2024 Summary

Date

Event Details
27 Jan 24

Artist network meeting for UNESCO RILA Affiliate Artists and Artist from the Scottish Refugee Council's Cross Borders network.
1 Feb 24

Hyab Yohannes chaired the discussion panel at the CinemARC: Borderzone film screening.
21 Feb 24 

Jour Fixe - Art in Conflict. Organised by Centre for Art and Peacebuilding in Zürich. Alison Phipps and Tawona Ganyamatopé Sitholé explored the keynote as a form of performative poetry. They described how a performance poet of the Global South interrupts the keynote of a white, female, northern professor with his own poetry. The two researchers pursued a practice-led, intercultural, decolonial research approach. Possible questions that guided them and us: Does a keynote have the potential to contribute to conflict transformation? What does “intercultural” mean in such a context? How do we react when we unexpectedly encounter speech or words that we do not understand? 
8 Mar 24

UK Book Launch for Affiliate Artist Hannah Rose Thomas' book Tears of Gold in London.
13 Mar 24

What next for the Rwanda Bill, asylum and sanctuary in Britain? Online panel with Professor Alison Phipps and Professor Nando Sigona (Chair of International Migration and Forced Displacement, Director of the Institute for Research into International Migration and Superdiversity, University of Birmingham) to explore what the government is setting out to do through this legislation and the potential impacts for people seeking asylum.
16 Mar 24

Tawona Sitholé was part of Zimbabwean Book Festival 2024. Organised by the Britain Zimbabwe Society.
31 Mar 24

Alison Phipps and Tawona Sitholé were part of the Scottish Crannog Centre Opening Ceremony.

Watch the video compilation of the day made by Charlie Stuart below.

Scottish Crannog Centre Opening Ceremony video compilation made by Charlie Stuart
11 Apr 24

Glasgow premiere of Effie Samara's film TAXI DRIVER in the Andrew Stewart Cinema, 9 University Avenue, Glasgow. The screening was followed by a Q&A with Effie Samara, hosted by Alison Phipps. Three animated shorts were also screened.
14-23 May 24

UNESCO RILA Spring School: The Arts of Integrating 2024! Theme: Word Springs.

Full programme
11 Jun

Hyab Yohannes gave a keynote presentation at the 2024 European Regional Freedom from Slavery Forum
11-13 Jun 24

Tawona Sitholé was part of theatre performance 'Three Words for Forest', performed in the Gilmorehill Centre in Glasgow as part of the Future Treescapes 24 conference.
13 Jun 24

Alison Phipps spoke at the Welcoming Languages event, led by Giovanna Fassetta.
15 Jun 24

Alison Phipps hosted a Vigil for Peace at the Solas Festival in Errol Park.

Full programme
16 Jun 24

Alison Phipps appeared as a guest on BBC Radio Scotland's Sunday Morning with... as part of Refugee Festival Scotland.
17-21 Jun 24

The University of Glasgow Sanctuary team hosted a number of events during Refugee Week, including Refuweegee's Letters Fae the Locals mailboxes on campus, a film screening of 'Nezouh' and an art display from the Springburn Unity Network. More info here
18 Jun 24

As part of Refugee Festival Scotland, Alison Phipps and Tawona Sitholé joined the discussion panel following the screening of Surviving Translation, organised by Edinburgh College of Art and GRAMNet
19 Jun 24

As part of Refugee Week, Esa Aldegheri facilitated the discussion after Mike Elm's talk 'Rolling with the Punctures' at The Alchemy Experiment.
21 Jun 24

As part of Refugee Festival Scotland, Esa Aldegheri hosted 'The Future of UNWRA and Palestinian Refugees', a talk by Admir Skodo, in the Adam Smith building of the University.
22 Jun 24

As part of Refugee Festival Scotland, Tawona Sitholé hosted Raising Voices, a family-friendly concert at the Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s New Auditorium. The Joyous Choir (Maryhill), Harper African Voice (Govan) and Soloway Choir (Springburn) performed with an 18-piece ensemble from the RSNO.
24-25 Jun 24

Tawona Sitholé spoke at the James McCune Smith Annual Conference 2024.
25 Jun 24

Alison Phipps spoke on support and partnership at Overcoming Barriers, Building Links: Emergency Support for Palestinian Higher Education, Fobzu (Friends of Birzeit University)'s second annual conference.
2-5 Jul 24

Hyab Yohannes spoke at a panel session as part of the 21st IMISCOE Annual Conference in Lisbon.
4 Jul 24 Opening of Affiliate Artist Paria Goodarzi's exhibition 'Bitter Smell: Translation between land and identity" at Argyll Arcade, Glasgow. The opening featured traditional Iranian music by Aref Ghorbani and Gerardo Cruz, and poetry by Herberth Cea. The exhibition ran from 5-7 July.
18-19 Jul 24 Alison Phipps attended the UK UNESCO Chairs Conference, hosted by the UK National Commission for UNESCO in London.
1 Aug 24 Tawona Sitholé presented, performed and workshopped his 'Pasichigaré: we are nature' exhibition, which is on permanent display in Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, for a cohort of staff and students taking part in the British Museum International Training Programme (ITP). The ITP is a skill-sharing programme which seeks to expose participants to various aspects of museum work, to develop skills, disseminate best practice, increase specialist knowledge and create a global network of colleagues.
11-23 Aug 24

Esa Aldegheri chaired four events at the Edinburgh International Book Festival:

Adania Shibli: Against Forgetting (11 August)

Kathleen Jamie: New Landmarks (16 August)

Nathan Thrall: Anatomy of a Tragedy (16 August; pay what you can to watch online now)

essa may ranapiri and Jenni Fagan: Island to Island (23 August)
17-18 Aug 24

Once again we teamed up with the Scottish Crannog Centre to host the Rise and Shine Festival. This year's edition included storytelling with Tawona Sitholé, an Eritrean coffee ceremony with Alison Phipps and Hyab Yohannes, group poetry writing with Esa Aldegheri, and much more. Find out more about Rise and Shine here.
19 Aug 24

The New Scots Integration Strategy was celebrated at the University of Glasgow. Read more about the event here.
21 Aug 24

Tawona was on the judging panel of the University of Glasgow's Visualise Your Thesis (VYT) Competition, which took place at Glasgow Film Theatre. VYT is an internationally renowned academic communication competition which challenges postgraduate researchers at any stage of their studies to present their projects in a 60-second, eye-catching video aimed at a non-specialist audience.
18 Sep 24

Gameli Tordzro spoke at Humanising narratives around migration, a free film screening, panel discussion and networking event co-hosted by the Migration for Equality and Development (MIDEQ) Hub and PositiveNegatives, at Rich Mix London. Read more about the event here.