The Festival of Light is a multi-faith celebration, allowing people from all religions, and those of no religion to experience Christmas, Diwali, Hajj, and Chanukah, celebrating and encouraging cohesion and communication.

The event was held on 1 December at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Festival Partnership saw this as the perfect platform to launch the What’s The Harm In Harmony, epitomizing, supporting and enhancing the Festival’s core aim of building bridges through culture in Oldham. Working with Brimingham based Ulfah Arts’ and based on their existing group Musawwir, Musawwir means the Artist/Shaper in Arabic, describing an attribute of God. A central focus of Musawwir is finding commonality in all faith on a universal level, using the belief that everyone has an understanding of whom and what God is, or even if there is a God or not.

The aim of the group is to empower women to create and lead a space within their communities; essentially exploring a link between creativity and spirituality without labeling it, but still enjoying the commonality and universal aspects between other faiths, religions and practices. The women will be given the chance to express their artistic talents through the discussion and identification of common issues and boundaries, building capacity and confidence.