Hello,

Hope you are well and safe at this very unsettling time.

I’m writing with an update about Refugee Week 2020, and to ask you about your plans.

At a time when the potential for fear and isolation is great, Refugee Week online will be an invitation for us all to connect across borders, show solidarity and, together, imagine another world.

Here at Counterpoints Arts, we will run a series of artistic performances and happenings online – more on this soon.

We will be inviting you to take part in Refugee Week 2020 via eight new (or updated) Simple Acts, which will offer opportunities to connect creatively with others from our homes (see below). The final wording and designs are on their way, but we wanted to share them with you at this early stage to help spark early ideas about how you might get involved.

We’ll also be inviting you to run an event or activity online, and are considering how we can best support you to do this. It would be a great help to know about any existing plans people in our network have - so, if you already have an idea for an online event or activity you'd like to run this Refugee Week, we’d be grateful if you could let us know by answering these three quick questions. Thank you.

Finally, look out for further resources and specific invitations to come, including:

• A watch-at-home edition of our Moving Worlds film programme
• Activities for children and young people
• An anthology of writing on the theme of ‘Imagine’
• A portrait series by Pål Hansen (creatively reimagined for lockdown...)
• Virtual ‘Refugee Voices’ sessions by NaTakallam (thanks to our friends at Ben & Jerry’s)

More soon, take care and keep in touch

Emily

COVID-related Resources

Counterpoints Arts' questionnaire for artists help us learn about your situation and immediate needs

Keep it Complex Corona Tool List useful resources for artists, migrant rights activists and more

Coronavirus Asylum Handbook by Refugee Action – approaches and advice written by and for frontline service delivery organisations. Feel free to contribute, keeping it tidy and focusing on sharing examples of service adaptions, responses and strategies, useful tools or resources, or posing challenges that a solution might need to be developed for. Currently only accessible using Google Chrome.

Changes to the asylum and immigration process due to Covid-19 regularly updated resource by Right to Remain

CAF Coronavirus Emergency Fund An emergency fund for small charities, organisations and social enterprises that are struggling to survive due to coronavirus