Coffs Harbour Ref-YOU-gee Week 2020

Coffs Harbour Ref-YOU-gee Week 2020 is the opportunity for all of us to come together and celebrate our community members from refugee backgrounds, their stories and journeys, talents and strengths, the rich cultural diversity they bring to our region and the positive contribution they make to the local community. This year’s Ref-YOU-gee Week runs from June 14 to June 20.

This year with COVID restrictions limiting the opportunity to gather in person, Council and community partners are taking the party online and inviting everyone to ‘put yourself in the picture’ with an exciting array of live events via www.coffsharbour.nsw.gov.au/refugeeweek

“Well done to everyone involved in making Ref-YOU-gee Week 2020 a COVID-friendly remake of some of the best loved elements of the ever popular Freedom Feast that we usually celebrate,” said Coffs Harbour Mayor Councillor Denise Knight. “While we can’t all come together in a massive celebration of cross-cultural Coffs, you can still grab a few friends, join together with family and gather around the screen for another amazing Ref-YOU-gee Week celebration.”

Official Ref-YOU-gee Week Welcome and Morning Tea: Welcome!  It all kicks off on Friday, 12 March, with a live broadcast of the Official Ref-YOU-gee Week 2020 Welcome and Morning Tea.  Join us live online for this warm and intimate informal ceremony hosted by the Mayor Denise Knight, featuring Aboriginal Elder Uncle Trevor Wilson and three community representatives from refugee backgrounds, where all dignitaries will bring homemade food to share that tells about their ancestral background and share stories about their individual journeys to calling Coffs home and shared dreams for the future. When: Friday 12 March | 10am -10:45am | live from Council Chambers. Where: View live online – www.coffsharbour.nsw.gov.au/refugeeweek

Kitchen Concert Series – featuring The Brothers and Ali & Kamiran: Celebrate!  Featuring live music performance, live cooking and all the amazing stories these conjure up as local families from refugee backgrounds welcome you into their kitchens to play some cultural tunes while cooking up a sumptuous cultural feast and enjoying a good yarn about the stories behind the music and the food.  Featuring two of Coffs Harbour’s hottest performing and recording cultural acts across two special nights. Take a journey to the sounds and flavours of the Congo, Syria and back with The Brothers and Ali and Kamiran. When: Wednesday 17 March | 6:30pm – 7:15pm | Ali & Kamiran live in their kitchen Saturday 20 March | 6:30pm – 7:15pm | The Brothers live in the kitchen Where: View live online – www.coffsharbour.nsw.gov.au/refugeeweek

Freedom Sounds 2020 – Spotify playlist and live radio show: Party! Freedom Sounds invites community members from refugee and multicultural backgrounds who now call Coffs home to share with the whole community a favourite song from their former home, which will then be compiled into one massive party playlist of some of the hottest world music from across the globe.  The playlist will be available for all to enjoy via Spotify. You can also tune in live to local radio station 104.4 CHY FM as young people from refugee backgrounds take over the Coffs airwaves playing the cream of the Freedom Sounds playlist and tell some of the captivating stories behind the music. 

Spotify playlist: The Freedom Sounds 2020 Spotify playlist is available throughout Ref-YOU-gee Week. For more information and all links to live events visit: www.coffsharbour.nsw.gov.au/refugeeweek

Radio Show: Tune into CHY FM (104.4 on the FM dial) on Friday, June 12, from 4pm – 6pm.

Stories From the Heart: Discover! Visit Council’s official Refugee Week webpage and discover a riveting collection of film and audio stories gathered from local community arts and cultural projects from across the last few years, where Coffs locals from all over the world share their real life stories and perspectives from their refugee journeys. When: Available throughout Ref-YOU-gee Week Where: Visit www.coffsharbour.nsw.gov.au/refugeeweek for links to the Stories.