GLOBAL ADVOCACY
Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe (EFFE)
Refugee Week Greece has received the Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe (EFFE) label. The EFFE Label is Europe’s quality stamp for remarkable arts festivals showing their engagement in the field of the arts, community involvement and international openness.
EFFE is an initiative by the European Festivals Association supported by the European Commission and Parliament.
More info can be seen here
These festivals are embedded in the European artistic, cultural and social reality as well as:
- presenting a coherent and curated artistic programme;
- supporting on-going artistic development (some examples of this are: offering residencies to artists, contributing to new creations, and supporting artistic research);
- providing opportunities for upcoming or innovative artists to create or to be presented in your programme;
- being rooted in its’ local community fostering local connections in the programme and among the performers/performances. The festival involves local artists as well as local audiences in its projects;
- helping to increase access to culture and attract diverse audiences. (some examples include different socio-economic backgrounds, age groups, genders, and cultures);
- taking measures to be more sustainable. This can refer to environment, economics, business models, and social impacts;
- helping to shape, encourage and promote intercultural experiences for your audiences and artists;
- embracing inclusivity as a core principle and practice;
- investing in innovation and capacity building;
- engaging with audiences, for example through educational programmes.
Global Health, School of Medical studies Endorsement
Psychosocial resilience and the ability to positively adapt, especially in situations of stress and adversity, are significant parameters in managing the refugee condition regardless of age, gender, and the social and cultural background of those affected.
The utilization of art and its various forms is now prominent in scientific dialogue as a means of empowering and facilitating the recovery of refugee children, assisting in the acquisition or further enhancement of so-called 21st-century skills.
Refugee Week constitutes a significant initiative that frames and highlights the entire ecosystem of works and actions that, by utilizing art, create conditions of mutual support and co-creation, encouraging interaction, understanding, emotional expression, bond formation, and equality of opportunities.
Manos Pikoulis, Chancellor of the School of Health Sciences, NKUA, holder of the Jean Monnet Chair in Humanitarian Medicine and Response (2020-2023).
The aim of this postgraduate program is to offer high-level education in the field of Disaster Medicine and Global Health. The program specializes in topics such as Emergency Medicine and Disaster Medicine, Global Health, Tropical Medicine, Epidemiological Surveillance and Monitoring, Health Protection of Vulnerable Populations, Travelers, and Migrant Populations, and the social and economic impacts of crises.
MSc “Global Health – Disaster Medicine”
Medical School of the University of Athens 75 Mikras Asias Str., GR-115 27 Athens Tel.: 210 7461451 & 5
E-Mail: crisismed@outlook.com
Professor Alison Phipps, UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration in Languages and the Arts – Scottish Refugee Council Ambassador
&
Lauren Roberts and Jen McArthur UNESCO RILA Secretariat
Professor Alison Phipps, UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration in Languages and the Arts, and Scottish Refugee Council Ambassador & Lauren Roberts and Jen McArthur UNESCO RILA Secretariat have sent to Refugee Week Greece a message of endorsement and support.
The University of Glasgow’s Chair in Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts (RILA) is responding to this global crisis by researching, pioneering and sharing creative ways to foster integration and empower all members of new communities, where refugees live, to flourish, together.
UNESCO in the UK and University of Glasgow
ICAF Endorsement
“ICAF (International Community Arts Festival) wishes to express their support for Refugee Week Greece as a festival, a community hub, and a movement that significantly contributes towards the power of arts and culture for integration and community cohesion, especially for communities often underrepresented and denied platforms within our traditional societal structures.
The work of Refugee Week Greece, especially their library-based projects, provides space for exchange, healing and support, as well as a platform for communities to feel recognised and celebrated for their contribution within society. The creation of such spaces are vital for social and community cohesion, and to tackle the increasing individualisation and segregation in society.
The effects of Refugee Week Greece and the spaces provided will have a long lasting impact not just for the communities directly involved, but for all of those who attend the festival programming.”
Amy Gowen
ICAF Rotterdam
Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador interview by Mahdia Hosseini
Upon an invitation by the City of Athens, acclaimed writer and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Neil Gaiman, participated in the launch event of the first-ever Refugee Week in Greece through a digital interview. The interview with Neil Gaiman focused on healing, the theme of Refugee Week Greece, and the power of storytelling, and was held by the journalist and women’s rights defender Mahdia Hosseini. The interview was opened by Melina Daskalaki, Special Advisor to the Mayor of Athens for Migrants and Refugees and President of the Reception and Solidarity Center (K.Y.A.D.A.) and was screened during the launch event of Refugee Week Greece at Serafeio, City of Athens, on 21 June 2022, ahead of an open discussion about the meaning of healing.
Refugee Week Greece is a community-led cultural festival celebrating the contribution, creativity and resilience of people who have been forced to flee. Globally, the number of people forcibly displaced has surpassed 100 million for the first time.
The initiative, brought to Greece by Athens Comics Library in collaboration with Counterpoints Arts, is part of a growing global movement advocating for inclusive and resilient communities, where refugees and asylum seekers are able to live in safety and can continue to make valuable contributions to the societies hosting them.
Refugee Week Greece is supported by the City of Athens, the Special Secretary for the Protection of Unaccompanied Minors of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.