UNESCO Chair on Refugee Integration through Education, Language and Arts

Programme Spring School 2023

Once again, we have curated a fantastic programme for you, full of workshops, performances and presentations to keep you learning. Below is the list of contributors. For the full programme, please click here.

FREE Registration is through Eventbrite: https://RILASpring23.eventbrite.co.uk 

IN PERSON PROGRAMME

Tuesday 9 May 9:00am-5:00pm BST

Keynotes:

• Drawing time: A journey by Arafa & The Dirars - Mónica Laiseca (Edinburgh Printmakers) and Arafa and The Dirars (In From The Margins)
• The Shifting Goalposts of Becoming, Belonging and “Integrating” in a Newly Found Home: Personal Reflections of an Integree - By Dr Daniel Mekonnen
• POET: S'pongo

Contributors:

• Data is Art - by Dr Hyab Yohannes, Tawona Ganyamatopé Sitholé and Prof Alison Phipps (UNESCO RILA team)
• Tea: A Cup of Heritage - By Hsiao-Chiang "Hope" Wang, Pinar Aksu, Qian-Yao "Claire" Shen (all University of Glasgow) and Yen-Ting "Lupin" Lin (Glasgow Science Centre)
• Lessons from the Cèilidh House: Concepts for Contemporary Community Arts Work - By Rhona Dougall (NicDhùghaill) (independent community arts worker and producer)
• Fostering a multicultural community of library users in Athens, Greece - By Emma Raibaut (We Need Books)
• The Power of Song for Resilience Building after Disaster - By Emily-Marie Pacheco, Martha Lomeli-Rodriguez, Elinor Parrott, Andrea Bernardino, Hélène Joffe (all University College London)
• Creating culture: zine-making as a means of retelling individual, social and cultural stories - By Dr Emmaleena Käkelä (University of Strathclyde) and Marzanna Antoniak (Migrant Voice)
• Death of the nine-night - By Dr Predencia Dixon (independent artist)
• Tuning as Communication: Listening Interaction and Adjusting Tones and Other Codes - By Dr Gameli Tordzro (UNESCO RILA team)
• CEILIDH - By Glasgow University Ceilidh Band (Glasgow University Trad Society)

Wednesday 10 May 9:00am-5:00pm BST (in person)

Keynotes:

• Growing Together: Reclaiming our lost commons - By Avril Bellinger and Deirdre Ford
• Bearing Witness is the Beginning - By Mariem Omari (Bijli Productions)
• POET: Chantelle Warner

Contributors:

• Invisible aesthetics: non-object, post-studio art practices and the post-contemporary - By Dr Daniel Connell (independent artist)
• New Syria - By Seif Eddine Jlassi (Fanni Raghman Anni)
• Txalaparta - Dialogue, Invitation, Celebration - By Nerea Bello Sagarzazu (independent artist & University of Glasgow)
• Breaking out of the echo chamber: engaging with Edinburgh’s World Heritage Site management plan - By Gaby Laing (Edinburgh World Heritage)
• Creating Welcome through Community and Culture - By Ashley Beckett and Gün Orgun (City of Sanctuary UK)
• Ngano led by Tawona Ganyamatopé Sitholé - By Tawona Ganyamatopé Sitholé (UNESCO RILA team)
• When words are not enough: Learning literacies of the pluriverse - By Prof Mia Perry, Dr Lisa Bradley, Marcela Ramos (all University of Glasgow) and Mindy (Amanda) Ptolemey (Glasgow Caledonian University)
• Re-assembling – an alternative to integration by understanding communities - By Dr Azadeh Fatehrad (Kingston University), Dr Davide Natalini (Anglia Ruskin University) and Dr Cristina Douglas (University of Aberdeen)

Thursday 11 May 9:00am-5:00pm BST (in person)

Keynotes:

• artasfoundation: Artistic Collaboration in Conflict Mediation - By Olivia Jaques and Shoghakat Mlké-Galstyan (artasfoundation)
• A Permaculture Ceilidh: Designing Restorative Sanctuaries - By Prof Alison Phipps (UNESCO RILA team)
• POET: Anita Govan

Contributors:

