2015-02-15

The City of Malmö, Sweden: Report on the implementation of Malmö’s first Safe Haven Program for musicians at risk (2015)

On behalf of the City of Malmö my assignment is to focus on the Safe Haven Program for musicians, and what conditions must be put in to place for safe haven cities to broaden their programs to not only hosting writers at risk, but also to offer a safe haven for other art practitioners. The assignment will result in a report on the implementation of Malmö’s first program for musicians, and will be presented in conjunction with an international conference in Malmö in August 2015.

Current musician in residency in Malmö is Ramy Essam from Egypt – the voice of the revolution at Tahrir Square in Cairo in 2011. Ramy arrived in October 2014 and can now continue his peaceful struggle for the homeland, receive artistic training and focus on his music career.

Learn more about the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN).

Background: In 2010 the City of Malmö started up a residency program in Malmö for persecuted writers and journalists. In connection with this, the city also involved in ICORN. In 2014 it was decided that Malmö would be the first Swedish city extending the residency program to include other art forms. A refuge program means that a writer, musician, visual artist, animator, actor, screen writer etc., that are subject to censorship and / or persecution in their homeland, can be offered a two-year scholarship, free housing and a network of the city’s and the region’s cultural life in order to develop artistically, and to work freely.

Since the early 1990s, individual cities throughout Europe have decided to become refuges for persecuted writers. Around forty cities and regions have joined ICORN.