Taking place during Refugee Week across Thursday 12 - Sunday 15 June, the Festival celebrates the theme More in Common
Celebrating creativity, community, and connection, the Horizons Festival 2025 theme is More in Common, reflecting a shared desire to build understanding and prevent divisions in society caused by fear and misinformation. This year, the Horizons Festival champions the power of creativity to unite people across cultures.
Curated in collaboration with the Community Arts North West/HOME Arts & Migration Group of international artists, the Festival pays tribute to those who advocate for unity, justice, equality, and reconciliation. The festival honours the artists and communities building bridges, creating connections, and challenging hate and despair while celebrating the richness of global cultures through a week of visual art, film, community events, family-friendly workshops, and live music.
2025’s Horizons Festival opens at Band on the Wall with a live gig on Thursday 12 June, before the Festival moves to HOME over the weekend of Friday 13 – Sunday 15 June for an exciting programme of visual art, discussion, music, film, visual art, family-friendly workshops and a Youth Takeover.
Thursday 12 June, 7pm – 11pm. Horizons Festival Opening Night Party at Band on the Wall
On Thursday night, Band on the Wall hosts a free gig where Manchester’s global diaspora takes centre stage. The musicians are part of the Band on the Wall/CAN World of Song programme.
Catch the contemporary and traditional sounds of Somalia with Xaawo Kiin, the rhythms of Latin America and the Caribbean with the Guacamaya Latin Band, and the folk music of Iran from the Hamsaz Ensemble.
The gig opens with music from the 12-piece, cross-cultural youth band Without Borders, who are making their stage debut.
Without Borders
The gig promises to be a night of fresh sounds celebrating different styles, genres and global heritages.
The gig is free with no need to book tickets.
Friday 13 June, 6pm, HOME, Between the Lines Exhibition Launch
Photographer Pinar Yildiz unveils Between the Lines, a new public art commission. In this work, Pinar revisits an earlier project created in 2019 in the streets of the old town of Mardin, Turkey; SELF PORTRAİTS which was exhibited at the Mardin Sabik Sabanci Museum in 2019) Her work explores what it means to her work when it’s made in a different city and invites audiences to relook at Manchester.
Pinar Yildiz is a photographer originally from Turkey. She is part of an artist collective originating in Turkey called 9dokuz dergi, which exhibits internationally. Pinar moved to Manchester in 2023.
This new artwork is commissioned as part of a series of artist commissions created to support Manchester-based artists with lived-experience of displacement to make new work. These opportunities are supported by HOME’s Creative Engagement team.
The launch is accompanied by performances from local musicians.
Friday 13 June, 7pm, HOME, Refugee Action Panel Discussion
Join Refugee Action and the advocacy group RAS Voice for a panel discussion on Refugee Action’s briefing, Asylum in the UK: A Frontline for Racial Justice.
The fight for racial justice and refugee rights are interconnected and inseparable. The briefing and panel discussion highlight the ties between the two issues and underline the urgent need to challenge racism in the asylum system. The expert panel includes Haleemah Alaydi, Yolande Ghola, Cathy Lebadou, Dr Millie Montiel McCann and Ben Whitham.
The panel features:
Haleemah Alaydi is a Research Consultant at Refugee Action, working on asylum as a racial justice issue. She has worked as a researcher with universities and charities across the UK, including Refugee Education UK, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research and the Office for National Statistics, researching refugees, channel crossings and the asylum system. She holds a PhD from the University of York.
Yolande Ghola moved to the UK from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2002. She has since settled in Salford, where she is a city councillor. Yolande is the founding Chief Executive of the Salford Upskilling CIC, which supports migrants and asylum seekers across Greater Manchester to develop their English and digital skills. The organisation supports their health and well-being. Yolande holds an MA in Social Care and Well-Being.
Cathy Lebadou is a Human Rights activist and an ambassador for the Lift the Ban campaign. She has led strategic conversations around recruiting and upskilling people with lived experience of the asylum system for better representation at a senior level. Cathy is a Refugee Action board member. She won a Third Sector Leadership Award. In Zimbabwe, Cathy founded the Jewels of Africa Girls Trust, which supports girls and teenage mothers in marginalised communities to develop vocational skills and to support them in education and leadership. Cathy is a Lived Experience Coordinator at the Greater Manchester Homelessness Action Network.
