Govanhill International Festival: Putting Anti-Racism Centre Stage
In anticipation of the fifth Govanhill International Festival and Carnival, we caught up with some of the people involved with event about what to expect from this year’s celebration.
By Sam Doak
The Govanhill International Festival and Carnival is in its fifth year. Initially planned as a response to the vilification of migrants within our community, the festival has evolved into a vibrant, diverse and interdisciplinary celebration of what makes Govanhill unique.
From its inception, the festival’s anti-racist, inclusive ethos has been the event’s primary focus. Fatima Uygun, Manager of the Govanhill Baths Community Trust outlined why organisers felt there was a need for a community-wide celebration of Govanhill’s diversity at that time:
“The issue of racism began to rear its ugly head again a few years ago with new movements of migrants from Eastern Europe. It became apparent that they were being scapegoated for a lot of problems in the community that were nothing to do with them.”
“We wanted to take the ownership of anti-racism from individual groups to the wider community. It’s everybody’s issue, everybody should be being actively anti-racist. One of the best ways to do that is to put on a very large event.”
According to Fatima, an arts festival serves this purpose particularly well. While the festival is and continues to be a community-wide, collective response to racism, it is also an opportunity for individual artists and groups to present their own perspectives and experiences in a way that fosters cross-cultural understanding and communication.
On this point, Fatima reflected that: “the arts are very important in connecting people and communicating sometimes very difficult and complicated messages in an approachable way, in a way that engages communities and people, where words or other forms of communication don’t always get the message across.”
It is fitting that an event created to reflect and celebrate the diversity within Govanhill has grown into one that incorporates as broad a range of artistic and cultural offerings as this year’s festival. Music has always been a core component of past festivals and this year is no exception. Love Music Hate Racism have organised a repeat of their widely popular Street Music Festival, for which Romano Lav and Ando Glaso have assembled a collection of over fifty Roma musicians, many of whom live in the local community.
Aside from music, this year, the festival is set to include events centered around film, literature, photography and heritage. Great care has been taken to ensure that each event is both of a high professional standard and reflective of the festival’s inclusive ethos. Lydia Honeybone, co-founder of Glasgow Artists’ Moving Image Studios (GAMIS) was keen to emphasise this point. GAMIS has organised a collection of screenings throughout the duration of the festival which is set to include films ranging from independently-made documentaries to classics such as Space is The Place. On how GAMIS approached their role in the festival, Lydia highlighted the collaborative way in which their program was put together:
“What we've done is work in partnership with other organisations and approach other individuals to make sure other groups are being represented. Obviously the theme of the festival is anti-racism and celebrating immigrant communities of Govanhill, the things that make Govanhill really special. So we worked with groups that work with those communities.”
“It's been about partnership really. If we invite filmmakers, artists, curators and programmers that have a knowledge of different cultures we’re doing our best to represent those audiences and people.”
An important element in representing a wide range of voices and cultures in the festival is celebrating the languages spoken by Govanhill residents. A survey conducted last year found that at least 88 languages and dialects are spoken in this area and this is something that organisers have been keen to showcase. With this in mind, throughout the course of the festival, there are going to be a number of language taster sessions, in which residents can meet their neighbours and learn more about the languages they speak in a social and welcoming environment.
Marzanna Antoniak, a community connector with Thriving Places Govanhill is organising these sessions. Marzanna is enthusiastic about the role that language can play in fostering increased understanding between communities and the importance of showcasing the linguistic variety present in our area. On this, Marzanna said: “These sessions are a celebration of the multicultural and multilingual character of this area, which is uniquely diverse… the whole world lives in Govanhill.”
With too many exciting events and elements to give justice to in one article, the best way to learn more about the Govanhill International Festival and Carnival is to head out and experience it for yourself. An expression of inclusivity and solidarity organised by members of one of the most diverse communities in Scotland, this year’s festival is set to be an unmissable experience.
If you want to learn more about the Govanhill International Festival and Carnival, you can find its full program here.
As part of the festival, Greater Govanhil will be hosting our first live event on 8 August at 10am which will include music, poetry readings and a panel discussion on climate change and our community. You can find tickets for our event here.