• Crafts for Dark Times - A bookbinding workshop - By Dr Sarah Stewart (Friends of Scottish Settlers) and Erdem Avşar (University of Glasgow)
• Coffee Ceilidh - By Dr Hyab Yohannes and Prof Alison Phipps (both UNESCO RILA team)
• Multilingual Making through Poetry - By Assoc Prof Chantelle Warner (University of Arizona)
• Growing integration: an informative discussion session on the The New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy report from the UNESCO RILA team - By Dr Esa Aldegheri (UNESCO RILA team)
• Practices of wellness, self-confidence, and magic - By Brittnee Leysen (UNESCO RILA team)
• Migrant Voice's Multicultural Ceilidh - By Marzanna Antoniak (Migrant Voice) and member of Migrant Voice
• White Water Writers: A novel way to learn more about young people’s views of difference and diversity - By Dr Yvonne Skipper and Daniel Boatwright (White Water Writers), presented by Dr Emily-Marie Pacheco (University of Glasgow)
• The Pragmatic Value of Keeping the Sabbath on Lewis and Harris - By Eilidh Harris (University of Glasgow)
• Somali refugee girls visualizing integration in urban primary schools in Kampala: Representations, contradictions, oppositions - By Manya Oriel Kagan (Ben Gurion University in the Negev)

ONLINE PROGRAMME

Tuesday 16 May 9:00-10:00am BST

Contributors:

• How we name what we name - By Brittnee Leysen (UNESCO RILA team) and Sahara Wallace (teacher and cultural advisor)
• Learning to ‘Belong’: Reinterpreting culture through a migrant integration programme - By Kirstin Sonne (University of Malta)

Tuesday 16 May 5:00-6:00pm BST

Contributors:

• Exploring language, migration and identity using podcasts: A listening and discussion session - By Dr Sadie Durkacs Ryan (Accentricity podcast)

Wednesday 17 May 9:00-10:00am BST

Contributors:

• Who Are We Now? A Cultural Reimagining of People, Place & Purpose - By Nadine Malcolm (Due North Studio) and Lee McNeish (University of Edinburgh)

Evening programme

• GRAMNet film screening for Nakba Day - Little Palestine

Wednesday 17 May 5:00-6:00pm BST

Contributors:

• Exploring creative, cross-cultural research collaborations: A case study of an humanitarian healthcare clinic in Lebanon - By Nader Tabri (independent Lebanese artist), Molly Gilmour (University of Glasgow) and Fátima Fouad (independent Lebanese interpreter)
• Music Fighting labor exploitation! The case of Orchestra dei Braccianti - By Isabella Corvino (Perugia University)

Thursday 18 May 9:00-11:00am BST

Contributors:

• Third Culture Dialoguing - By Dr Laura Cariola (University of Edinburgh) and Dr Deirdre MacKenna (Cultural Documents)
• Arts-based, healing-focused approaches to language in resettlement: Co-creating places of hope - By Dr Rachel Burke (University of Newcastle, Australia)
• The Merry Dancers - Creative responses to the night - By Gabrielle Barnby (independent artist)

Thursday 18 May 5:00-6:15pm BST

Contributors:

• Education for Sustainable Futures in Adult, Community, and Youth Contexts: A distance programme offering - By Prof Mia Perry, Dr Lisa Bradley, Dr Sadie Durkacz Ryan, Dr Giovanna Fassetta and Dr Elizabeth L. Nelson (all University of Glasgow)
• Short closing ceremony - By Prof Alison Phipps (UNESCO RILA team)

Spring School 2023 call for contributions

Download the Spring school 2023 full callSpring school 2023 full call

A h-uile duine dannsa 

A h-uile duine dannsa 
A h-uile duine seinn 
A h-uile duine na teine 
Gheabhear a h-uile duine 

It’s the month of fire and feet 
Of open air and all together 
Of all as one and all as fire 
Of fire and feet 

A h-uile duine dannsa 
A h-uile duine seinn 
A h-uile duine na teine 
Gheabhear a h-uile duine 

It’s a time to talk  
and a time to open 
all the ways of the world 
to the ways of the fires 

A h-uile duine dannsa 
A h-uile duine seinn 
A h-uile duine na teine 
Gheabhear a h-uile duine 

It’s time for singing and a time 
For dancing 
For kindling the stories 
And storing the fires. 

A h-uile duine dannsa 
A h-uile duine seinn 
A h-uile duine na teine 
Gheabhear a h-uile duine 

So join us in the laughter 
And join us at the fire 
And join us with a story 
And join us til you tire. 

