Tag: inclusion

Carers Week takes place in June and aims to raise awareness of caring, highlight the challenges unpaid carers face and recognise the contribution they make to families, communities, workplaces and society throughout the UK. It also helps people who don’t think of themselves as having caring responsibilities to identify as carers and access much-needed support.

There are 6.5 million people in the UK who are carers. They are looking after a family member or friend who has a disability, mental or physical illness or who needs extra help as they grow older.

Caring can impact on all aspects of life from relationships and health to finances and this should not be underestimated.

Carers and Cinema

There are many ways exhibitors and venues can support carers, from considering accessibility for the people they care for to offering cinema escapism through film, social networks through film groups and screenings, and supporting carers in the workplace.

It’s vitally important that we recognise carers, either as customers, audiences or employees, for the difficulties they may be experiencing, respect them for all they are doing, and provide them with information, support and understanding.

June is LGBTQIA+ Pride Month in the United Kingdom. It commemorates the Stonewall riots and aims to recognise the impact LGBTQIA+ people have had and continue to have across the world.

It’s a month for communities to come together in solidarity to unite, to protest and to celebrate the heritage, culture and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual people.

Activists and allies can support by:

• Increasing the visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual (“LGBTQIA”) people, their history, lives and experiences in the curriculum and culture of institutions, and the wider community;
• Raising awareness and advancing education on matters affecting the LGBTQIA+ community;
• Working to make institutions safe spaces for all LGBTQIA+ communities; and
• Promoting the welfare of LGBTQIA+ people, by ensuring that the education system recognises and enables LGBTQIA+ people to achieve their full potential, so they contribute fully to society and lead fulfilled lives, which benefits society as a whole.

Pride and Cinema

There are a wealth of films available on the LGBTQIA+ experience and history. It’s now as important as ever to support the work of LGBTQIA+ filmmakers and we have some lists and suggestions to get you started.

You can learn about how to become a more LGBTQIA+ friendly organisation, and think about how to support and collaborate with LGBTQIA+ led exhibitors and programmers.

When running LGBTQIA+ events is is important to consider intersectionality, including supporting global majority communities and ensuring your events embed disabled and neurodivergent access.

If you are interested in running a film event for, or inspired by, Pride, here are some resources for information and to help generate ideas, from case studies to film guides.

Volunteers’ Week takes place in June every year, this week it runs from 3rd – 9th June. It’s a chance to say thank you for the contribution millions of volunteers make across the UK to support our communities.

The Week is open to anyone to take part – this can include carrying out an act of kindness, doing some volunteering or contributing to discussion. Find more information here.

The week is led in partnership by NCVO, Volunteer Scotland, Volunteer Now (Northern Ireland) and Wales Council for Voluntary Action and supported by organisations across the UK.

Volunteers and Cinema

Hundreds of community cinemas across the UK are volunteer-run, with people bringing their love of cinema and the audience experience to life in their communities. There are also many other independent venues that simply would not be able to provide the special and personal experiences they do without the support of volunteers. This is a week to give extra thanks to these brilliant people.

Refugee Week takes place every year across the world in the week around World Refugee Day on the 20 June. In the UK, Refugee Week is coordinated by Counterpoint Arts and is an umbrella festival with a nationwide programme of arts, cultural and educational events that celebrate the contribution, creativity and resilience of refugees, and encourages a better understanding between communities.

Refugee Week began in 1998 in response to hostility in the media and society towards refugees and asylum seekers. It is is now one of the leading initiatives working to counter this negative climate, defending the importance of sanctuary and the benefits it can bring to both refugees and host communities.

Anyone can take part in this open platform by holding relevant events or activities of all kinds.

Some of the aims of Refugee Week are to:

• Celebrate the contributions of refugees and people seeking sanctuary.
• Challenge negative stereotypes and create a space where refugees can be seen and heard beyond their experience of displacement.
• Celebrate the contributions of everyone seeking safety, regardless of the legal status they hold.
• Create a space for many stories where people who have experienced displacement can express themselves on their own terms.
• Promote that the safety of each of us matters to all of us, and to come together around shared values of fairness, mutual support, kindness and respect for universal rights.
• Provide an open platform and which welcomes a wide range of responses suited to many different contexts, which are inclusive and remove barriers to participation.
• Create change through arts and culture to help us see migration and displacement differently.
• Involve people with lived experience of displacement in the planning and leadership of initiatives about refugee experiences.
• Recognise that refugees and asylum seekers are not a single group and have different experiences, including because of race, class, gender, sexuality, age and immigration status.
• Promote the right to safety – everyone deserves a home and has the right to seek safety for themselves and their families.

Find our more about the values and shared principles of Refugee Week here.

Cinema and Refugee Week

One of the eight Simple Act as part of Refugee Week is to watch a film. Simple Acts are everyday actions we can all do to stand with refugees and make new connections in our communities.

Counterpoints Arts have partnered with Other Cinemas in 2024 on a collaborative film programme, with feature films and shorts which can be screened at home or for a community screening. 

For even more films, take a look at the British Film Institute’s Refugee Week collection on BFI player.

Cinema

Refugee Week invites you to run an event and can support you to do this. If you have an idea for an event (online or in venue) or activity you’d like to run for Refugee Week, take a look at their event organiser pack.

Below are more guides and organisations who organise events which you can support, as well as case studies and platforms to watch relevant films on.

Organisations

Refugee Action has spent 35 years helping refugees build safe, hopeful and productive new lives in the UK.

In Place of War has worked with creative communities in some of the most challenging contexts in the world. It is a support system for community artistic, creative and cultural organisations in places of conflict, revolution and areas suffering the consequences of conflict.

Regional Refugee Forum North East is the independent membership organisation created by and for the North East region’s Refugee-led Community Organisations (RCOs), enabling them to unite and produce their Collective Voice and empowering them to be active agents in change.

Women for Refugee Women challenges the injustices experienced by women who seek asylum in the UK.

The Refugee Council is one of the leading charities in the UK working directly with refugees, and supporting them to rebuild their lives.