Migrant Voice organises its third multicultural spring ceilidh at the Garnethill multicultural centre Glasgow.
Image by Karen Gordon
The event, funded by the Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership, was held at Garnethill multicultural centre, on March 25th. Hosting participants from different nationalities and ethnic backgrounds.
The event was organised and led by the Coordinator, Migrant Voice Glasgow Network Coordinator, Marzanna Antoniak, a multi-linguist with competences in Polish, Russian, Arabic, Slovakia, Persian, Spanish and English.
The program was the first multicultural Ceilidh this year, by the Migrant Voice Glasgow, and was planned and packaged to bring together Glaswegians of different races and cultural backgrounds. The event was packed with a lot of international displays of cultural groups . It attracted about 10 different nationalities and displays of different dances attributed to various nationalities.
The multicultural spring ceilidh is an international event with the intention to have fun and integrate. Marzanna Antoniak, the coordinator of the program, from Poland, discussed the event's intention of providing fun and facilitating integration "[The event] is about having fun, and trying dances from other countries". She believed the event had no other agenda than having fun.
A group of dancers from Iran, Brazil, Albania and Scotland performed, in the presence of cheering audiences. The dancers performed for 30 minutes , and were followed by a display from Ukrainian Malisa who performed for 5 minutes, and was greeted with cheers, claps and a standing ovation.
Participant and staff member of the Migrant and Refugee Centre, Eilidh Graham from Scotland, expressed satisfaction with the programme of the event:, "I invite people that I met , just to integrate, like lift the spirit up, because you know that there is not enough of these things. For me I love dance and I don’t like to go nightclubs so this is the perfect place for me to lift me up the spirit ,then meet a lot of beautiful people”.
Meanwhile, the Multicultural Centre in Glasgow, was filled with people from all different places and from all different backgrounds.
Image by Karen Gordon
Lisa Graham, a participant from Australia expressed admiration for different cultural outfits displayed during the event: "Coming in and seeing traditional dresses that people have, so nice, so pretty. It is nice because people have a place to showcase their cultures".
Parvaneh Rahmani, one of the participants from Iran expressed her delight in the variety of dances and cultures at the event: "It [This event] has some varieties, some different dances from different countries, you can see different cultures, I love it’ she said.
Since 2010, Migrant Voice Glasgow, a migrant-led national organisation has focused on building a community of migrants. It organises similar events such as Media Lab, exhibitions, and more.
Courtesy: Breakthrough Press Stuart Patterson and Chidiebere Nwogu