThe film will be followed by a post screening panel and open discussion.  \n  \nPrice: £3 Platforma members / £7 non-Platforma members \nBooking: If you would like to attend please email: Katherine@can.uk.com \nVenue: HOME
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/learning-lab-brexit-migration-and-communities-a-call-to-creative-action/
CATEGORIES:Multi-Art Form
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/sturathall2.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20170319T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20170319T160000
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20170308T112655Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145500Z
UID:10000158-1489932000-1489939200@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Peirene Press: breach and The Cut
DESCRIPTION:Join us for a conversation between Samantha Schnee\, Chair of Words Without Borders\, and Peirene Press publisher\, Meike Ziervogel\, with writers\, Olumide Popoola and Annie Holmes\, to explore the unique commissioning approach of Peirene Press. Ziervogel works closely with writers\, commissioning Popoola and Holmes to go to Calais in 2015 to produce the collection of short stories\, breach (2016).  Peirene’s collaborative/commissioning approach with writers (and readers) continues with the forthcoming Brexit novel\, The Cut\, in collaboration with writer\, Anthony Cartwright. \nAnnie Holmes was born in Zambia and raised in Zimbabwe. Many years later\, she left southern Africa and filmmaking to enrol in a writing programme in California. Her short fiction has been published in Zimbabwe\, South Africa and the US\, and a novella-length memoir – Good Red – in Canada. She co-edited two collections of oral narratives in McSweeney’s Voice of Witness series: Hope Deferred and Underground America. In 2016 she co-authored the short story collection breach with Olumide Popoola. She now lives in the UK. \nMeike Ziervogel is a novelist and publisher. She grew up in northern Germany and came to London in 1986 to study Arabic language and literature. She has worked as a journalist for Reuters in London and Agence France Presse in Paris. In 2008 she founded Peirene Press. In 2012 Meike was voted as one of Britain’s 100 most innovative and influential people in the creative and media industries\, the Time Out and Hospital Club hClub 100 list. Meike is the author of three novels\, Magda\, Clara’s Daughter and Kauthar\, all published by Salt in the UK. Her fourth novel\, The Photographer\, will be released in May 2017. \nOlumide Popoola is a Nigerian German writer of long and short fiction\, based in London. Her publications include essays\, poetry\, short stories.  Her novella this is not about sadness was published by Unrast Verlag in 2010. Her play Also by Mail was published in 2013 by Witnessed (edition assemblage) and the short story collection breach\, which she co-authored with Annie Holmes\, in 2016 by Peirene Press. Her publications also include critical essays (often on practice-led research and the novel)\, hybrid pieces and poetry. She lectures in creative writing\, and s currently as associate lecturer at Goldsmiths College. \nSamantha Schnee is the founding editor and chair of the board of Words Without Borders\, an online magazine of literature in translation into English; since its inception 14 years ago\, WWB has published over 2\,000 translations from over 1000 languages.  Born in the UK and raised in the US\, Samantha also translates from Spanish and serves as a Trustee of English PEN. \nPlease book via the Tate Exchange
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/peirene-press-breach-and-the-cut/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/breach_frt_cover_hires-1-e1469603580523.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20170318T173000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20170318T193000
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20170308T111737Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145500Z
UID:10000200-1489858200-1489865400@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Searching for Great Aunt Minna
DESCRIPTION:Searching for Great Aunt Minna was inspired by a photograph and a commissioned photo essay for the London Sunday Times Magazine about the Sangoma\, the traditional healers\, (shamans) who are called by their Ancestors to heal. For Who Are We?\, Jillian Edelstein will be in conversation with Liz Jobey\, an associate editor of the FT Weekend Magazine. Jillian’s story takes in the history of Eastern Europe and the solid immigration drive to Southern Africa from Eastern Europe. Photography\, film interviews and diary pieces are used to illustrate her  family’s search for stability due to forced removal. This story echoes the lives of everyday migrants and asylum seekers today coming to Europe from the challenged parts of Africa\, and the conflict zones of the Middle East. \nPlease book via the Tate Exchange \nJillian Edelstein is a London-based\, award winning photographer. She began working as a press photographer in Johannesburg\, South Africa and her portraits have appeared in many publications including The New Yorker\, The New York Times Magazine\, The FT Weekend Magazine\, Vanity Fair\, and Interview\, L’Uomo Vogue\, Port\, The Guardian Weekend\, The Sunday Times Magazine\, Time Magazine\, Fortune\, Elle\, W Magazine\, GQ and Esquire.   Jillian has exhibited internationally at venues including the National Portrait Gallery\, The Photographers’ Gallery\, Tom Blau Gallery\, The Royal Academy\, OXO Gallery in London\, Les Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie in Arles\, France\, Bensusan Museum\, Johannesburg\, Robben Island Museum in Cape Town\, South Africa and Dali International Photography Festival\, Yunnan Province\, China.   In the run up to the Olympics 2012 Edelstein was commissioned by The National Portrait Gallery and BT to produce a series of 17 portraits of those working to make the Olympic and Paralympic Games happen. The Road to 2012: Aiming High was opened by the Duchess of Cambridge at the start of the Games. \nLiz Jobey is a writer and editor with a special interest in photography. As an editor she has worked at the Sunday Times\, the Independent on Sunday Review\, the Guardian\, and Granta. As a writer she has contributed to the Guardian\, the Financial Times\, the Art Newspaper and the London Review of Books\, principally on subjects related to photography. She also works as an editor of photographic books\, including Nigel Shafran\, Dark Rooms (MACK)\, Fazal Sheikh\, the Erasure trilogy (Steidl)\, Tony Ray-Jones\, American Colour (MACK)\, Donovan Wylie\, The Maze\,  (Steidl)\, Jillian Edelstein\, Truth & Lies (Granta).  She has been a Trustee of the John Kobal Foundation since 1993. She is currently an Associate Editor at the Financial Times Weekend Magazine. \nRead the conversation Searching for Great Aunt Minna\, between Jillian Edelstein and Alena Pfoser.
