Entry is on a donation basis and there will be opportunity to bid on the artwork in a silent auction. All proceeds from the event will go to two charities supporting refugees living in Scotland, RST and Bikes for Refugees.
COLOURS (Collecting Lost and Underrepresented Refugee Stories) is a student-led project organising an art exhibition in June 2018 to raise money and awareness for refugees in living Scotland. The theme of the exhibition is ’Through the Eyes of Refugees in Scotland’. Through the medium of art, we hope to reach a wide range of demographics and show how refugee communities fit into the cultural mosaic of Edinburgh.
About us
We are a group of 20 multicultural students in Edinburgh that are passionate about social justice and raising awareness of the problems faced by refugees in the UK. We all study various things (from art, to psychology, to business), are all in different stages of our degrees (from first year bachelors to final year masters) and are enrolled in different universities around Edinburgh. Almost all of us have relevant work experience and are contributing to this project in our unique and equally important way. At the heart of it is what we stand for. Equality, justice, and respect. We believe that making the world a better place is our duty, and hope everyone can join us on a path of creating a better, more just and caring world.
Aim of COLOURS:
The exhibition, alongside a research-heavy educational campaign prior to the event, will educate people on the challenges facing refugees across Scotland, through hearing their stories and learning about their experiences. Additionally, we want to explore the more positive views, hopes and ambitions of refugees here in Scotland, and share this with the public. We will be carefully monitoring our success of the educational campaign through online analytics to ensure we reach and with it educate as many people as possible within Scotland. Aside of giving refugees in Scotland a voice, we also aim to raise a minimum of £1000 in donations dedicated towards the refugee crisis.
Where the money is going:
The money raised will go towards funding the art exhibition as well as the educational campaign. This includes funding interviews, art collection, event and venue costs, and marketing costs (both poster print and digital advertisement). All 20 of us are working on a voluntary basis. That means that all the hours spent in planning and executing this project is our way of making a difference.
Any funds raised within this campaign after project costs are fully covered will then be handed over to Bikes 4 Refugees and Refugee Survival Trust. We are strictly non-profit, and will be making sure to count every single penny that a refugee can benefit from.
What is the exhibition?
We are organising an Art exhibition with the theme “Through the eyes of refugees in Scotland”. By pairing up local artists with refugees we hope to display artworks that can authentically represent the lives of refugees living in Scotland. The event will take place on the 21st of June 2018 in Fireside.
What else can you do?
To continue supporting COLOURS, we encourage you attend the exhibition in June and if you are interested, to bid for the art pieces. The money raised in auctioning will go towards refugee integration projects (like our partner organisation STAR), charities with the same aims and values as us and ensuring the continuation of our project for next year.
We also highly encourage you to follow our social media pages and watch our website for updates:
