Refugee Welcome Week
back on stage - the courage to be seen
21
June
2026
Refugee Welcome Week comes back to Cinetol for a second edition. This year, we are collaborating with New Dutch Connections to bring you Back On Stage: The Courage to Be Seen.
Directed by Dragan Bakema in collaboration with Bright Richards, Back On Stage brings together artists and performers with refugee backgrounds who are reclaiming their artistic practice in the Netherlands. Through theatre, music, dance, singing, and spoken word, the performers create a collective performance rooted in personal stories, talent, memory, and imagination.
The programme offers space to create, meet one another, and reconnect with an artistic voice within a new context. Together, the artists explore what it means to return to the stage — with strength, vulnerability, and the courage to be seen.
As the closing event of Refugee Welcome Week 2026, the evening celebrates art as a space for expression, belonging, and radical hope.
