During the first weekend in June 2010, I was privileged to show Art Beyond Belief’s Via Dolorosa project to the Swedish Church at their Världens fest, a festival of mission, and much, much more. I had no idea the Svenska Kyrkan was so involved in so much of the cares of the world. The event was held in the city of Växjö, in the south of Sweden.The highlight of the weekend was a meal for 1700+ people, and it was here that I sat with Bengt and Birgitta Sibbmark. I had to apologise for my lack of Swedish (coming, as I do from the UK), but this was taken in good part by B+B who spoke excellent English. I learned so much that evening, with gracious answers to every question (and I had many) but with good humour too, so there was never any thought that I had never met them before. Brilliant. All the food for that sumptuous feast came from the area of Växjö, and it was superb. I have visited Sweden before, but to Gothenburg or Stockholm (my first visit was to Gothenburg in 1969). Going inland was a new experience for me. I travelled by train from the airport at Copenhagen, so got to see a lot of the countryside which was a revelation to me. My presentation was of an interfaith look at the Christian Stations of the Cross, which involves artists of eight different faiths, who interpret (or relate to) fifteen different events on Christ’s journey from the Roman Governor’s residence to the place of execution outside the city walls of Jerusalem. This project is in multimedia form, and we have called it the Via Dolorosa, after that street in Jerusalem.The presentation was received well, and there was a lot of interest in using it to develop other initiatives locally, something I would be delighted to get involved in.On my last day, I visited the glass museum in Växjö, which had some fantastic examples of glass based art. But that’s another story …

Last year, Art Beyond Belief ran a successful Festival of Dialogue in Slough. This year we are organizing further events across the Thames Valley in conjunction with SEEFF. There will be a number of round table discussions organized across the area, followed by a conference in Slough on 22nd May.

During the events, we will be looking further at some of the preconceptions that various groups have of others, and attempting to identify ways in which these destructive patterns can be dismantled and replaced with positive communication and understanding.

Could you, or your interfaith group, run a local discussion event?

- a toolkit including background information will be provided

Sign up now for the conference or to attend a local discussion event

There will be a limited amount of exhibition space available at the conference too

To book, or for more information, please contact us at Art Beyond Belief,
email andrea@art-beyond-belief.com. Telephone 07958 320686

Rucksack is a three-year project funded by The LankellyChase Foundation,  working with children and young people with Asperger’s Syndrome and their siblings to explore family life and relationships. Rucksack is an innovative programme that helps provide a vocabulary for self expression and understanding through innovative use of computer-based art and graphics.

If you work with an individual or a group with Asperger’s syndrome or their families, or know someone who might benefit from taking part, or would like to find out more, please contact David Sparrow on 07958 320684 or email david@art-beyond-belief.com

For more information, please call Emel Soylu on 07956 022197 emel@art-beyond-belief.com.

For more information, please call Emel Soylu on 07956 022197 emel@art-beyond-belief.com.

The Comic exhibition is on the first floor at Slough Library from 18th May to 6th June, as can be visited during normal library opening hours. For more information, please call Emel Soylu on 07956 022197 emel@art-beyond-belief.com.

To find out more about Asperger Syndrome, see the National Autistic Society’s website www.nas.org.uk/asperger

Developing memory, vocabulary, social skills and community involvement for adults with learning disabilities.