From celebrating disability rights to sharing young people’s experiences of growing up in a steel community - once again Swansea University has played a key role in the success of the Being Human Festival.
Every year the festival presents hundreds of free events across the UK and beyond. They are all aimed at celebrating everyday lives and helping people to better understand each other and the challenges of a changing world.
This year it had theme of Between the Lines and featured more than 230 events held in 39 towns and cities across the UK.
Researchers from Swansea and Cardiff universities formed a joint collaborative hub this year working with community and cultural partners to create events and projects that explored boundaries, crossings and intersections as well as amplifying marginalised voices.
Their events included a quilting workshop Stitching Stories of Motherhood at the city’s Elysium, a creative workshop and birthday party for 30 years of the Disability Discrimination Act and the week-long Steeltown Schoolkids exhibition in partnership with Raspberry Creative in Port Talbot.
One of this event’s leads said: “The Being Human Festival offered a fantastic opportunity to showcase how art and history can help local communities take control of the narrative. Our Hub allowed me to take a lesson from the oral histories I’ve recorded for my PhD about the importance of childhood projects in shaping aspiration and accelerate the impact of our IAA project by sharing the ideas of more than 200 local children with key stakeholders.”
The Swansea programme included the Winter Wellbeing in Multicultural Wales event at the Dylan Thomas Centre.
Principal academic organiser Professor Yan Wu, from the School of Culture and Communication said: “During the pandemic, Chinese and other Asian communities in the UK were scapegoated and experienced discrimination, hostility, and even hate incidents. In response to this, I have been leading an interdisciplinary team researching anti-Asian racism and the communicative strategies of advocacy.
“The Being Human Festival provided a valuable opportunity to launch a celebration of Chinese and Asian culture focusing on a holistic approach to wellbeing, as well as the ancient philosophies that emphasise respect for nature, alignment with the seasons, and the nurturing of both body and mind.
“It was heartwarming to see so many people from different communities come together to drink tea, play the drum, enjoy music and dance, and practise Taiji. This spirit of mutual understanding, shared joy, and collective celebration is what brings us together as a community.”
One of the participants attracted to seeing different kinds of arts and crafts said: “It’s a multicultural festival. It’s important to embrace all cultures. We all have different beliefs and different things to follow. We need to embrace that and accept that we are all people. We need to get along together no matter what we believe. I had a great time. It’s been wonderful.”
Enjoy the highlights of 2025 Being Human Festival
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