Refugee Week

Refugee Week runs from 19-25 June and is a UK-wide festival celebrating the contributions, creativity, and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary. Founded in 1998 and held every year around World Refugee Day on the 20 June, Refugee Week is also a growing global movement. 

For Refugee Week’s 25th anniversary, we invite you to celebrate their theme of compassion and what this looks like in action. Together we can create a shared understanding of compassion to ensure we are extending it widely to all.

Drop into our free spaces and leave your thoughts on ‘compassion'. Help us to make the museum more relevant, reflective, and representative of everyone. We’ll share your thoughts via social media. All workshops are free, although one does require booking as stated below:

Spinning Top Creating - Drop In
Saturday 17 June
Sneinton Market
11am-3pm

Create a beautiful, vibrant spinning top to take away. Decorate individual spinning top components with your messages, patterns, symbols, and colours of compassion. Assemble the pieces and spin to see something extraordinary happen!

Museum Bike - Drop In
Saturday 17 June
Sneinton Market to National Justice Museum
11am-3pm

Look out for the charismatic museum bicycle moving between Sneinton Market and the National Justice Museum gathering messages of compassion. Tie your message to the bicycle on a luggage label. These will be added to a booklet of compassion in the free project lab at the National Justice Museum.

Graffiti of Compassion - Drop In
Saturday 17 June
National Justice Museum steps
11am-3pm

Drop by the National Justice Museum to take part in a communal ‘compassionate’ artwork as it emerges on the steps of the building. Led by graffiti artist Smallkid, the coproduced typographic design will emerge on June 17 and remain for the duration of refugee week. Pick up a piece of chalk to complete the design. A powerful symbol of community, compassion, creativity, and welcome.

Badge Making - Drop In
Saturday 17 June
The National Justice Museum
11am-3pm

Drop into the Justice Museum reception to make a beautiful badge of compassion for you and one to gift to someone else. The materials are free.

#RefugeeWeek2023