Mercury Theatre and Rama Will Display Garments on World Refugee Day Made During Project With Colchester's Refugee Community

The Mercury Theatre in Colchester's Creative Engagement Team and Colchester's Refugee and Migrant Action have announced that to mark World Refugee Day (Tuesday 20th June) they will be displaying three garments in the theatre's box office that have been created over the past six months with the Afghan Refugee Community, who are based in a hotel in Colchester.

Thanks to funding from Essex Community Foundation, National Lottery Community Fund and Colchester City Council, the Mercury Theatre were able to purchase seven sewing machines and work with a freelance costume maker, who introduced the community to the project of working on a collaborative costume which was inspired by Afghanistan and British culture. The community and the costume maker have since met every few weeks for the past six months and have now completed three dresses which will be showcased at the Mercury Theatre as part of World Refugee Day between 13th – 24th June.

The aim of the collective project was to ensure the community did not feel isolated, providing opportunities to share their stories, have their voice heard and have fun. The Mercury's practice focuses on the mental health needs of people affected by displacement and trauma (i.e trauma-informed practice), providing opportunities to regulate stress, reduce isolation and develop skills as well as meeting their social and emotional needs and having a creative outlet and working collaboratively.

Elodie Gilbert, Engagement Producer at the Mercury Theatre said, “Initially they did two intergenerational sessions giving a space to meet the other families in a social and fun setting just a few weeks after being placed in the hotel. This included setting out board games for the adults and having drama therapist and dance practitioners leading dance and drama games for the children. Then, the Mercury, RAMA, Our Colchester volunteers gave 120 of them a tour of Colchester so that they knew where local amenities were including Castle Park, shops and Firstsite Art Gallery where everyone then finished the session at the Mercury Theatre doing craft activities.

During the conversations with the families with their children being enrolled in school, they found that the women were still isolated and really missed was sewing or learning to sew and making clothes.” 

Steve Mannix, Executive Director of The Mercury Theatre said, “It is so important that publicly funded organisations, like the Mercury, support and welcome refugees arriving in Essex. We have been so grateful to funders Essex Community Foundation, National Lottery Community Fund and Colchester City Council to be able to run this fantastic creative project. We have worked in partnership with RAMA over a number of years and they do such great work supporting refugees and migrants across the county.”