Join Refugee Week celebrations across Fenland
Cambridgeshire County Council is celebrating Refugee Week 2025 with events across the county.
From now until Sunday, there will be many events taking place across Fenland, including an acrobatic performance from a care leaver who first came to Cambridgeshire as an unaccompanied asylum-seeking child.
Refugee Week, established in 1998, is an international arts and culture festival that celebrates the contributions, creativity, and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary - this year's theme is 'Community as a Superpower'.
In celebration of Refugee Week 2025, on Thursday, June 19, at 5.30pm at March Library, Amin will be performing circus skills including acrobatics. Amin first came to Cambridgeshire as an unaccompanied asylum-seeking child and, as an adult, is now a County Council care leaver.
Amin’s performance will be followed by music from Burhan and İnan. Burhan plays the bağlama – a traditional Turkish long-necked string instrument widely used in Anatolian folk music – while İnan accompanies on guitar.
Together with vocals, their uplifting set blends acoustic pop with Anatolian folk rhythms, celebrating music as a shared voice of resilience and unity.
Other Refugee Week events taking place this week include ‘Navigating your journey to Higher Education’ – a free webinar for unaccompanied minors and their supporters, an international Games session, and a multilingual story time.
Cllr Alison Whelan, chair of the communities, social mobility and inclusion committee at Cambridgeshire County Council, said: “I’m delighted we are marking Refugee Week 2025 in Cambridgeshire with so many fantastic events that affirm and celebrate the contributions refugees have made, and continue to make, to our county.
“Cambridgeshire has a strong heritage of supporting those in need. As a council, we have an important role in ensuring that Cambridgeshire continues to be a place of safety and opportunity for all.”
Cllr Alex Bulat, migrant champion at Cambridgeshire County Council, added: “Refugees who come to the UK after being forced to flee their homes have shown immense courage and resilience.
“Refugee Week is a joyous arts and culture festival that brings together people from different backgrounds to embrace diversity and share their experiences, perspectives, and creativity – I’m looking forward to joining the celebrations.”
Burhan and İnan, who will be performing at the March Library event, said: “Music is a universal language that connects us beyond borders.
“Performing during Refugee Week is our way of standing in solidarity with all those who have faced hardship and displacement – it’s about turning shared struggle into shared hope.”
Find out more about the Refugee Week events happening across Cambridgeshire and discover what’s happening near you by clicking here.
To mark Refugee Week the County Council will be flying the Refugee Nation flag at their headquarters, New Shire Hall in Alconbury Weald, and on Friday, 20 June.
Earlier this year Cambridgeshire County Council was amongst the first county councils in the UK to receive Council of Sanctuary status, affirming the council’s commitment to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for to new arrivals in the area.