Dr Millie Montiel McCann is a researcher, policy analyst and linguist who has worked in academia and the charity sector. Her academic research explores the intersections of gender, race and migration. Millie has recently published two research reports on the hostile environment as a racial justice issue for The Runnymede Trust.
Dr Ben Whitham is a Senior Policy and Research Officer at Refugee Action. Ben’s research explores asylum as a racial justice issue and asylum seekers’ right to work. Before joining Refugee Action, Ben was a lecturer in International Relations at SOAS (The School of African and Oriental Studies), part of the University of London. His research focused on the global political economies of Islamophobia and small-boat migration.
Friday 13 June, 8.30pm, HOME, Horizons Festival After-Party + Networking Event
Arts and Migration Group
Day one of the festival wraps up with the Horizons Festival After-Party + Networking event with a special live performance from Refugee Action’s band. The party is hosted by CAN and HOME’s Arts and Migration Group of international artists.
Numbers are limited.
Saturday 14 June, 1pm-3pm, HOME’s Inspire Gallery, Exhibition More in Common Launch
Visual art lovers can celebrate the unveiling of More in Common in HOME’s Inspire Gallery. The exhibition was created by WAST (Women Asylum Seekers Together), a grassroots Greater Manchester-based network of sanctuary-seeking women, in collaboration with the artist Ashleigh Beattie. Together, they have created a mixed media collage using textile and repurposed found material, which responds to the festival theme, More in Common. The event features a performance by the WAST Choir.
The Women of WAST
WAST campaigns for social justice and women’s rights through a peer-led support model helping women find their place in the UK. The values of compassion, respect, inclusion and empowerment underpin WAST’s work. Its goal is to support women in the asylum system in integrating into the wider community, being empowered to know their rights, and accessing support for their basic needs, healthcare, and immigration cases.
Ashleigh Beattie
Ashleigh Beattie is a Zimbabwean artist based in Manchester. She came to the UK in 2005 to study Fine Art at the University of Cumbria. Ashleigh has worked as an artist, workshop facilitator and teacher. Her work explores themes of displacement and belonging as a migrant. Ashleigh repurposes everyday materials, drawing from her childhood, where nothing is thrown away, and everything is repurposed.
You can also see Ashleigh’s artwork, Perambulator in HOME, between Monday 2 – Sunday 29 June. The work is the repurposing of Ashleigh’s childhood pram and the devalued Zimbabwean dollar note. As an attempt to ‘mend’, Ashleigh hand-stitched the notes to create a cover that sits over the old rusty pram. By merging the pram that promised new life and devalued dollars that shattered a nation, Perambulator references the uncomfortable truth of loss. This piece is a lament for the past and a longing for what could have been. Although Perambulator was made in direct response to Zimbabwe’s economic woes, it speaks universally of the uncertainty of many of the world’s economies. The viewer is invited to contemplate their humanity as they consider the fragile nature of life.
Saturday 14 June, 10am onwards, HOME, family-friendly workshops
Curated by CAN, the day features free activities, family-friendly art workshops and performance.
Drop-in Family Workshop. Paper Mosaics, 10am – 2pm
Learn the intricate art of paper mosaic in this family-friendly drop-in workshop with visual artist Ahmed Elzber. Explore the Horizons Festival theme More in Common and create a unique mosaic masterpiece to take home.
The workshop takes place in HOME’s foyer and is recommended for families with children aged 5+. The workshop is free and there is no need to book.
Ahmed Elzber is a visual artist and music producer currently in residence at Sheba Arts as their Talent Development Artist. Ahmed’s work focuses on figurative abstract painting and sculptures. Growing up in northeastern Africa, his work has various influences. He holds a BA in Fine and Applied Arts from Sudan University. He has participated in art projects and exhibited his work in galleries in Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia and the UK, including Leigh’s Turnpike Gallery. Ahmed is also a member of the Sudanese Plastic Art Union.
Saturday 14 June, 10am and 11am, Family-friendly Djembe Drum-along with Godfrey Pambalipe.
Godfrey Pambalipe
Bring the whole family along to drum to the rhythms of the Djembe with musician Godfrey Pambalipe.
There are two workshops. The workshops are free, but you need to book a ticket.
10am Book your free ticket here.
11am Book your free ticket here.
Family Palestinian Dabke Workshop with Fares Farraj, 10.30am
Dabke Workshop with Fares Farraj
Take part in a lively dance workshop to discover Dabke, the Palestinian folk-dance style rooted in community and resistance.
10.30am Book your free ticket here.
