What is Refugee Week?
Refugee Week is the world’s largest arts & culture festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary.
Established in 1998 in the UK, Refugee Week takes place every year around World Refugee Day (20th June) and has since grown into a global movement.
Refugee Week has evolved into an international movement, with events spanning the globe. To discover events near you or to connect with local, regional, or international organisers, visit our contacts page.
In 2025, join us from June 16th to 22nd for a community-powered week! The theme for 2025 is “Community as a Superpower“. Follow our social media and sign up to our newsletter for latest updates & news
How does it work?
Refugee Week is a community-powered festival with arts & culture at the heart. It’s an open platform with a decentralised model, which means that everyone is invited to take part and help make the festival happen. From individuals to schools, libraries, arts venues, faith groups, local councils, football clubs, and businesses, everyone is invited.
Refugee Week events and activities are all shapes and sizes and take place in all sorts of spaces. Nothing is too big or too small. Every year there’s everything from city-wide festivals to group walks, exhibitions, film screenings, museum tours, football tournaments, public talks, activities in schools and so much more!
In 2024 alone, there were over 15,000 events and activities and over 1.6 million people took part.
By providing a platform for people who have sought sanctuary to share their experiences, perspectives and creative work on their own terms, our vision is for refugees and asylum seekers to be able to live safely within inclusive and resilient communities, where they can continue to make a valuable contribution.
Through an exciting programme of events, activities and media campaigns, Refugee Week brings together people from different backgrounds to connect beyond labels, and foster a deeper understanding of why people are displaced, and the challenges they face when seeking safety.
Take Part
There are 3 key ways to take part in Refugee Week:
Support Local
Find an event near you – Visit our Event Calendar to discover activities in your area or contact your local Refugee Week organiser
Spread the word – Amplify Refugee Week events by sharing them with your networks.
Host your own event – Submit your event to our calendar and be part of the national programme.
Take Part in Simple Acts
Simple Acts are small, everyday actions that anyone can take to stand in solidarity with refugees and make new connections in our communities. Explore this year’s Simple Acts and discover creative, accessible ways to take part—whether in your neighbourhood, classroom, workplace, or at home.
Organise Your Own Event or Activity
Event Organiser Packs – Explore our free guides to help you plan Refugee Week activities.
Children and Young People Pack – Explore our free resource to help you get ready for Refugee Week (activities & teaching resources).
Refugee Week Film Programme – Watch a film or host a film screening featuring powerful films from filmmakers from refugee and migrant backgrounds
Social Media Toolkit – Use our resources to share your message and amplify the movement.
Join us! Together we can take small steps to create big changes.
Our Vision, Values & Shared Principles
For a deeper insight into Refugee Week’s vision, strategy, and values, explore our Theory of Change. We encourage all Refugee Week initiatives to reflect these core beliefs:
Celebrating Contributions
Refugee Week celebrates the contributions of refugees and people seeking sanctuary in order to challenge negative stereotypes and create a space where refugees can be seen and heard beyond their experience of displacement. We believe that everyone has a contribution to make, and reject the idea that people seeking safety should have to ‘prove their worth’ more than others in society.
Reclaiming ‘Refugee’
We use the word ‘refugee’ because of its legal and historical significance, and because we believe it is important to reclaim it from negative uses. At the same time, we recognise the danger of labels and respect people’s right to decide how they define themselves. Refugee Week celebrates the contributions of everyone seeking safety, regardless of the legal status they hold.
A Space for Many Stories
Refugee Week aims to be an empowering platform where people who have experienced displacement can express themselves on their own terms. We recognise that no single narrative represents ‘the refugee experience’, and support diverse representations of people and experiences through arts and culture.
There is a Bigger Us
We are not the same. Our experiences are different and we do not have equal access to resources and power. But we are also interconnected and interdependent, part of a ‘bigger us’. We believe that the safety of each of us matters to all of us, and strive to come together around shared values of fairness, mutual support, kindness and respect for universal rights.
Open to All
Refugee Week is an open platform and welcomes a wide range of responses suited to many different contexts. As a movement, we aim to make our activities inclusive and remove barriers to participation.
Arts and Culture Create Change
We believe that arts and culture can help us see migration and displacement differently by creating connection across difference, taking the voices and experiences of refugees to new spaces and helping us imagine how we can live better together.
Leadership Matters
We believe that, wherever possible, initiatives about refugee experiences should involve people with lived experience of displacement in their planning and leadership.
Refugees are not a Single Group
We 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.
The Right to be Safe
We believe that everyone deserves a home and has the right to seek safety for themselves and their families.