Sunday - 24th August // Monday - 25th August

A multi artformRefugee & Asylum SeekerArtist Festival

Hello!Thank you for picking up a Journeys Festival programme! As a relatively new event we rely on people like you exploring what Journeys Festival is all about, and sharing it with others.

The Festival has emerged from our work with Platforma; a national and regional platform to showcase and celebrate the talents of artists who have sought sanctuary in this country. For our first Festival in 2013, we were invited to be part of Leicester’s first ever City Festival – we loved it, so did you, so we’re back!

This August Leicester will experience its second Journeys Festival; a mix of high quality live music, performance, visual art, moving image, discussion and workshops. All the work presented is by Refugee and Asylum Seeker Artists, or directly reflects the refugee experience. These artists bring stories of incredibly challenging circumstances and environments, and exhausting physical and emotional journeys, but they also bring vibrant and beautiful musical styles, visual perspectives and a new energy and focus on what art can be and what it can say.

Through this myriad of cultural influences and diverse traditions, Journeys Festival 2014 welcomes you to two days of extraordinary and inspiring arts, culture and music!

Samuel JavidFestival DirectorOn behalf of ArtReach

Try your hand at kite crafting as part of this year’s Festival. Working with Harish Mandalia, organiser of the Leicester Kite Festival, and refugees from Leicester City of Sanctuary, Journeys Festival will be running free kite crafting workshops, with designs from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Caribbean. Often revered as a favourite childhood past-time, kite crafting is a skill and hobby that crosses social, cultural and geographical borders, and is perfect for the sharing of values and traditions. In addition to the free onsite workshops Journeys Festival will be holding a spectacular kite flying day where you can fly the kites you've crafted, show your kite flying skills and learn some new ones! There will be plenty of kites for you and your friends and family to use on the day, so everyone can discover and share in this tradition. Details of the flying day are still to be announced, but you can keep updatedby following our news on www.journeysfestival.com and via our twitter @JourneysFest.

Kite Crafting in Town Hall SquareBE CREATIVE// BE INSPIRED

Sunday Programme11am TestimonyInspired by their religion and the power of community,Testimony sing soulful gospel songs of their strugglesas Asylum Seekers.

11.55am Zimbabwe Association ChoirHaving performed for the likes of HM Queen in 2013,ZAC share their passionate and expressive vocal tradition.

12.35pm Haymanot Tesfa & Mina Salama Ethiopian singer, artist and writer Haymanot Tesfa joinsEgyptian multi-instrumentalist Mina Salama to present aworld class collaboration.

1.15pm NGOMA This African Storytelling band will get you dancing to reggae,ska and some traditional African beats.

2.15pm A Journey of UnBelonging (+Q&A)A Journeys Festival commission: Live action painting, musiccomposition and projection. (Detailed on page 9).

3.05pm BaranA spectacular five piece band playing traditional and folkIranian music, with a blend of Kurdish and Spanish fusion.

4pm Batch Gueye BandWest African Griot Batch Gueye and his band bringtraditional music and dance from Senegal to the UK.

11.30am Les ElusThrough the richness of Congolese culture and heritage, this Derbybased Congolese band ignites Rumba, Folk, Jazz, Blues, Zoukand Salsa rhythms wherever they go.

12.30pm Word Jam @ Journeys FestivalWord Jam are an inter-cultural and multilingual collective of writers,poets and performers using the power of words in all languages.

2.15pm BE Next @ Journeys FestivalBirmingham’s International Theatre Festival, BE Festival, runs aprogramme for young Asylum Seekers, Refugees and other youngpeople who have recently arrived in the country. The BE Next groupwill be sharing a piece inspired by their experiences of life in the UK.

3.10pm Danto Aiyya As a boy in Libya this proud Tuareq singer would play for desertcamel riders. Come and hear the lonely desert spirit come alive.

4.05pm MUHAFrom Cuban beats to North Indian Kathak rhythms, MUHA combinecultures, languages and melodies from across the globe, creatinga unique and mesmerising sound.

7.15pm Leave to Remain screening An exclusive screening of BAFTA winner Bruce Goodison's debutfeature film Leave to Remain is being held at Phoenix Square Cinema,read more on page 8.

Monday Programme

Visual ArtExhibition

Screen 1: Journeys to LeicesterA short piece that explores the physically and emotionallychallenging journeys five refugees have taken to get to the UK.

Screen 2: DambudzoCreated by Rwandan refugee Ery Nzaramba, this piece is aparody of Dambudzo Marechera (Zimbabwean novelist and poet)receiving the Guardian Fiction Award in November 1979.

