Our first year as a Theatre of Sanctuary
2025 June 20To celebrate Refugee Week 2025, we felt this would be a good time to look back on our first anniversary of becoming a Theatre of Sanctuary and what we’ve achieved over the last 12 months, to be a safe and creative space for all.
In this time, we have built new relationships with organisations working with refugee and asylum seekers as well as continuing our partnerships with IASK (Immigration and Asylum Support Kirklees) and the Ukrainian British Friendship Group. Some of the highlights of the past year include:
Creative Welcome Project
We worked with IASK to deliver Creative Welcome – a project to promote well-being, creativity and connection for refugees and asylum seekers. With funding from Creative Minds, we employed a musician and visual artist to work as part of IASK’s Welcome Clubs. People of all ages, from small children to adults, drew, painted and crafted portraits of each other, made music and created soundscapes together. The space was filled with laughter and new connections were made for people often facing isolation and loneliness. The whole project culminated in a celebration in our Cellar Theatre where over 60 people shared food, conversation, made music and saw and heard what had been created. A truly heart-warming event.
Ukrainian British Friendship Group
Every Saturday afternoon in our building The Ukrainian British Friendship Group fill our spaces with energy, laughter and creativity. Their leader, Natalia Mirkun, became part of our One Voice project and the whole group joined in the Big Sing in December.
One Voice Project
We ran the One Voice project where people from the local community came together to learn winter songs in Hindi, Ukrainian and English and then performed together in our Courtyard as the audience came out of our annual pantomime. It was brilliant to have Natalia as one of the teachers and fabulous to hear people blending their voices across our communities.
Ticket offers for local refugee groups
We’ve been delighted to be able to offer tickets for shows to local refugee groups – particular highlights were the feedback from English as a Second Language students who came to see 10 Nights and, of course, seeing so many families being able to experience panto (often for the first time) as part of our Christmas Heroes appeal.
Tours, workshops and creative spaces
We have offered backstage tours to English as a Second Language students from Kirklees College– seeing their faces light up as they came into our Main House and experiencing their delight as they stepped onto the stage was fantastic.
In a few weeks’ time families from refugee communities will join us to watch The Elmer Adventure and take part in a storytelling and patchwork making workshop.
Currently 6 Million Plus have been running their Wear and Share project here and their final performance is coming soon. The project brings people together from the different refugee and home communities to share stories about pieces of clothing and their significance which are then woven into performances.
Many Voices, One Home
To celebrate this year’s theme of ‘Community as a Superpower’ as part of Refugee Week 2025 we held a special event called Many Voices, One Home in collaboration with Womencentre, Kirklees Libraries, IASK, Holocaust Centre North, Shared Goods and 6 Million Plus. People and families came together in the glorious sunshine in our Courtyard for a day of dance, songs, creativity, food and drink within a safe space. It was a joyous event with lots of smiles and fun and perfectly captured the message of refugee week and the imagination and inspiration of our local communities.
Looking ahead to the future
As we look to the next 12 months and beyond as a Theatre of Sanctuary, we are excited to be working on the new project Our Freedom, Then and Now with funding from Futures Arts Centre. The project will see us working with groups from across a range of communities to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Using a poem by Marsden Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage as inspiration, groups from IASK, The Sikh Soldiers Organisation, The Ukrainian British Friendship Group and many others will work with local artists to explore what freedom means to them both in the past and now. Their work will then be shared at a celebratory event in October at our theatre.
We also look forward to our connections and relationships with groups in the communities growing stronger and creating and collaborating on new projects, events and workshops together. We are proud to be a Theatre of Sanctuary, a creative home for all at Lawrence Batley Theatre, where everyone from our community feels safe and included.
