20 YEARS OF ART REFUGE: 2006-2026

A very large thank you to everyone who came to our exhibition, seminar and The Community Table workshops at Yorkton Workshops, Hackney, London - May 13-16.

At the heart of our work is The Community Table is a model of practice that began around a table in a safe house for unaccompanied young people in Calais, 2017. It has since been developed and used across our art and art therapy work in the UK, France and further afield.

The Community Table offers a unique experience for people on the move to participate in creative arts activity alongside other humanitarian workers, interpreters, volunteers, and artists with lived experience of displacement who are part of the team. We have learnt that this shared activity not only helps to create a supportive community around people on the move, but offers ways for all participants to de-stress.

Research into The Community Table has identified the significant role it plays in supporting people on the move to emotionally cope in difficult circumstances and to imagine something better. People on the move reported that The Community Table generated positive memories and experiences, helping them to cope with their present challenges, feel more hopeful for the future, and contribute to their overall wellbeing. The Community Table was recognised for promoting more democratic practice by the inclusion of other humanitarian workers (etc) who themselves saw their participation as positively influencing their own mental health and wellbeing.

The Community Table has also become a response to the bigger picture, the urgent issues of our time. More than ever we need to be gathering around real and imagined tables, talking to each other and seeking creative responses and solution. This is not just amongst people who are like us, but with people from different perspectives, cultures, ideologies, socio-economic and political backgrounds and identities. As such it is one of the tools used by the team - The Community Table Collective - in a range of settings and with diverse audiences and participants.

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*** images from The Community Table during the exhibition ***