Refugee Realities is a multi-media installation/performance simulation examining and sharing the realities of refugee experiences. This event incorporates moving image, improvised theatre, audio-visual and photographic art forms as well as real humanitarian supplies and equipment.
To be part of this project as a volunteer read on!
Photographer: Julien Harneis
Over the three weeks of the event,
22 February – 13 March 2008 , thousands of visitors will view the exhibitions and side-events, including lectures, film screenings and cultural events, or participate in the simulation.
In the simulation, extending throughout the Gasworks Arts buildings and surrounding parkland, participants, under guided supervision, will don the skin of a refugee, flee their village, traverse a hostile landscape and cross the border into a refugee camp in a ‘safe’ country, where they will experience the challenges of camp life, while trying to find safety and a lasting solution.
Organised by Oxfam Australia in collaboration with a range of other humanitarian organisations, such as the Australian Red Cross, this project aims to educate about and raise awareness of the issues confronting refugees and internally displaced persons.
Volunteering in the Refugee Realities Project is a great way to be a part of Oxfam Australia's work. Oxfam relies on the valuable support of more than 1,200 volunteers throughout Australia who help us to change the lives of people living with poverty and injustice around the world.
This is an exceptional opportunity for volunteers to create the environment of this simulation in collaboration with former refugees and humanitarian workers. It will require creative, resourceful, flexible workers, passionate about being part of an effective force for social change. Former refugees are especially welcome to volunteer in the Refugee Realities Project.
Production and rehearsals will be ongoing until the event begins on 22nd February. Initially, key volunteers are being assigned to plan the simulation and form teams of volunteers in the different sections.
This exciting project is an opportunity to volunteer in a number of areas including front of house, acting, presentation, set design, building/carpentry, painting, audio, lighting, media & communications, logistics, promotion, counseling, administration and general assistants. Volunteer hours and involvement are flexible, either leading up to the event and/or during the event, weekdays or weekends.
Find out more at www.oxfam.org.au/refugeerealities where you can also fill in the
Volunteers Application to indicate your interests, skills and availability (the application form is not binding in this). Induction sessions then follow, to further inform volunteers and look at possible allocation to a time and position.
Contact
Graham Double on
grahamd@oxfam.org.au if you have any questions.
This will certainly be a great event to be a part of!
