Skimstone Arts presents One Day Changes Thursday 27 January 2022, 2pm Live from Newcastle City Library’s Bewick Hall & via Skimstone Radio and Facebook Live as part of Newcastle City Council’s Holocaust Memorial Day Programme 2022
On Thursday 27 January at 2pm audiences are being invited to join Claire Webster Saaremets and Steve Drayton* at Newcastle City Library’s Bewick Hall for One Day Changes a free event presented by Skimstone Arts to mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2022. Featuring original music from Skimstone Arts’ band Reality Boots and Ensemble band alongside film, poetry and spoken word inspired by real stories, research and lived experiences, this unique event looks to explore how we can build a better future, one change at a time.
As Claire Webster Saaremets, Artistic Director at Skimstone Arts explains:
“One Day Changes has been created with and by artists with lived refugee experience from Bosnia, Kurdistan, researchers with Holocaust and childhood war stories, as well as Skimstone Arts’ Associate Artists and Young Artist Collective and explores how humanity can share understanding, care and support that positively affects people’s traumatic lives. This is a chance for us to come together to hear stories and artworks inspired by people’s experiences so that we can learn more about the past and take action to create a safer future.”
Audiences will get the chance to hear Uninventing Hate a short narration created by Skimstone Arts’ Associate Artists writer Nii Kwartelai and actor Samuel Lamptey based in Accra, Ghana. The prose, set in an old Ghanian era, throws light on the struggles, pains, fights and the victories of adjoining villages who had to battle their way from a coloniser who captured and ruled them for over 50 years.
One Day Changes also includes a moving piece of spoken word called In That One Day co-created with campaigner, architect and Newcastle University lecturer Smajo Beso and Emily Scullion who are both part of the Bosnian Genocide Educational Trust and use real stories to talk about social justice. In That One Day aims to help listeners to become bringers of change.
Skimstone Arts’ Associate Artists and photojournalists Ako Ismail, from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and Shahor Omar, from Kirkuk, Iraq, who both now live in the North East of England with refugee experience, will be sharing their short film called The Smell of Apples. This film tells the story of Azad who survived the Halajba chemical attack which took place on 16 March 1988 during the closing days of the Iran-Iraq War in the Kurdish city of Halajba in Iraq Kurdistan. The incident was the largest chemical weapons attack directed against a civilian-populated area in history, killing 5,000 people and injuring 7,000 to 10,000 more, most of them civilians.
One Day Changes also includes a piece of spoken word called One Day My Gran Lost Her Head by Dr Beate Muller based on a young man of nineteen’s experience of how his gran died and how the images live on in people’s lives.
Moments to Remember is a song created and performed by Skimstone Arts’ Ensemble Band that explores people’s experiences of growing up with war and conflict. Inspired by stories from some of Skimstone Arts’ Associate Artists who have lived refugee experience and the charity’s Bosnian friends it examines how war and conflict remain part of people for the rest of their lives, but having the chance to share their story means that they can find new meaning and change how others see war and encourage peace.
One Day Changes will also feature more new music specially created to mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2022. Skimstone Arts’ young people’s band Reality Boots has written a new song called Memories Lost which highlights the great strength that can be generated in the face of adversity to see what can we do to make a change. ECHO Artist Magpie has crafted Spectre which explores the impact that just one day can have on a life and ECHO Artist Nicole has created a song called Just One Day which looks at how people can work together to create peace across the world and how by understanding each other communicating and advocating for what we all believe in we can make an impact in the world.
To book your FREE ticket for One Day Changes visit https://www.skimstone.org.uk/one-day-changes. Anyone not able to make it to the live broadcast can tune into the event via Skimstone Arts’ internet radio station Skimstone Radio on the day by visiting www.skimstonearts.org.uk or watch the event via Facebook Live by visiting www.facebook.com/SkimstoneArtsEnsemble.
One Day is the theme for Holocaust Memorial Day Events 2022. One Day Changes is presented as part of the National Holocaust Memorial Day Programme and is part of Newcastle City Council's Holocaust Memorial Day Events 2022.
Holocaust Memorial Day 2022
Holocaust Memorial Day takes place on 27 January each year, the anniversary of the liberation of Aushwitz. For more information about Holocaust Memorial Day visit www.hmd.org.uk. Find out about Holocaust Memorial Day events taking place in Newcastle upon Tyne at https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/our-city/history-and-heritage/holocaust-memorial-day/holocaust-memorial-day-newcastle
*Steve Drayon will now be co-hosting this event with Claire Webster Saaremets at Kema Sikazwe has tested positive for Covid-19.