Conferences
Coming up...
United Faiths Media & Music Conference
The United Faiths’ first annual conference to be held in early 2009 and themed around Youth, Media and Music, was recently announced by the steering group at the retreat centre Scargill House. Scargill has a long history of offering courses that instigate interfaith dialogue but more recently has been involved in bringing together children from different cultural and religious backgrounds. Therefore it was symbolic and bittersweet that United Faiths was one of the last groups to stay at Scargill before it closed.
The programme for the conference is designed to encourage young people to use media and music as a channel of discovering their voice and explore ways in which young people can continue to engage in social cohesion activities. Young people from across the region will hear from their counterparts and participate in workshops led by media and music professionals. There will also be a marketplace and a concert where young people from various universities, schools and interfaith organisations will showcase their work and talent.
Guest Speaker: Michael Wakelin, BBC Head of Religion and Ethics
Date: 12th February 2009
Workshops will include a variety of Music, Design and Media activities, as well as stalls and live music showcasing young talent from the region.
Don’t miss out! Book your FREE place now at coordinator@unitedfaiths.org.uk
Previous events...
Faith on Campus
May 20th 2008, University of Bradford
This event organised in partnership with Yorkshire Universities will explore the role that faith communities can play in the life of the region’s Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and how we can work in together to create a supportive and engaging environment. Particular focus will be given to questions such as:
- What part can faith communities play in building campus cohesion and opposing extremism?
- How can Faith Advisers/Chaplains support the region’s HEIs to engage with the faith communities in their geographical area?
- How do the HEIs make provision for the spiritual needs of their staff and students? And how can Faith Advisers/Chaplains assist in this process?
Faith Voices: Working together for community cohesion
Thursday 13th December 2007, The Thornbury Centre, Bradford
The 2007 annual conference for the Yorkshire and Humber Faiths Forum aimed to showcase the work of local faith forums, share good practice and facilitate partnership working between faith communities and local and regional agencies.
Keynote speakers were Anjum Anwar MBE, Dialogue Development Officer with Blackburn Catheral providing a regional and local persepective on opportunities for interfaith work; and Dr Harriet Crabtree, Director of the Interfaith Network UK providing a national perspective.
Workshops included:
1. Working with Interfaith Groups Exploring regional support for local interfaith groups
2. Cohesion and Co-existence in Beverley and Bradford Issues of co-existence, peace and respect in rural and urban communities
3. City of Sanctuary Creating a culture of hospitality for Asylum Seekers and Refugees
4. Believing We Can Working with ex-offenders
5. Health, Faith and Wellbeing Working with Faith Communities on emergency and influenza pandemic planning
6. Young and Wise Listening and engaging with young people, regional and local youth voices and the new Regional Interfaith Council
7. Women and Faith Engaging with women in faith communities
Marketplace - a vibrant exhibition of faith-based projects and secular partners.
A report on this event is provided in the YHFF newsletter, Soundings Issue 5, available to download from this website from April 2008
Body and Soul: Sport and Faith in Health and Wellbeing
Held 20th March 2007 at the Megacentre, Sheffield, this landmark conference aimed to promote the role of sport amongst faith communities, identify what faith communities and groups need from sport organisations, how we can work more closely and funding. The Yorkshire and Humber Faiths Forum organised this event in partnership with Sport England and the Churches Regional Commission for Yorkshire and the Humber (CRC). Speakers included Geoff Thompson of Youth Charter and Hanif Malik of Hamara Healthy Living Centre, Leeds. Case studies included St Michael's Youth Project, Hull, St Wilfrid's Centre, Sheffield and Sitara Project, Kirklees. Strategic partners, sport and faith projects showcased their work in a market place style forum.
A short write up of the event is published in Issue 3 of the Forum's Soundings newsletter available to browse and download from this website or to post out FREE by contacting the Faiths Forum. A full conference report including keynote speeches and case studies has been published by Sport England and is available to browse and download from the Sport England website.
Faith 2 Faith
The Yorkshire and Humber Faiths Forum held their first conference for young people at Leeds University on December 12th 2006. Faith 2 Faith brought over 100 16 - 25 year olds from across the region to share and discuss their experiences of discrimination. Professionals that work with young people and representatives from the region's key policy makers also attended. The conference was just the first step in the Forum's work that aims to provide a voice for young people from diverse faith backgrounds. This conference was followed by the Annual General Meeting of the Forum.
A report of the conference is currently being developed along with a DVD created by young people at the event and will be available on request from the Forum office or to download from the conference website http://faith2faith.org.uk, along with the latest updates, news releases and background information.