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/searching-for-great-aunt-minna/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/13-LadiesBand.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20170317T000000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20170317T000000
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20170308T105508Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145501Z
UID:10000198-1489708800-1489708800@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Film Screening: John Akomfrah's The Stuart Hall Project (2013)
DESCRIPTION:John Akomfrah’s ground-breaking documentary The Stuart Hall Project (2013) combines archive footage and a soundtrack of the music of Miles Davis to portray the life of Stuart Hall\, the founding figure of cultural studies who has had a resounding and ongoing influence on British intellectual and cultural life. The film meditates on memory\, identity and the changing landscape of the late 20th century. \nThis event follows a symposium ‘Who do you think you are? Culture\, Identity and the Contemporary Art Museum’. \n\nImage credit: John Akomfrah\, The Stuart Hall Project (2013)
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/film-screening-john-akomfrahs-the-stuart-hall-project-2013/
CATEGORIES:Film and Photography
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/bfi-00o-hu6.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20170314T160000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20170314T180000
DTSTAMP:20260430T165350
CREATED:20170308T115151Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145501Z
UID:10000153-1489507200-1489514400@counterpoints.org.uk
SUMMARY:Learning Lab: Unlearning the Role of the Artist with Eva Sajovic
DESCRIPTION:Southwark Room\, 5th Floor of the Switch House at Tate Modern\, London \nUnlearning seems like a daunting task. How willing are any of us – arts practitioner\, academic or activist – to peel away received ways of thinking\, methodologies\, or secure sets of knowledge? \nJoin us for a Learning Lab with artist\, Eva Sajovic\, when she practices the art of ‘unlearning’\, whilst posing questions about the politics of representing others in an age of global displacement. \nSajovic: \nArtists often speak from the position of the privileged. They have the means to move\, look\, collect and display stories\, metaphors\, and visuals\, often conferring on them an obligation to act. But are the stories artists tell the ones subjects want to tell? Whose voice is being heard? To whom are these stories told and what can they achieve? How can artists support subjects and work to affect change through participatory practice; what are the limitations?  \nThese are urgent questions when engaging with displaced communities through the lens of participatory arts practice. \nWhat is the role of artists using participatory practice when working in areas of displacement? \nWhat methodologies can artists use to create platforms for subjects to represent themselves\, acknowledging that artistic work is always a translation and that change of context might change the perception of the work?  \nWhat support can artists expect from commissioning organisations when using participatory methodologies\, knowing that the boundaries between the artist-as-professional and artist-as-friend in process-based participatory work is fluid\, blurred and prone to misinterpretation?   \nWhat modes of representation might challenge stereotypes and activate audiences to see the world as an interconnected entity? \nLearning Lab will take the form of a performed auto-ethnography by Sajovic\, together with contributions from critical respondents\, rapporteurs\, lively open debate and the collective/creative production of a ‘manifesto for unlearning’. \nRespondent: Agnes Czajka\, The Open University \nRapporteur: Ele Belfiore\, Loughborough University \nTo register for this Learning Lab\, please contact dijana@counterpoints.org.uk\n \nEva Sajovic is a socially engaged artist photographer. In her work Sajovic explores the drivers of global displacement such as regeneration\, poverty\, trafficking\, culture and climate change. \nHer practice includes Participatory social action projects (for example\, a skills exchange project\, The People’s Bureau\, based in Elephant & Castle) and Photographic social portraiture\, where she collaborates closely with subjects to construct images. \nSajovic exhibits internationally and has had her work commissioned by the Tate\, Whitechapel Gallery\, The National Archives\, Fotogallery\, the Cuming museum\, 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning\, 47/04\, PARC\, Siobhan Davies Dance. She has been supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation\, Joseph Rowntree Foundation\, the Heritage Lottery Fund\, Arts Council England\, the European Commission\, Darat Al Funun Foundation\, University of The Arts and the Ministry of Culture Slovenia. \nShe is an Associate Lecturer at UAL’s Central Saint Martins and Theory Lecturer at Chelsea College of Art.
URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/learning-lab-unlearning-the-role-of-the-artist-with-eva-sajovic/
CATEGORIES:Learning
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/eva4-e1488973761134.jpg
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR