Multi-disciplinary artists to tour QLD and NSW for Refugee Week

A multi-disciplinary arts tour will travel across regional and metropolitan Queensland and New South Wales during Refugee Week to raise awareness of refugee experiences.

The Homelands tour, co-produced by Settlement Services International (SSI), Access Community Services and BEMAC, will include cinematic exhibitions, live music, Q&A sessions and workshops.

It will take place from June 22 to 26 and appear at art galleries, arts and community centres, and live music venues in both states.

The tour features the Beyond Refuge exhibition — a series of poignant cinema poems and short films created by six artists who share an asylum seeker and refugee experience.

Beyond Refuge workshops and Q&A sessions will be facilitated by award-winning filmmakers Ali Al Azeez and Daisy Montalvo.

The tour will also include live music headlined by LUATÈ, a former refugee and emerging South Sudanese and Australian alt-pop singer and songwriter based in Brisbane.

Beyond Refuge program:

• Calendar – directed by Ali Al Azeez
• New home, New hopes – created by Elham BehinAein
• My name is Mohamed and Raghad. We don’t exist here anymore – directed by Ali Mousawi
• El Baile – directed by Daisy Montalvo
• Trinity – directed by Samia Halabi
• Flashback – directed by Sean Ly

SSI Arts & Culture Program Manager Laura Luna said the tour would strengthen community ties and foster messages of inclusion.

“Homelands brings artists and communities together in creative and meaningful ways that promote social cohesion and unity,” she said.

Iraqi-born and award-winning filmmaker Ali Al Azeez, whose film Calendar will be screened as part of the exhibition and who will facilitate workshops, said he was looking forward to skill sharing during Refugee Week.

“The exhibition is a valuable experience in sharing knowledge and will give me a platform to drive creative participation and social connection between locals and newcomers,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to meeting new people from the community and seeing the workshop participants bring their creative vision to reality through film.”

Tour dates:

NSW

• Armidale, Monday, June 22 – Saturday, June 26: Beyond Refuge exhibition at New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM)

• Sydney, Tuesday, June 22, 10am: LUATÈ. live music at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Register here.

• Coffs Harbour, Thursday, June 24, 6pm: Beyond Refuge screening and Q&A at Coffs Harbour Education Campus. Register here.

• Armidale, Friday, June 25: Beyond Refuge exhibition workshops at NERAM

• Armidale, Saturday, June 26: Beyond Refuge exhibition closing event at NERAM

QLD

• Logan, Tuesday, June 22: Beyond Refuge screening and Q&A at The Access Gateway

• Underwood, Saturday, June 26, 2pm: LUATÈ. live music at Monkey Tree Brewing Co.

For more information, visit www.ssi.org.au/get-involved/events/homelands-tour.

Media enquiries: SSI Senior Communications Officer Rebeka Selmeczki; 0468 998 300 rselmeczki@ssi.org.au