Sanctuary in Action 2025
We’re launching Sanctuary in Action: a programme supporting sanctuary communities through creativity and connection.
Working with community groups and partners, we’re building opportunities across UAL and beyond.
This page will be updated with events and opportunities throughout the year.
Activating Lifeline
Monday 12 May 2025
11am - 5pm (drop-in)
The Street, Central Saint Martins
'Lifeline' is a participatory action-research project exploring concepts of cultural sustainability and community resilience through the lived experience of refugees and asylum seekers.
The activation of 'Lifeline' in the street at CSM will challenge the audience to rethink mainstream narratives that negatively affect individuals seeking refuge and to advocate for a more compassionate future. Participants will take away a copy of the workshop facilitator and artist Lucy Orta’s LIFELINE ZINE, expressing through photography and text the challenges displaced people have faced on arrival and the opportunities that have helped to rebuild their new life in the UK.
Sanctuary in Care: a participatory mapping workshop
Thursday 29 May 2025
11am - 1pm
The Street, Central Saint Martins
This participatory workshop invites attendees to reimagine care beyond institutional healthcare, mapping alternative care networks shaped by refugee, migrant, and diasporic healing traditions.
Through collaborative, mixed media collaging on textiles we will explore how displacement, sanctuary, and decolonial health intersect, centring land-based healing, community-led care, and resistance to medical gatekeeping. The workshop will create an open, inclusive space where participants can visually express their experiences, memories, and journeys through collaborative map-making and creative exploration.
#Upcycle365: Upcycling workshops
17 May | 24 May | 31 May | 7 June | 14 June | 21 June 2025
London College of Fashion
Join PhD student Toyin Gbomedo’s 6-week workshop series on how to upcycle clothes, shoes and accessories while championing cultural sustainability, reducing fashion waste and tackling clothing poverty.
Open to all residents aged 18 and over who live in East London. Refugee and asylum seekers are encouraged.
These upcycling workshops are part of a PhD research project exploring creative sustainability practices and community engagement. Your participation contributes to valuable academic research and helps shape future approaches to sustainable design. By signing up for these workshops, you are agreeing to take part in this research.
Voices for hope: Sanctuary x Centre for Sustainable Fashion
Thursday 26 June 2025
10am - 5pm
London College of Fashion
As part of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion Field Day at LCF, Sanctuary in Action will present a powerful programme that highlights creativity, collaboration, and community-building between students, staff, and sanctuary-seeking individuals. This initiative aligns with UAL’s commitment to becoming a University of Sanctuary, integrating refugee voices into the heart of artistic and academic practice.
The Sanctuary in Action showcase will feature 3 impactful projects each exploring themes of migration, resilience, and belonging through participatory art, design, and storytelling.
Please note, this event is by invitation only.
Related links
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Sanctuary in Action - Hand and seeds| Illustration by Eve Bull, 2025
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Sanctuary in Action - Textiles and memories | Illustration by Eve Bull, 2025
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Sanctuary in Action - Picnic and plants | Illustration by Eve Bull, 2025