Screen 3: A Journey of UnBelongingCreated as part of a Journeys Festival commission, this teaser ofAysegul Balkse's live performance is a beautiful attempt to capturethe essence of what it truly means to not belong.

With artist Ali Agayev

NanoplexLocal artist Ali Agayev joins Journeys Festival in the garden ofTown Hall Square. Participate in one of his free arts workshopsheld throughout the day or have your portrait drawn by theman himself (even the Mayor has one!)

Workshop Times:12pm & 2pm each dayBook a place on a workshop,email: oli@artreach.bizor, alternatively call0116 261 6882.

Screen 5: VoyageUsing the journey of the river to the sea as a metaphor for life,three inspirational women pause and reflect on their own voyage.Produced by Valley and Vale Community Arts, Cardiff.

Screen 4: DestitutionAs part of his University film course, Nottingham based refugee,Allan Nijani, shares his experience of being destitute, andinterviews others about theirs.

Journeys Festival presents 2D, 3Dand digital art from some of theUK's most extraordinary visual artists. Housed on the Festival's bespoke exhibition stand, the work reflects the challenges of the refugee experience, whilst seeking to express the vibrancy and originality of global cultures.

ArtReach recovered this old touring caravan and gave it an unexpected second life as a surround sound moving image gallery. The Nanoplex shows a bespoke series of unique and intriguing moving image pieces:

Leave to Remain A Journey of UnBelongingDate: Sunday 24 AugustTime: 2.15pm (Q&A: 2.40pm)Tickets: FREELocation: Town Hall Square

Journeys Festival is extremely excited to present this commission. Having been in development since 2013, and previewing to audiences at Curve theatre in the spring, A Journey of UnBelonging explores the inner thoughts and emotions ofnot belonging; expressing these through movement,live action painting, music composition and projection.

The artists; Mina Mikhail Salama (Egyptian composer/instrumentalist) and Aysegul Balkse (Turkish performance & visual artist) will be working to change the public perception about what it means to be seeking sanctuary.

With a post-screening discussion from BAFTA winning Director, Bruce Goodison

Date: Monday 25 AugustTime: 7.15pm (DUR 89mins + Discussion)Tickets: Standard: £7.90, Concessions: £6.10, Students: £5Advance booking recommendedLocation: Phoenix Square Cinema, Cultural QuarterStarring: Toby Jones, Masieh Zarrien, Noof Ousellam, Yasmin Mwanza

Journeys Festival proudly hosts a special screening of the 2014feature film, Leave to Remain, with a post screening discussionfrom BAFTA winning, Leicestershire born Director, Bruce Goodison. Leave to Remain touches upon many of the important emotional issuesthat refugees and asylum seekers face when seeking sanctuary in the UK.Based on real-life stories, this coming of age drama depicts a worldhidden from view:

Omar, a charismatic Afghan teenager, is at the precarious juncture ofhaving his refugee status decided. Forced into a position where theoutcome may be the difference between life and death, his only optionsare to tell the unbelievable truth or to tell a good story. For Omar,and thousands like him, who arrive alone and scared to our shoreseach year, the asylum system is a cruel game of chance. There is limited seating for this event, please book tickets in advancethrough the Phoenix Cinema box office:www.phoenix.org.uk // Box Office: O116 242 28OO

MORE OF LEICESTER’S ARTS FESTIVALS IN 2014…

Light the Night16th November

Journeys Festival appreciates the support of Kirby & West.

and is part of...

Journeys Festival works closelywith Leicester City of Sanctuary City of Sanctuary is a national charity aiming to create a network of places throughout the country which do their bestto include asylum seekers and refugees in the lives of their communities, helping to create a better 'culture of welcome'.

Leicester City of Sanctuary holds a weekly drop-in session where members from refugee communities can come together, have a meal, use computers, seek advice from volunteers or just sit and chat. Among other things, Leicester City of Sanctuary organises outings, runs Art and English classes, helps people with the mountains of paperwork their cases generate, and has a 'meet and greet' scheme for new arrivals

In 2013 Journeys Festival worked with Leicester City ofSanctuary and BBC Radio Leicester to create ‘Journeys to Leicester’, a project that communicated to the wider public reasons for seeking sanctuary, and shared stories of the refugee experience. A key element of this project is beingscreened in the Nanoplex (see page 7) throughout Journeys Festival.

This year we want you to come and find out more about this fantastic initiative, meet some of the people involved and some of the communities who attend and use the service.

Look out for the Leicester City of Sanctuary tent in Town Hall Square and come and say hello!

For more information visit: cityofsanctuary.org/leicester

Sunday - 24th August // Monday - 25th August

@JourneysFest

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