Elif Shafak and Anoushka Shankar lead Southbank Centre’s Refugee Week 2026 programme

This summer, the Southbank Centre celebrates the resilience, creativity and contributions of refugees and people seeking sanctuary as Refugee Week returns with a programme of cultural events and performances centred on the theme of ‘Courage.’ The Southbank Centre’s Refugee Week programme, which runs 26 – 28 June 2026, brings together artists with lived experience of displacement, leading cultural voices, allies and creatives with migrant heritage to reflect on what courage looks like today. It offers a powerful affirmation of community and solidarity in defiance of division and hostility with a dynamic and multi-disciplinary programme of DJ sets, film screenings, gigs, panel discussions and literary events in response to this year’s theme.

This year’s iteration of the festival takes place during the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary year and also marks 75 years since the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention first set out the internationally recognised definition of a refugee, along with the rights and protections that must be afforded to them. Seventy-five years on, Refugee Week celebrates this historic moment with a joyful programme, shining a light on rich and multifaceted creative projects by those who have sought sanctuary. 

The Southbank Centre programme is produced in partnership with UK-based charity Counterpoints Arts and forms part of the wider national celebration of Refugee Week, the world’s largest arts and culture festival celebrating the creativity of refugees and people seeking sanctuary, running 15 – 21 June 2026.

Highlights at Southbank Centre include global bestselling writer and renowned activist Elif Shafak, who will deliver the inaugural Counterpoints Lecture in the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 27 June. Drawing inspiration from the use of the term ‘counterpointed’ to describe the diverse and complex perspectives of people who have experienced displacement, Shafak will explore how artists displaced by war and political extremism can reshape our understanding, and whether creativity can help to heal our divided world.