IncluCities vernissage in Brussels
IncluCities builds inclusive cities with migrants. With this exhibition, inspired by one of the best inclusion practices in the city of Mechelen (BE) called “People Make the City”, we would like to bring in migrants’ voices and shed light on the importance of coexistence of newly arrived people and the local community. More than that, we also would like to overcome the usual narrative about newcomers and show how similarities that people share instead of focusing on the differences. How are they shaping their experience of being together? What is the role of the urban spaces in this process and how are these spaces moulded by the coexistence of diverse people? The exhibition, and the work behind it, will take place in Levadia (EL), Capaci (IT), Jelgava (LV) and Saint Jean de la Ruelle (FR).
A collection of some of the photos will be printed and will be showcased in Brussels, during the first day of the final conference of the project at the Atelier 29, rue Jacques de Lalaing, 29.
The vernissage will be the occasion to meet the most relevant Brussels-based external stakeholders of the project and show them the results of the project through a storytelling exercise, with photos and an explanation of the story behind them. A live music concert, with ancient Ottoman music, will accompany the participants in this on-site travel around the four mentee cities' experiences with the main beneficiaries of the actions they started to implement on the local level.
The participants will be engaged in a collective exercise, through which they will have to express in one sentence their takeaway on how to build better local inclusion policies and the results of this exercise will be commented on and deconstructed by Ms Razan Ismail, founder and director of Asociation Kudwa in Barcelona. Being an active agent of change in Barcelona, she will mirror the experience of the partners in her work towards the inclusion of refugees and migrants (in particular women) in the political discourse in Spain.
This will be a unique opportunity for the IncluCities partners, local stakeholders network and CEMR friends and colleagues to meet in a less official setting to exchange experience, make plans about future collaborations and take stock from the successful three years for their upcoming challenges at the local level.