The Arriving Project

Aim

To secure the future of the Arriving Project - a creative community for people who are seeking sanctuary as refugees and asylum seekers.

The Arriving Project brings joy and connection to people seeking sanctuary. The future of this project is facing uncertainty. We really need your help... 

The Story So Far....

The Arriving project started 5 years ago when we were making a new play about seeking sanctuary, HERE by Lindsay Rodden. During the making of the show we met some incredible people that came on that journey with us. It started with a small group of people we met through refugee support organisations who came on board to help us, but the numbers of people grew week by week. It was finally realised in 2022 (after being cancelled due to the pandemic). It was nominated for performance of the year at The NE Culture Awards. Five years on and the project has snowballed, taken on a life of it's own and it's so much bigger than just a play.  It is now a thriving community of over 100 people from all over the world who offer each other support, friendship and a place of welcome to create art together. The group take part in the cultural life of the city through trips to the theatre and other cultural venues, they cook and share meals and moments of joy and connection together. The group have started to co-create their own work now with local artists and have made theatre productions, films, events, parties, flash mobs, yoga retreats, cabaret nights and immersive performances.   

What The Project Does...

The Arriving Project combats isolation, loneliness and mental health challenges  for people from refugee and asylum seeking backgrounds within our local community through positive, joyful experiences through art. When people come together to be creative and work towards a common goal there is a connection (family) that many people living in challenging circumstances who are navigating the immigration system are missing. 

There are also many barriers for people because of financial situation, transport, language and cultural differences. The project removes as many of these barriers to allow people to come along and join in by providing meals, travel expenses, translation, childcare. 

The project runs regular workshops for our groups:

• Our Sanctuary Performance Group take part in workshops with skilled professional artists, they learn new skills as well as creating events, films, flash mobs, performances that bring together members of the public and the local community to enjoy.

• Our Sanctuary Women's Group - a place for women to share and support each other, to have some 'me time' away from the stresses of daily life. We learn strategies to support with wellbeing and mental health. We do yoga, meditation, creative activities, movement and dance, visual art. A creche is provided for children. 

• Our Volunteers who enjoy the opportunity to spend time in the kitchen cooking meals together, using culturally appropriate food (many of our volunteers stay in 'contingency' accommodation, in hotels/hostels, and do not have access to a kitchen.) Our volunteers also help to run our Curious Caravan events.  

We also run:

• Theatre and Cultural Trips - to see a wide range of performances and exhibitions across the region, supporting our local venues to reach more diverse audiences. 

• Summer Trips to the beach/ countryside to enjoy nature and fresh air which can be difficult for people seeking sanctuary to access. 

Arriving group members wrote this manifesto together that gives you a good sense of how the group works. 

The Arriving Group Manifesto

Curious Monkey’s group for people from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds.

Who we are

We are a group from all over the world, who have come to North East England for lots of different reasons. We are creative. Some people are ‘good’ at theatre and call themselves artists, some people enjoy creating with the group and don’t call themselves artists. We have lots of differences and lots of things in common. We have lots of knowledge, skills and friendship to share.

What we do

We meet together to talk, to create, to share. We smile, laugh and forget our problems. We learn about theatre, art, language and culture. We help each other to understand and participate. We lead on our own creative projects. We eat together. We go to the theatre. We do creative workshops. We dance, we act, we do yoga. We share tasks and work together. We have fun.

How we work together

We share responsibility for creating a space where everyone is comfortable and equal and take responsibility to help each other to understand and participate. We work democratically, listening to and accepting each other’s ideas and learning from each other. We accept that everyone has lives outside of the group and that everyone’s situations are different and we understand that everyone’s situations have different levels of challenge and difficulty. We are supportive of each other and don’t expect everyone to be able to be involved all of the time. We respect each other.

What people get out of it... 

Here's what the members have to say... 

"It feels like family here. Which is so important when so many of us have had to leave family members behind"

"It's a huge stress relief coming here" 

"I feel relaxed, my mental stress gets relaxed" 

"There's good people here" 

"There's a great energy, it's very happy here" 

"Before I had much anxiety, but now I come to Curious Monkey I feel much happier"

"I'm a writer and I get to improve my writing here and be with other artists"  

"My English improves here" 

Our plans for the future... 

We have a touring show coming up made by one of the original Arriving group members Hamzeh Al Hussien. Hamzeh was part of the group as a participant for many years and is now a professional artist touring his new show Penguin across the UK this autumn. 

We have lots of plans for the future, to continue our regular workshops, do more outreach work in hotels and other 'contingency accommodation' to welcome newcomers to the region. We hope to work with the Arriving group to co-create a new travelling show with our Curious Caravan which will travel around bringing joy to audiences across the country. 

We have secured funding for the tour of Penguin but we are seeking funding for the continuation of the Arriving Project from September 2023 onwards. If it wasn't for this project we wouldn't have met Hamzeh, who through the project was able to make the journey from participant to professional artist and is about to take the UK by storm with his first solo show.

You can catch Penguin at Live Theatre, HOME in Manchester, Sheffield Theatres 

(and lots more venues and dates to be announced very soon!) 

If you are able to pledge and support we at Curious Monkey and the whole Arriving community would be so delighted to be able to continue this project that brings so much joy to many people. 

There are awards to enjoy too, check them out. You can also donate without choosing an award. Please share this wide amongst you friends, family and networks. 

Thank You!

This project successfully funded on 31st July 2023