Projects

Photograph: Tom Stoddart

As part of our educational work we work collaboratively with others to explore creative ways of storytelling. Through these projects we are able to reflect on the lessons from Bosnia to inspire positive change within our communities here in the UK. Below is a sample of some of our projects, if you would like to work with us please get in touch.

Emina's Song

‘Emina’ is a song inspired by Smajo Beso’s story about his aunt Emina. Her compelling story which has been transformed, in her memory, into a powerful and moving song by Skimstone Arts’ ECHO artist Quinn as part of their ‘Who Holds the Torch? Radio broadcasts for Holocaust Memorial Day 2021

Podcast: Learning from Genocide

In a powerful testimony, Una tells us how events before her birth changed her life forever.
Smajo Beso, on the other hand, was six years old when his normal, happy life was suddenly turned upside down.

Show Racism the Red Card: Survivor Story

Smajo Beso, Bosnian genocide survivor, speaks to Show Racism the Red Card to tell his story of growing up through the Bosnian genocide and his experiences of war.

Arrivals: Making Tyneside Home

An exhibition at the Discovery Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne, by photographer Jeremy Abrahams documenting stories of those who arrived to the UK as refugees and made Tyneside their home.

Channel 4 - Britain's Forgotten Wars: Bloodshed in Bosnia

The civil war that raged after the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1992, as UN forces struggled to maintain order in the newly created nation of Bosnia under impossible circumstances. Testimony from peacekeeping soldiers, survivors and forensic scientists reveal the true horror of a war that has faded from public consciousness, and the helplessness they felt lacking the authority to act.

HMD 2022 - Eden Girls School

Smajo Bešo speaks to students at Eden Girls' School, Walthamstow, for the UK Holocaust Memorial Day 2022 Ceremony.

HMD 2022 - One Day

A collaborative project with Skimstone Arts to write and record a spoken word piece on the theme of One Day for Holocaust Memorial Day 2022

Rebuilding Lives

A collaborative project with Skimstone Arts for Rebuilding Lives, a special event to mark Bosnia Memorial Week 2021. Bosnia Memorial Week 2021 honours the two million people displaced during the genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia in the 1990s, leaving them to seek refuge all over the world.

Festival of Lights 2021

At the end of 2021, BGET worked together with Newcastle City Council of Faiths and other local charities to organise an event at Newcastle Cathedral to support struggling families, including those from refugee backgrounds.

Nottingham Trent University Workshops

On Thursday 13th January NTU third year undergraduate history students, studying on the Holocaust in History and Memory module at Nottingham Trent University, had the pleasure of speaking with Holocaust survivor, Hanna Zack Miley and Bosnian genocide survivor, Smajo Beso.

In conversation with: Baroness Arminka Helic

Baroness Arminka Helic speaks to BGET about the lessons we need to learn from Bosnian war in the 1990s and her work for refugees and tackling sexual violence.

Education for Life 2021

BGET teamed up with the Education for Life module at INTO Newcastle University to raise awareness of some of the social justice issues we face in the North East. The students then had an opportunity to plan their own ways to tackle some of these issues.

Screening: The Fog of Srebrenica

‘The Fog of Srebrenica’, portrays the long-term impact of the Bosnian genocide and is based on harrowing testimonies and confessions of survivors who struggle to cope with the past. It tells the story of the extraordinary men and women who survived the genocide and raises serious and profound questions about the nature of human existence, war, and forgiveness. It also tackles the failure of the international community to protect innocent civilians and offer justice to victims of war crimes.