JourneysFest Portsmouth 2018

Celebrating the creative talent of refugee and asylum seeker artists, JourneysFest 2018 returns to Portsmouth on 19–28 October 2018 for the third year.

Produced by ArtReach, a number of creative events will take place across the city, celebrating migration and cultural sharing, including free music, theatre, performance, art, exhibitions, storytelling and artwork.

Students from the University of Portsmouth will present their films exploring the refugee experience or themes of belonging, displacement or home, at the launch event. Five films will be selected and shared on the website and social media.

There will also be free hands-on artist-led workshops for everyone to join in with.

This festival follows on from the successful Pompey in 15 items project, which was inspired by and made with members of the refugee and asylum seeker community in Portsmouth earlier this year. Supported by Heritage Lottery Fund and organised by ArtReach, members of this community were taken around the city’s top heritage sites along with some Portsmouth residents. The selected refugees and asylum seekers had not visited any of Portsmouth’s historic attractions before and were encouraged to select one or two objects from the sites that had inspired them. They then wrote a short piece about them which were gathered into a booklet. Objects included a model ship in Portsmouth Cathedral, theatre lights at the New Theatre Royal and a royal cannon at the Mary Rose Museum. The booklet is available online. [link to: https://issuu.com/artreach4/docs/pompry_in_15_web]

For more information, visit www.journeysfestival.com/portsmouth

Social: @JourneysFest

Words: Liz Bourne