Check out our full programme in Spain and Greece!
Open Cultural Center is proud to celebrate Refugee Week this year, in both of its locations, Barcelona and Polykastro. Explore the full programme of events below!
Refugee Week is the world’s largest arts and culture festival celebrating the contributions, creativity, and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary. First launched in the UK in 1998, it is held annually around June 20th, International Refugee Day, and now brings people together in countries around the world.
This year’s theme is all about community—and we couldn’t be more proud to take part and celebrate our communities. Whether you’re in Greece or Spain, we hope you can join us!
Refugee Week in Polykastro, Greece
Main events:
17th and 18th of June : Photography Exhibition
We are going to run a photography exhibition outside of Nea Kavala camp, where we are going to present to the public the pictures taken by our students during the Photography Workshop that we run every Thursday in our center in Polykastro. The pictures have different thematics like friendship, nature, portraits, and more!
Time: 17:00-19:00
Location: Polykastro Aeroclub, next to the Nea Kavala camp
19th of June : True Stories Video Screening
Open Cultural Center recently participated in a European project called True Stories, where 4 individuals from our communities in Spain and Greece were invited to be guest speakers on a podcast, Clichés, produced by Louie Media and French Red Cross. The aim of the podcast was to counteract often dehumanising and reductive media narratives about displaced people with real testimonies and individual, human stories.
For this event, we will project the videos from the project, showcasing the interviewees, their stories and their experiences living in Greece and in Spain.
- Time: 10:00-13:00
- Location:
Open Cultural Center Greece,
Kilkis 81, Polykastro, 61200
20th of June : Celebration for International Refugee Day
To mark International Refugee Day, we will hold a cultural event next to Nea Kavala camp, inviting all residents of the camp to join us for a day of music, dancing and food. Through this event, we want to promote diversity, celebrate our different cultures and bring people together.
Time: 17:30
Location: Polykastro Aeroclub, next to the Nea Kavala camp
Complementary events:
As participants in the International Refugee Week, we will follow the “Simple Acts” activities, with the idea of promoting exchange and solidarity through small activities and events. These acts have been separated into different themes and over the course of the week, we will be organising such events in our cultural center in Polykastro for the members of our community:
- 16 June: Picnic with participants of our Women’s Space
- 17 June: Creating poems with our Pirates students (12-18 years old)
- 18 June: Creating posters with our Eagles students (8-11 years old)
- 19 June: Learning a choreography with our Falafels students (4-7 years old)
Refugee Week in the Barcelona region
Our events for Refugee Week in Catalonia are organised in collaboration with Refugees Welcome Spain.
12th of June : Roundtable discussion: “Anti-racism and access to rights”
This roundtable (in Catalan and Spanish) is hosted by our partners FICAT, with participation from us, Open Cultural Center, Accueil des réfugiés en Espagne, RegularizacionYA, and Bayt al-Thaqafa. Together we will discuss the social and legal consequences of the new immigration laws in Spain and its impact on human rights. There will also be a poster competition and a mini-documentary screening.
Time: 19:00-21:30
Location:
Casal de la Pou de la Figuera,
Carrer de Sant Pere Més Baix, 70,
Ciutat Vella, 08003 Barcelona
18th of June : Info session for Refugees Welcome Spain
Refugees Welcome Spain will be organising an information session in the city of Rubí, open to all members of the public interested in the project. Members of the Refugees Welcome team will be there to present the project and its goals as well as answer any questions about volunteering and how people can get involved.
- Time: 18:30
- Location:
Sala Espriu, Ateneu Municipal de Rubí,
Carrer de Xile, 1,
08191 Rubí, Barcelona
19th of June : Art Therapy for migrant and refugee people
Our partners at Iguality are hosting a series of free art therapy sessions for displaced people living in Barcelona. The aim of the sessions is to use art as a tool to explore and express emotions in a safe and comfortable environmental. This session on the 19th will be in English, but there will also be two sessions in Spanish, on the 18th and the 23rd of June.
- Time: 18:30 – 20:00
- Location:
Centre Cívic Convent de Sant Agustí
Carrer d’en Tarantana, 4
08003, Barcelona
20th of June : Documentary screening of Naharina and Q&A with the director
To mark International Refugee Day, we will be screening the documentary, Naharina, resistència comunitaria al Kurdistan sirià, and one of the directors, Ferran Domènech Tona, will join us for a discussion about the documentary and answering questions from the audience.
Time: 20:00 – 22:00
Location:
Open Cultural Center Spain,
Carrer del Rec, 27,
08003 Barcelona
We hope to see you there!
