Walsall for All marks Refugee Week 2020 with a call for creativity

Walsall for All, a partnership programme between the Council, voluntary groups, the public and private sectors, are asking local people to join them in celebrating the contribution of refugees in the borough to mark Refugee Week 2020.

Refugee Week is an annual, UK-wide festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees. This year’s timely, and relevant, the theme is to ‘imagine a brave new world’ through art, filmmaking, music, poetry or writing.

Walsall for All says that they have seen an incredible response from all communities within Walsall to the coronavirus pandemic and that refugee communities have been at the forefront, they say that Refugee Week 2020 is the ideal opportunity to celebrate that and the contribution generations of refugees have made to Walsall.

Arten Llazari, CEO at the Refugee & Migrant Centre, Black Country and Birmingham said: “It is important that we celebrate Refugee Week in ways that remind us all of what we have in common and the life-affirming things that bring people together.”

Councillor Garry Perry, Portfolio Holder for Culture and Communities, said: "The resilience and support shown by our refugee communities has been a shining light throughout the coronavirus crisis. I value the role they, and others, are playing immensely and this is an ideal opportunity to celebrate their contributions both past and present."

Whether people want to tell their own story or someone else’s, have a vision of a better tomorrow, or want to highlight the struggle and resilience of refugees past or present, this week Walsall for All are asking people to put pen to paper, brush to canvas or point their phone cameras in celebration of refugees and to post their work on social media tagging @WalsallforAll using #RefugeeWeek2020, or simply email walsallforall@walsall.gov.uk.