This year, Refugee Week 2021 will be celebrated between 14th to 20th June. To mark the occasion, we are collaborating on a week-long series of online and offline events with Create Without Borders. The events Refuge Cafe are involved in include an in-person evening of art, music, poetry and food on Tuesday (15 June), a film night on Wednesday (16 June) and a day out at Beckenham Place Park with a range of stalls and activities on the Saturday (19 June). One of our treasured trustees, Marco Muñoz, is featuring in the cultural event on the Tuesday and below is the story of how he came to be involved in the arts:
“My name is Marco Muñoz and I am originally from Ecuador. I have worked many different jobs throughout my life, including as a teacher and organiser of art projects with children and young people.
I have always loved different forms of art but when I was younger a university teacher told me I would never be an engineer because my drawings were not good enough, and this put me off art for several years.
Much later in life, my wife encouraged me to go on an adult art course and there I realised how much I liked being creative and making things with different materials and techniques.
One challenge I have struggled to overcome is the idea that art is about right or wrong, ‘good’ or ‘not good’, but now I see art as a process of exploration and doing what you like to do. In the future I would like to have an exhibition space with other artists which we can work in together. Recently I wrote a book about my life in the rainforest in Ecuador, which features a poem that I will read at the upcoming event, a poem about love.”
You can meet Marco next week who will be hosting as one of the Artists at the event on Tuesday as well as teaching us how to make Ecuadorian Chavelitas on the Saturday workshop. Get tickets for these events and more at Eventbrite here. We look forward to celebrating Refugee Week with you!
