2014 Multicultural Homecoming

2014 Multicultural Homecoming

Review of the Multicultural Homecoming 2014 event at the Scotland Street School Museum Glasgow 30th April 2014, by Pinar Aksu. I have decided to participate in this great event with two hats on: one being a person representing the Turkish community and second being a volunteer for Migrant Voice. As I have entered the room, musicians representing Iranian, Turkish, Irish and Arabic cultures were checking the sound system and looking through each others cultural instruments. This was the Multicultural Homecoming 2014 launch event of a partnership between BEMIS Scotland, Visit Scotland and the Scottish Government to celebrate the diverse nature of Scotland’s communities in this year of Homecoming. BEMIS Scotland is to facilitate Homecoming events that showcase Scotland’s rich cultural diversity with partners including the Scottish Football Association, Glasgow University (GRAMNet- Glasgow Refugee, Asylum and Migration Network), The Scottish Refugee Council, Diversity Arts and ANSAR. BEMIS will be staging a series of national “Homecoming” events throughout the year which include: the “Homecoming 2014 Multicultural Cup”, a football tournament that will take place at Hampden; a series of free film showing; a series of seminars about diversity, identity, and citizenship The event started by BEMIS Chief Executive Rami Ousta talking about the upcoming programme, and different partnerships. It was lovely to see the Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs Fiona Hyslop MSP who talked about traditions and cultures of Scotland. Alison Phipps, representing GRAMNet made a lovely speech about the meaning of 'home' to different people and mentioned 'All homes are always multicultural'. Listening to Alison Phipps is always inspiring. The event continued by performances from the Arab, Indian, Iranian, Irish and Turkish communities. As each musicians took the stage, people started joining hand to hand for dancing together. For me, it was a lovely event as I have seen diverse communities knowing and understanding each others' cultures through music and food. I will be looking forward to the events created by diverse community groups as a result of the grants programme set up by BEMIS to host, celebrate their own interpretation of Scotland as home through own expertise, traditional arts, food, language, stories, songs and cultural heritage. Photo: BEMIS Scotland