In Place of War hosts night of music as it brings the arts to conflict areas

The award-winning University of Manchester project is marking ten years of work to mobilise communities through the arts

“If it weren’t for hip hop I would be dead. Hip hop gave me another option in life and I will always be grateful for that.”  - Lupa, Cultural Manager and MC with Sociedad FB7, Medellin, Colombia

The University of Manchester’s award-winning In Place of War project, which supports artists and communities living in sites of conflict around the globe, is bringing music back to the city.

The remarkable project is celebrating ten years of mobilising, empowering and connecting people living in some of the world’s toughest and most troubled environments, through the arts, with the delivery of two groundbreaking new programmes.

They will be raising support for the project with an evening of complementary world music, food and drink on Wednesday 22 April, 7-11pm, at the HQ Building, Atherton Street, Manchester, delivered in association with TIE Network.

In Place of War has developed a groundbreaking creative entrepreneurial programme to be certified by The University of Manchester and delivered for free to local young people in communities in some of the most under-resourced parts of the world. In these communities, with little access to education, offering a free creative entrepreneurial programme with the certification of The University can provide transformative opportunities for up to 5,000 young people in each community every year.

Alongside this programme, the project is currently working to develop four cultural spaces in challenging environments with little access to the creative arts: in Makokoba, the oldest township in Zimbabwe; in both Kisangani and Bukavu, in the middle of war-affected DR Congo; and Rocinha, the largest favela in Rio de Janeiro. The development of these spaces is directly influenced by successful international examples of cultural spaces that have transformed communities in Brazil, Venezuela and Colombia.

In Place of War is recruiting support that will enable the project to develop and secure the required spaces (including building works, security, and decoration), support local staff costs for the coordination of the spaces, and to ship equipment to the locations. The project has already collected over £200,000 of music, studio and film equipment from musicians, TV studios and The University of Manchester.

Notes for editors

For more information on In Place of War, visit www.inplaceofwar.net. A short film about their work can be viewed here.

To donate, visit http://your.manchester.ac.uk/support-manchester/donate/in-place-of-war.

Media enquiries to:

Deborah Linton
Media Relations Officer
Faculty of Humanities
The University of Manchester
Tel: 0161 275 8257, 07789 948 783
Email: deborah.linton@manchester.ac.uk