In light of the life threatening situation in Afghanistan, Silkroad launched the Refugee Fellowship with guidance from Harvard’s Scholars at Risk Program, working to resettle and evacuate artists and provide a lifeline to create and perform their art in the United States, free from reprisals. Since the summer of 2022, Silkroad successfully supported the resettlement of four individuals from Afghanistan, while providing resources for them to pursue their schooling and careers in Boston, Massachusetts. Current planning for the evolution of the program is underway.
On June 17, 2023:
Silkroad hosted Art Overcomes, a benefit event for Silkroad’s Refugee Fellowship, which celebrated the work of Silkroad fellows while serving as a call to action to support the ongoing global refugee crisis. Through storytelling, art, and music, guests learned about the challenges refugee artists face and the strength that they demonstrate every day of their lives.
The event included a panel discussion with Afghani writer and Harvard fellow Homeira Qaderi, Afghani visual artist Fahima Ashori, and the International Institute of New England’s Chief Advancement Officer and Senior Vice President Alexandra “Xan” Weber. It also featured a musical performance by Silkroad artist Balla Kouyaté, as well as a silent auction featuring art pieces by Ashori, Silkroad merchandise, and other exclusive items.
Thank you to Dunamis for sponsoring this event.
Featured panelists from Art Overcomes:
HOMEIRA QADERI
Homeira Qaderi is an Afghan writer, activist, and educator. She has written seven books, including a collection of short stories and her acclaimed novel Noqra: The Daughter of Kabul River (Rozgar Publishers, 2009). She is presently Editor-in-Chief of Ravi-e Zan and she is the founder of the Golden Needle Literary Association where she is training young women writers to become assertive in expressing themselves.
A lifelong human rights activist, Qaderi was awarded the Malalai Medal—Afghanistan’s highest civilian honor—by the president of Afghanistan for her exceptional bravery. After the 2021 fall of Kabul, Qaderi left Afghanistan and moved to the United States where became a Robert G. James Scholar Fellow at Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Research, Harvard University, Qaderi has been featured in several media outlets, including The New York Times, BBC, and NPR, where she has shared her insights and experiences as a writer, scholar, and activist.
FAHIMA ASHORI
Fahima Ashori studied painting at the Fine Art Institute in Kabul, Afghanistan. After the fall of Afghanistan, she was brought to Wellfleet in June 2022 with the help of Yo-Yo Ma's Silkroad. An oil painter for nearly a decade, she has shown and sold her artwork in Afghanistan and the United States.
Last summer, Fahima held her first art show on the Cape at Wellfleet Preservation Hall which sold out and garnered a unanimously positive response from the community. This summer, she was selected as Wellfleet Preservation Hall's inaugural Artist-at-Risk Fellow. Her mission as an artist is to bring a message of peace and justice into the world and to expose to the current state of Afghanistan and celebrate its rich culture through her art.
ALEXANDRA “XAN” WEBER
Alexandra “Xan” Weber, LICSW is Chief Advancement Officer and Senior Vice President at the International Institute of New England (IINE), responsible for resource development, advocacy, engagement, and strategic initiatives. Xan oversees the organization’s fundraising, institutional partnerships, advocacy initiatives, community engagement, and strategic planning.
Xan has held various leadership positions at IINE and has extensive experience in refugee and immigrant service delivery and a strong track record in building programming, institutional support, and partnerships. Before IINE, Xan’s work focused on counseling and social services to families. A Licensed Independent Social Worker in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Xan holds degrees from Georgetown University and the University of Iowa, where she received her Master’s in Social Work. Xan lives with her husband and two children in Jamaica Plain, MA.
Help us support refugee artists
donate today:
As a social impact organization and home to the Grammy Award-winning musical ensemble, Silkroad works to inspire collaboration in innovative ways that add more equity and justice into the world through the power of the arts. Artistic Director Rhiannon Giddens has had a lifelong mission of shining light on previously under-recognized voices and overhauling our understanding of the history of American music to make it reflect the real impact people of all colors have made.
Through community engagement, education, and prison reform under the guise of middle school and collegiate programs, visual art, music, and performances, Silkroad and our partners amplify artists as culture bearers and community leaders in traditional and non-traditional spaces alike, engaging marginalized and underserved communities through the universal language of music.
Artwork by Fahima Ashori