A h-uile duine dannsa 
A h-uile duine seinn 
A h-uile duine na teine 
Gheabhear a h-uile duine 

By Alison Phipps

We invite proposals for workshops / presentation / performances / creative interventions for the UNESCO RILA Spring School 2023 which connect with the theme of “culture ceilidh”.

This year the Spring School will focus on culture as a binding factor in society. For 2023, we invite proposals which explore meeting, greeting, sharing, and other cultural practices that are centred around communal experiences. 

Universal Declaration of Human Rights 
Article 27 

Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. 

“The right to take part in cultural life guarantees the right of everyone to access, participate in and enjoy culture, cultural heritage and cultural expressions. A human-centred approach to development based on mutual respect and open dialogue among cultures is key to safeguarding heritage, strengthening creative industries, and encouraging cultural pluralism. The full realization of this right depends on concrete steps for the conservation, development, and diffusion of culture.”

(source: https://en.unesco.org/human-rights/cultural-life (02/11/2022))

Sub-topics

We invite submission which touch on or address:

• parallels of ‘ceilidh’ in other cultures
• examples by community groups/organisations where culture is part of the integration methodology: what are the difficulties and best practices?
• researching “culture” and issues such as quantifying qualitative data, cultural representation etc.
• making space for cultural differences within society, while also acknowledging the need to preserve the culture of the host community
• culture loss, destruction and emergence of new culture

Structure of the Spring School

We are aiming for 6 online sessions (2-4 May), followed by an in person 3-day event (9-11 May). We will structure the contributions in set blocks of 5/30/45/90 minutes, and proposals should bear this in mind. Of course, this is just a guide and proposals of a longer/shorter duration will be considered. We are open to most types of interaction at the Spring School!

Examples of ways to contribute

• Workshop – please indicate maximum workable group size, if applicable.
• Presentation – If your proposal has a more academic slant, this format might work better. You will be allotted 30 mins. We suggest 20/10 or 15/15 mins presentation and discussion.
• Interview / panel discussion
• Pecha Kucha style presentation – 5 minutes each, these will be grouped into a longer session
• Performance – theatre, dance, song, music, poetry, spoken word, storytelling etc.
• Physical exhibit – Poster or installation for the communal areas – the exhibit can be accompanied by a short video/audio description.
• Hackathon/problem solving session – you would get 5 minutes to present your problem, followed by 10 minutes of collective problem solving
• Other. You can take people outside, you can organise a flash mob, be creative!

Submission Process

Please submit a short proposal describing your contribution to unesco-rila@glasgow.ac.uk. If you like forms, you can download the proposal form from our website here (see link on this page). If you don’t like forms, feel free to send us your proposal in one of the following formats:

• Written description of maximum one side A4 (11pt Arial)
• Link to an Audio/video recording of maximum 2 minutes

Please include:

• Title of your contribution;
• Which topic(s) of the Spring School your contribution addresses, and how;
• Format and duration of contribution;
• A description of the contribution and its aims;
• Names and organisations of the people involved in your session;
• Any audio-visual, IT, space, access, language or other requirements you might have
• If you want to conduct an online session, please state in your proposal how you will engage the audience and make your session interactive.

Deadline for submission is midnight on Monday 6 February 2023.

Next steps

Proposals will be reviewed by members of the RILA team, and you will be notified of the outcome by end February 2023. An abstract, biography, and images for the programme will be requested upon acceptance and we will request this is returned by Monday 6 March 2023.

Fees & Expenses

The Spring School runs on a very tight budget – this is how we can ensure it remains FREE to all with no registration fees. We cannot pay presenter fees. We have a very, very small travel budget to support a very limited number of presenters. If your proposal is accepted, you will receive more information on how to apply for travel support, should you need that. Priority will be given to those without a steady means of income.

Childcare

Due to the location of the event, it will not be possible to provide on-site childcare. If you will require childcare, please get in touch with us as soon as possible, to see if we can assist or partially subsidise childcare as required.

Questions/comments 

For questions, comments or to discuss your ideas, please contact Bella Hoogeveen in the UNESCO Secretariat at unesco-rila@glasgow.ac.uk.

Additional reading

UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity

The Value of Arts and Culture to People and Society – an evidence review by the Arts Council 

Culture: at the heart of SDGs - UNESCO report

Information on previous UNESCO RILA Spring Schools