- Posted on October 28th, 2025
Movement, Migration and Manchester
The Creative Climate Accelerator is a training programme by JB and Arts Council England, designed to empower emerging climate leaders from diverse backgrounds within the cultural sector. Participants develop action plans for creative climate projects, focusing on themes like climate justice and biodiversity.
Movement, Migration and Manchester ran between December 2024 and June 2025 and was a collaboration between University of Manchester students, academic staff, people from the community who have experiences of migration to the city, Grass Routes Movement CIC, Manchester Museum and Castlefield Gallery. Through a series of six urban walks, one silent, and six creative workshops, we moved and made together, sharing experiences of free movement, reflecting on restrictions to the right to roam on domestic, bordered land and co-producing the project exhibition which captured our poetry, nature journals, embroidery, free movement zines, photography and voice. The overarching theme of the ‘hostile environment’ lay at the core of our gaze, both in how it impacts humans and our capacity to move freely, but also how the changing climate impacts nature, a process which itself has started to generate migrants in flight.
Some of the questions we’ve been thinking about through this project are:
- How does global climate change impact the everyday lives of people in Manchester?
- How does it feel to live and move in the spaces and places of the city as a migrant?
- How is access to green space and the capacity for free movement in and around Manchester shaped by law, custom, habit and the limitations of the hostile environment?
- How does the exclusionary nature of the ‘right to roam’ with public/private land ownership connect with the prevailing and persistent hostile environment towards displaced people who experience curtailment of ‘free movement’?
- How might storytelling/narrative/art and culture shift perceptions and experiences of green space for people migrating to Manchester, a city rich with movements and a history of movement, and those who are long-term residents?
For our poetry workshops, led first by Ambrose Musiyiwa, we sat among the Museum’s Wild exhibition and wrote about our anger towards borders, barriers and separation whilst also reflecting on how we experience joy; with Rebecca Hurst, for our second poetry workshop we shared stories about bodies of water and found solace in ‘the garden’ of shared experiences. We displayed our poetry and craftwork including writings from a zine workshop with freelance writer, Dipali Das, nature journalling with Beth Craigen of NACRO Greater Manchester Outdoor Learning and embroidery capturing freedom stories in our final project exhibition which took place at Manchester Museum during Refugee Week.
You can hear more about this project on the M16 Matters radio show:
With support from Greater Manchester Outdoor Learning, Groundwork, Manchester Museum and Castlefield Gallery. Thanks to the University of Manchester School of Arts, Languages and Cultures Social Responsibility Fund. The project was further developed through the CCA programme, which provided space to build relationships with our NPO partners and scope future collaborations – including a forthcoming website and exhibition to continue sharing the work of Movement, Migration and Manchester.