Refugee Week 2024
Photos: Molly McGee
We held a family gala in celebration of Refugee Week 2024 in the Roxby Community Garden on June 21st. The event included music, food, performances, workshops and everyone was invited!
2024’s Refugee Week (17th - 23rd June) theme was ‘Our Home’. Home can be a place, a person, a feeling or a state of mind. The Roxby Community Garden is a place where the Lincoln Green community’s diverse experiences, journeys and backgrounds can come together and feel at home. The party invited guests to celebrate with us and explore what home meant to them.
What was on
The Potternewton Park Rollers returned to the Roxby Community Garden! They were a massive hit at our Flourish: Harvest event in 2023, and we were thrilled to have them back in the garden.
They shared their fun and lively dance skate performances and workshops, designed to uplift the mind, body, and spirit.
Founded three years ago in Chapeltown, the Potternewton Park Rollers are known for their inclusive dance routines and unique roller skating events that bring communities together.
Bring your skates with you if you have them, but don’t worry if you don’t — skates will also be provided!
Red Ladder Theatre’s Artistic Director, Cheryl Martin, lead a singing and songwriting workshop in the garden. Cheryl’s workshop was for everyone and invited participants to explore this year’s Refugee Week theme by writing lyrics and creating songs about leaving home and coming to a new place.
The workshop was inspired by ’Sanctuary’, Red Ladder Theatre’s brand new musical about a young Iranian asylum seeker claiming the ancient right of sanctuary in a Leeds Anglican Church.
Red Ladder is a radical theatre company with 50 years of history. The company is one of Britain’s leading national touring companies producing new theatre, contributing to social change and global justice.
Whispered Tales shared Refuge Island, an exhilarating dance performance that explores stories of female migration and the human capacity to offer a place of refuge. As a lone woman appears on a refuge island images begin to flicker and we soon hear why she was forced to leave her home. The audience is taken on a journey hearing stories from Ireland to Bosnia to Afghanistan. Choreographed by Lisa Simpson with a stunning performance by Shahda Nantaba.
The show invited guests to learn some of the of the dance moves in the show. Some of our younger guests were particularly inspired, enthusiastically mirroring the performer’s movements from their spot in the audience.
Whispered Tales is a Liverpool based theatre company that delivers projects shining a light on forgotten sites and people, known for their combination of visual flair and emotive cinematic sound design. They create a range of artworks and large-scale installations, audio trails, light night illuminations and bespoke performances.
Leeds Bike Mill brought Dr. Bike to the Roxby Community Garden! We invited people to bring their bikes along for free bike health checks and minor repairs during the event.
Leeds Bike Mill is a community bike recycling and training co-op, established in 2014. They are not-for-profit and provide affordable, fully serviced bicycles to people in the community and deliver a range of training courses in bike maintenance.
They service bikes that have been discarded or donated; diverting them from landfill to save energy and resources. They want to provide people with affordable transport, as well as the opportunity to improve physical and emotional health and well-being through regular cycling.
Leeds Art Gallery invited people to get creative with this year’s Refugee Week theme!
Their Nature and Art Print workshop explored the theme ‘Our Home’ through the lens of nature. They used drawing, rubbings, and print techniques as a way of sharing our collective stories, taking inspiration from the Leeds Art Gallery collections and the beautiful setting of Roxby Community Gardens.
Leeds Art Gallery is a world of art in the heart of the city. The gallery is home to a significant collection of modern and contemporary British art, alongside an extensive and dynamic exhibition programme.
