GISIRA: Mediterranean Alternatives

Refuge Worldwide will be a media partner of GISIRA festival 2024, a four day event exploring the Mediterranean via music and culture.

Taking place on Ortigia in Sicily from May 30 to June 2, the now annual festival sees a number of events across multiple locations which the organisers hope "encourages diversity, inclusivity, and critical thought on the complexity of the region."

Several NGOs and humanitarian groups are taking part in conversations over the course of the weekend, including SOS Humanity and SeaWatch, both of whom are engaged in migrant relief in the Mediterranean.

Music is provided by international artists Gigi Masin, Donna Leake, My Analog Journal, Refuge Worldwide's No Plastic and Özay Öztürk, as well as Turbolentaليلى and Delicatoni.

Other festival highlights include author and academic Iain Chambers, and Roselena Ramistella, a photographer, Leica Ambassador and lecturer. Ramistella has previously received the Sony Award in the category of Natural World and Wild Life with her Deepland reportage, with Chambers regularly published in the field of postcolonial analyses.

Find more information on the GISIRA Instagram page.

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SOS HUMANITY

As a non-governmental search and rescue organisation, we strive for a world in which the human rights of all are respected. SOS Humanity stands for humanity at sea and on land. We are committed to ensuring that no person drowns while fleeing at sea and that everyone is treated with dignity.

SEA-WATCH

At the end of 2014, Sea-Watch grew out of an initiative of volunteers who could not stand on the sidelines witnessing people dying in the Mediterranean Sea any longer. They provide emergency relief capacities, demands and pushes for rescue operations by the European institutions and stands up publicly for legal escape routes.

Header image from Giacomo De Caro.