The APGRD is proud to support the development of Songs of Solidarity - the current working title for Dash Arts and Projekt Europa’s new project - which brings together artists, researchers, and refugees to co-create a new epic that celebrates and redefines the migrant experience. By weaving together ancient epics like Kalevala, Gilgamesh, and the Aeneid with modern stories and protest songs, this interdisciplinary project explores solidarity, displacement, and friendship across time.
Initial research and development, 2024
In December 2024, co-directors Maria Åberg and Josephine Burton spent a week at the University, exploring ideas together with composer Marouf Majidi, writer and poet Sabrina Mahfouz, migrant performers, local groups of asylum seekers and refugees, and a number of our researchers including Prof. Fiona Macintosh. This first phase of Research and Development was co-produced with the Cultural Programme at Oxford University, in partnership with the APGRD, the Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland, and Asylum Welcome.
Watch the film
The initial R&D sessions were recorded, and a short film has been produced by Rocio Chacon for Dash Arts and Projekt Europa.
Listen to the podcast
In addition, Dash Arts and Projekt Europa have produced a Podcast: Songs of Solidarity: An Epic Begins which looks at what makes epics epic, featuring:
- APGRD's Fiona Macintosh
- Josephine Burton - Artistic Director of Dash Arts
- Maria Aberg - Artistic Director of PROJEKT EUROPA
- Marouf Majidi - composer and musician
- Sabrina Mahfouz - writer and poet
- Luca Macchi - actor and musician
- Namvula Rennie - actor and musician
- Chen Xu - actor and musician
- Natalia Kakarkina - actor and musician
- Surya Chandra - actor and musician
Further development, 2025
The new epic was developed further in December 2025 with an intensive Writers' Room residency in Oxford, co-organised by Fiona Macintosh, Tom Nelson, and Dan Byam Shaw. Five writers (Anna Sulan Masing, Inua Ellams, Leo Boix, Sabrina Mahfouz and Saili Katebe) and co-directors (Josephine Burton and Maria Åberg) were immersed in a programme of conversations with, and presentations from, academics and practitioners from the University of Oxford's Centre on Migration, Policy, and Society; Refugee Studies Centre, and the Classics Faculty, as well as from the UK for UNHCR and NGOS which support asylum seekers, refugees, and vulnerable migrants in Oxford.