Coventry’s Herbert Art Gallery & Museum decided to mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2012 with a special exhibition of refugee art. Under the banner of City of Sanctuary the display shows work from new communities, exploring the welcome they experienced when they moved to Coventry. The artists who learned their craft in other countries have therefore created new work to give their audience an insight into their city through strangers’ eyes.
They include painters with many years experience and international reputations alongside younger artists exhibiting for the first time.
The launch took place Saturday 26th November 2011 and was hosted at University Campus Suffolk. There were 150 guests at the event which included not only Ipswich residents but guests from London, Manchester, Birmingham, Cambridge, Beccles and Felixstowe. There were many representatives from different faith groups. Bishop Nigel and his wife also attended the evening.
The aim of the launch was to gain a greater understanding of the City of Sanctuary movement and to recruit people to form a steering group to help direct the initiative in Ipswich and bring the project to fruition.
There were contributions from Ice and Fire Theatre Company, Nawroz Oramari a Kurdish singer, Minister Ivor Smith, Elaine Coltham Chair of Fairtrade in Ipswich, Dance East and Inderjit Bhogal, founder of the City of Sanctuary movement and former President of the British Methodist Conference.
Last night, Leeds City of Sanctuary was awarded the Special Initiative Award at the Hamara Community Awards.
The annual Hamara Community Awards are presented on six categories for people and organisations who have contributed to Leeds communiites and who continue to put others before themselves.
The Leeds City of Sanctuary movement won the “Special Initiative Award – acknowledging an inspirational or exceptional initiative which has helped to make a major difference to the community or society at large.”
On Monday 31st October 2011 representatives from across the City of Sanctuary national network met in Nottingham and elected a board of trustees from Scotland to Wales, taking in many English towns and cities in between, with Inderjit Bhogal as Honorary President
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver will highlight a business started by refugee couple in his new programme ‘Jamie’s Great Britain’ this November. Look out for the programme on Channel 4 at 9pm on Tuesday 1st November.
People who have sampled the food and decor at Darvish Restaurant in Leeds agree that chef Morteza has created something very special. It is great to see this added to the long list of successul businesses that generations of refugees have brought to Yorkshire.
For details of the programme,see below.
