Sanctuary Festival 2023
Community, Creativity and Compassion come together at this year’s Sanctuary Festival on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 June 2023 at Hastings Museum & Art Gallery.
Festival organiser, and Co-Chair of Hastings Community of Sanctuary, Polly Gifford says, “The public narrative around refugees and people seeking asylum continues to be dominated by negativity and scapegoating, and so it is more important than ever to present a different story, that fosters understanding and compassion, which we are proud to do.”
Although previously at a glorious lakeside venue in the grounds of Ashburnham Place, the festival has moved home to the building and grounds of Hastings Museum. This has made the event much more accessible and enabled the festival to grow and mature.
Featuring some of Hastings’ best musicians and artists, Sanctuary Festival sends a simple message of welcome to all. It enables the whole community to come together to show support for those who have found refuge in Hastings and who have contributed so much to its cultural life.
Organised by local charity Hastings Community of Sanctuary (HCoS), the festival celebrates the power of creativity and of hope, and raises funds for Hastings Supports Refugees. The event comes at the end of Refugee Week, a UK-wide festival celebrating the contributions and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary, with a theme this year of Compassion.
On Saturday 24, 19.00-22.00, it’s the Sanctuary Comedy Special in partnership with Freedom From Torture East Sussex and Kamikaze Komedy. There will be three fantastic acts and an auction of special promises. You can bid for one-to-one singing lessons with jazz legend Liane Carroll, a creative writing session with the creator of Smack the Pony Doon Mackichan, and an encounter with horses courtesy of Equine Affinity. Tickets are £15, available through hastings.cityofsanctuary.org.
Sunday 25 is the Sanctuary Festival itself. Running from 12.00-19.00, it is free to all. In the grounds of Hastings Museum you will find live music, creative workshops, storytellers, drumming, community stalls, fun for kids, food and friends. The music line-up includes Sudanese poet and songwriter Bashir al Gamar, who found sanctuary in England after being imprisoned for his writing.
HCoS are very excited to be working with Hear Me Out, who run music workshops with people in immigration detention centres, contingency accommodation and asylum hotels. Band from the Barracks are a group of musicians currently living in temporary accommodation at Napier Barracks in Folkestone, who have been making music together in weekly workshops with Hear Me Out.
From Hastings we have Las Cabras Cubanas, a new jazz trio from saxophonist Lynda Murray, drumming sensations the YYPPFDs and the Lifted Up Community Choir based in Bexhill, and more.
Inside the museum you can hear some fascinating speakers. Mathilda Della Torre will be talking about the new book of Conversations From Calais – a global art movement that captures conversations between volunteers and refugees in poster form. Pasted on walls around the world, these posters bear witness to those who are often ignored. HCoS first displayed some of the free-to-use posters in shops and cafes in 2020.
The Communities Not Camps panel discussion will explore the government’s policy of opening immigration accommodation centres on military bases, former prisons, barges and hotels, and the impact on those housed in such places, with examples from the UK and internationally. Programmed in partnership with The Refugee Buddy Project (RBP) with speakers from RBP, Asylum Matters and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
For people stuck in the asylum system, many in immigration detention centres with no end date, creativity can be a lifeline, a way to feel human again. Hear about the power of these Pockets of Joy from Kwaku, a participant with Hear Me Out, and Loraine Mponela, a poet from Malawi living in England.
With so much turmoil around the world at this time, Sanctuary Festival reminds us that community and creativity really do make a difference at a local level.
There is far too much happening at the festival to list here, so be sure to check the full programme via hastings.cityofsanctuary.org/sanctuary-festival
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