Refugee Week: Choose Love
18 - 22 June 2018
Second Home
A programme of events celebrating creative and positive responses to the issues surrounding mass migration Refugee Week in 2018
In collaboration with Help Refugees, a grassroots NGO which provides humanitarian aid to, and advocacy for, refugees around the world.
CREATIVE AND POSITIVE RESPONSES TO THE REFUGEE CRISIS
A panel discussion celebrating the artists, performers and charity groups who have responded with positivity and creativity to the heart-breaking realities of the Refugee crisis and who continue to spread messages of love, unity and generosity in a time of mass migration, fear and unsettlement.
The panel was chaired by James Turner – founder of Glimpse, a collective which helps creative people use their skills for good.
Claire Wilson – Co-founder of Welcome Kitchen & Cinema. Welcome Kitchen are a collective of friends and refugee chefs celebrating the cultures and cuisines of our homelands – including Ivory Coast, Libya, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Gambia & Palestine.
Baraa Halabieh – Associate Producer of Borderline – a piece of satirical theatre devised and performed by an ensemble of European and refugee artists in response to their experiences of the Calais Jungle. Baraa arrived in the UK in March 2016 as a refugee after travelling across Europe from Syria.
Tom Steadman – Head of Communications at Help Refugees, who provide humanitarian aid to, and advocacy for, refugees around the world.
Rebecca Briley – Team leader of the Flying Seagull's Channel Your Energy project. Flying Seagulls is a troupe of entertainers from UK trying to bring moments of a happy childhood to young refugees.
IMAD'S SYRIAN SUPPER CLUB
Imad Alarnab was a successful restauranteur in Syria before the war. He’d worked hard to build his businesses from scratch and had a created a future for his family – who live for his cooking – only to see everything destroyed.
Now in the UK, Imad is still passionate about bringing people together over food and set up Imad's Syrian Kitchen, hosting a number of sell out supper clubs.
Guests sampled Imad's sensational Syrian treats in a three course meal in which half of the places at the table were given at no cost to local refugees and asylum seekers. Guests were invited to help make this possible by contributing to the cost of a meal for a refugee when they purchased their ticket.
HUMAN FLOW – AI WEI WEI
An exclusive screening of Ai WeiWei’s heartbreaking exploration into the global refugee crisis. Filmed in 23 countries over the course of a year, Human Flow follows a chain of urgent human stories that stretch across the globe, including Afghanistan, France, Greece, Germany and Iraq.
CHOOSE LOVE MURAL – HANBURY STREET
Iranian artist and refugee, Majid Adin, painted a giant, colourful Choose Love mural on Hanbury street to create a powerful, unifying message for Refugee Week in the heart of Tower Hamlets.
We crowdfunded the mural with Second Home Members Spacehive – a crowdfunding platform for projects aimed at improving local civic and community spaces.
CHOOSE LOVE SUMMER PARTY
A summer solstice celebration of love to wrap up Refuge Week 2018
Live music from Native Sun – London based duo consisting of bilingual rapper Mohammed Yahya, born in Mozambique, South East Africa and singer-song writer Sarina Leah born in London with Caribbean roots. Fusing Hip Hop and African rhythms with the aim of promoting a positive message of Universal Peace, Equality, Social Justice and Environmental Change.
And a special DJ set from MJ Cole - 90's UK Garage and 2-step legend.
