CINCINNATI — A festival celebrating immigrants and refugees in Ohio wrapped up Wednesday night with a concert and mural exhibition at Christ Church Cathedral in Cincinnati.
What You Need To Know
- We are One: Hope was a 4-day festival celebrating immigrants and refugees in Ohio
- The Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and ArtWorks joined others in presenting the event
- The festival featured music, discussions and the artwork of Michael Thompson and Jason Al Ghussein
- The art was inspired by the visit of Amal, a giant puppet depicting a Syrian refugee girl that visited Cincinnati in September
The music and mural were the culminating event of a four-day festival called, ‘We are One: Hope.’
“The festival is celebrating immigrants and refugees and their stories here in the Greater Cincinnati region,” said Evan Gidley, the executive director of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, bringing together music, art and conversation.
“We don’t attempt to make any political statements,” he said. “Our message is one of hope and we want people to know that Greater Cincinnati is a welcoming place for any individual who might be coming to the United States.”
Besides music and panel discussions, murals painted by ArtWorks artists Michael Thompson and Jason Al Ghussein were created and displayed during the festival, inspired by another recent event brought to Ohio by the chamber orchestra: the visit of Amal, the giant puppet of a Syrian refugee seeking her mother.
“Little Amal was super exciting for me as an artist,” Thompson said. “She is the perfect representation of both an amazing international arts event but simultaneously something that was talking about social justice and it was bringing people together.”
“Amal means hope in Arabic,” Gidley said. “So we aptly decided to title this festival and being at Little Amal’s event, that’s certainly something we felt in the air: hopefulness, excitement, a sense of recognition for those in our community who don’t always get recognition and that’s immigrants and refugees.”
Gidley and Thompson say Amal’s visit and the Hope festival come at an important time.
“I think it is really serendipitous that we had Amal come to America at this time because right now art is more necessary than ever, especially with everything going on in Palestine and Israel,” Thompson said.
He believes that events like the Hope festival can help aid in understanding and healing.
“It’s always exciting to see the ways that different art forms, music, visual arts and community engagement can interact to create healing and really amazing events.”