Islamic Arts & Heritage Festival
Islamic Arts & Heritage Festival 2025
This November, Vision RCL is supporting local communities to celebrate Islamic Arts and Heritage as part of Islamophobia Awareness Month.
In Redbridge Central Library, the Islamic Arts & Heritage Festival aims to promote cultural understanding, shared learning, and community cohesion through exhibition displays, engaging families in arts and crafts activities, short film screenings, recommended book collections and much more. The theme for our Islamic Arts and Heritage Festival 2025: ISLAM IN BRITAIN – Converts & Connections.
Everyone is welcome and invited to take part, to learn and gain a greater understanding of our borough’s rich cultural diversity.
Activities On The Day:
Drawn Together
11:30am – 16:00pm, free, drop-in
Led by Barkingside Art Club with art educator and local artist Eliyah Qureshi and the Creative Ambassadors.
Join us at Redbridge Central Library for a vibrant celebration of Islamic Art and Heritage, where creativity, rhythm, and culture come together.
As part of the Big Draw Festival, we will explore the beauty of Islamic art through collective creativity. Together, we will create a large community banner using a range of techniques, including calligraphy, stencilling, and printmaking.
For younger artists, there will be a special opportunity to design and decorate their own duff (traditional drum) and discover how rhythm, music, and art connect in Islamic culture.
The Creative Ambassadors will also host special stations throughout the session, showcasing their own interpretations and insights into Islamic art techniques, celebrating both tradition and modern creativity.
Highlights:
- Explore the patterns, geometry, and stories behind Islamic art
- Learn about famous artists, architecture, and cultural heritage
- Create your own artwork to take home
- Contribute to a large collaborative mural celebrating unity and creativity
- Engage with demonstrations by the talented Creative Ambassadors
Suitable for all ages and families.
This is an inclusive session, open to SEN families. Support will be available throughout.
Limited spaces – first come, first served.
Let’s draw, create, and celebrate together, discovering how art connects us all.
REDBRIDGE CENTRAL LIBRARY, LAB CENTRAL
Step Into Heritage – Green-Screen Experience
12.30 – 15:30, free, drop-in
Join Digital Enterprise Makers for an interactive Green-Screen adventure! Families can step in front of the screen and instantly appear inside stunning scenes inspired by Islamic art, architecture, and heritage sites.
Children & families can pose, snap their own pictures, and discover the history behind each backdrop – learning while having fun and taking away a memory on their own phone or camera.
Perfect for all ages, this drop-in activity blends technology, culture, and creativity in one exciting experience.
REDBRIDGE CENTRAL LIBRARY, LAB CENTRAL
Outside Terrace
12.30 – 15:30, free, drop-in
Soft Archery – Practice your target shooting by having a go at soft archery and learn its (little known) link to Islam.
Target boards will be located outside on the terrace with bows – the bows are rubber-ended.
REDBRIDGE CENTRAL LIBRARY, Studio 2, First Floor
Calligraphy Workshop & Tasbeeh Making
13:45 – 16:00
Calligraphy Workshop: offered by APEX Secondary School
Tasbeeh Making Activity: facilitated by Asiya
REDBRIDGE CENTRAL LIBRARY
Studio Foyer, First Floor
Muslimah Sports Association Heritage Exhibition
13:45 – 16:00
Discover the Heritage of Muslim Women in Sports!
The Muslimah Sports Association (MSA) has created a fantastic heritage project all about Muslim women in sports. This exhibition is a journey through the lives of Muslim women who’ve faced and conquered barriers in the world of sport and is a brilliant opportunity to delve into the challenges and triumphs of Muslim women in sports.
Food Stall selling pakoras, cake and chai with seating area in Studio 1.
Children’s Library
Introduction to the festival and planned activities – 12 noon
School Performance – Children from Al Noor Primary School – 12.30pm
A short presentation on a personal calligraphy journey will follow this – 12.50pm.
Short films – two short films will be screened throughout the day – 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm.
