UNESCO Chair on Refugee Integration through Education, Language and Arts

“May you live as long as you want... 

and may you never want as long as you live.” 

It is with sadness that we have learned today of the death of one of our Affiliate Artists Ricky Dragon. Ricky became a UNESCO RIELA affiliate artist in 2018 thanks to an introduction from Predencia Dixon.

We were drawn to Ricky’s warmth, to his playfulness and poise, his work with children and his love of a stage and words. His albums of poetry and recorded oeuvre speak to his abilities and also his love of his home city of Birmingham. As I write these words I can hear the cadences of the Brummie accent in his raps and performance poetry and the way it would speak of energy and the possibilities of a city made in migration and the musicality of speak which migration always brings.  

Ricky worked with us in a variety of projects but in particular at Kelvingrove Museum before the Covid-19 Pandemic, as part of a weekend long ‘take over’ and use of the collection. I can vividly remember rapt audiences eating out of the palm of his hand. Ricky knew that whilst technical ability was important, what matters more was life, living the words, living the art, sharing the words, loving the art. 

The words which we have chosen of Ricky’s here, which he gave to us when writing his own biography for his Affiliate Artist profile, speak volumes of where his heart was, never wanting people to want, always wanting people to live in abundance. 

Rest in Peace Ricky Dragon and go with our gratitude for your work and words and love of live.

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First published: 15 September 2026