Dublin students organise ‘secret’ music festival to help refugees

WHEN friends Maribel and Romi decided to run their own music festival, they never imagined the amount of red tape and closed doors they would face.

For the past seven months, the Dublin-based women have been tirelessly working to make Rather Gather happen, a music and arts festival celebrating multiculturalism in Ireland.

“We thought that there’s never enough occasions for multicultural people to get together and create art,” said Romicorn Cruanas, who goes by the name ‘Romi’. Despite being Argentinian, she lived in Italy for several years before relocating to Ireland to study drama and theatre in Trinity College Dublin.

Maribel Pan is her best friend and co-founder. The Spanish native describes their partnership as opposites that complement each other. Maribel, who studies hospitality management in DIT, has been taking care of the logistics of running a festival for the first time.

The festival is run by volunteers of various ethnicities. It will host four different stages for music as well as art and drama workshops, visual arts displays and circus performances. The music will include bands and various DJs, all working for free.

Music will range from indie rock and folk to ambient, grime, techno and DJ sets.

Romi will be using her theatre background to add a mental health focus to the weekend.

“Drama therapy is a way of working through issues in your life,” she explained. “You’re having fun but working through trauma.”

Rather Gather was set up to highlight a bigger issue – the refugee crisis. Money made from the festival will be sent to refugee camps in Dunkirk and Calais.

Romi also hopes to send art supplies and instruments to refugees who are no longer able to practice their talents. Like drama, she believes that art and music can work as a form of therapy.

Ireland has agreed to accept 2,622 migrants from Greece and Italy under the EU’s relocation agreement. So far, however, only 10 have arrived with a further 30 due to come to Ireland at the end of April.

The two women are also critical of Ireland’s direct provision system, comparing it to prison. Asylum seekers cannot work in Ireland or apply for social welfare, they point out, with families living in cramped mobile homes and hotel rooms, unable to cook for themselves

Unable to get sponsors for their festival, they took on the task of fundraising themselves. The Waterford event will take place in a “secret” location from April 22-24. Tickets are €25 per day or €50 for the weekend.

Punters will be informed of the location when they purchase tickets and can join the Rather Gather carpooling group on Facebook.

Aura McMenamin