Refugee Week (17 to 23 June 2024) is a UK-wide festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary.
The theme for Refugee Week 2024 is ‘Our Home’.
Our Voices of Hope and Compassion concert will be held on Sunday 30 June.
The council has consistently committed to supporting refugees in Cambridge to resettle and feel safe, welcome and part of our community.
We work closely with local community groups and voluntary organisations, and have been helped with offers of private-rented and housing association properties.
In recent years we have run a community education and arts programme, and hosted a free concert during Refugee Week in support of refugees.
2024 concert: Voices of Hope and Compassion
The concert is organised by Helen Weinstein, and hosted by Michael Rosen, alongside choirs, poets, musicians, drama and dance groups who have been involved in the education and arts programme.
- Sunday 30 June 2024, 4 to 5.30pm (arrive by 3.45pm to be seated for 4pm)
- Corn Exchange, Wheeler Street, CB2 3PQ
- Free event: no need to register
Everyone is welcome, but please note that children under the age of nine should only attend at the discretion of adults in their family who can follow-up and guide them through discussion of the issues they will hear and learn about during the event.
Community education and arts programme
Each year the council commissions Helen Weinstein from HistoryWorks to run an education and arts programme with local pupils, community groups and choirs, working with poet Michael Rosen.
In the past year, over 5,000 young people have been involved in school workshops and special assemblies. The compositions created reflect on what happens when individuals, families and communities are driven out of their homes because of war or climate catastrophe, persecution or threat of genocide.
They also consider the continuing difficulties survivors and refugees face as they try to build new homes and recover from the trauma of their experiences.
Fundraising for refugees
We will be collecting donations during the event for two Cambridge charities that support refugees and asylum seekers. Both charities will speak at the event to explain how they help refugees.
- Cambridge Convoy Refugee Action Group
- Refugee Hardship Fund, administered by Cambridge Ethnic Community Forum refugee services