Family Print-making workshop with Linda Wachaga, 10.30am
Enjoy a family-friendly print-making workshop exploring the Festival’s theme More in Common.
10.30am Book your free ticket here.
Crafting Heritage Drop-in Family Workshop, 1.30pm
Rochdale’s Cartwheel Arts hosts hands-on craft sessions, including traditional Ukrainian Petrykivka painting with Valeria Leonova and clay tea light-making to explore the importance of sharing light during the Diwali festival with Deepa Parmar. The workshops are recommended for families with children aged 5+.
Deepa and Valeria are part of the Cartwheel Arts Crafting Heritage project, a two-year exploration of the heritage crafts thriving within Rochdale’s vibrant communities that have lived experience of forced migration.
The workshop takes place on the ground floor in HOME’s foyer.
Petrykivka Painting and Diwali Tealights
Family Film – The Wild Robot – curated by Culture Bridge, 11am, Certificate U
The epic animated adventure follows the journey of a robot, ROZZUM unit 7134, “Roz” for short. Roz is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island and must learn to adapt to the harsh surroundings, gradually building relationships with the island’s animals and becoming the adoptive parent of an orphaned gosling.
Global Youth Takeover, 3pm
Join us for a dynamic celebration of culture and creativity from Greater Manchester’s children and young people in a showcase of theatre, dance, live music, and animation. Enjoy performances from CAN/Band on the Wall Without Borders CAN Young Artists, Afrocats, and Culture Bridge.
CAN/Band on the Wall’s youth band, Without Borders, features the talents of 11 young musicians. Without Borders plays an eclectic mix of contemporary, self-penned, and traditional music inspired by different styles and genres and the band’s diverse global heritages.
CAN/Band on the Wall’s Youth Band
CYA Melody in Motion
Without Borders has rehearsed at Band on the Wall since November 2024 with the Music Leader Sanja Govorčin, with creative support from volunteer Alex Rouault, CAN’s Senior Creative Producer Katherine Rogers and guest musicians. Without Borders is part of the World of Song programme developed by Band on the Wall and CAN, supported by the National Heritage Lottery Fund.
CAN’s Young Artists’ Melody in Motion is an inspiring multi-media piece featuring live music and animation. Aged 13 – 20, the group has global heritages with some of the young people having experienced displacement or forced migration. Animation created by the group from their original artwork will accompany live music. CAN’s Young Artists have worked with animators Johnathan Garvey and Sanna Räsäsen and CAN’s Music Leader, Emma Marsh. Melody in Motion was created through a partnership with Trafford Creative Industries (Trafford Council) and The Cosgrove Hall Films Archive, hosted at Waterside Arts.
Afrocats
Afrocats showcase a dynamic blend of African, Asian, and Caribbean dance styles. The performance demonstrates how dance is a powerful tool for growing confidence and self-expression. Guided by Joy Ogboko, the dancers celebrate diversity and strength through creativity. Afrocats is a Black, female-led charity working with communities to create opportunities and inspiring experiences to dismantle inequality.
Children and young people from Culture Bridge perform The Farmer and the Donkey, featuring music and dance, and is inspired by a traditional tale with themes of friendship, faith, and honesty, The play was first developed in Kurdish but will be performed in English. The performance was created through Culture Bridge’s Nishtiman School, which supports young people in learning the Kurdish culture and language. Culture Bridge is a not-for-profit organisation championing education and facilitating communication and trust between cultures
Tickets are £4.70 Book your tickets here.
Sunday 15 June, 3pm, Arts and Migration On Screen (CTBA) & Q&A
The Horizons Festival ends with an Arts and Migration on Screen programme.
An afternoon of short films features experimental documentaries to archive films exploring migration, belonging, and community.
The screening includes the newly commissioned documentary by Mohammad Ali Sheida, featuring personal stories from international artists who have found a home and creative voice in Manchester.
This documentary film was commissioned for the 2025 Horizons Festival Programme by HOME and CAN as part of a series of artist commissions created to support Manchester-based artists with lived experience of displacement to make new work. These opportunities are supported by HOME’s Creative Engagement Practitioners.
The screening also features a dance performance by Instant Dissidence, Dancing with Strangers: From Palestine to Ireland by Gavin FitzGerald, local and international emerging filmmaking talent and a selection of films from the North West Film Archive.
The screening features a Q&A with Mohammad Ali Sheida and people featured in his documentary.
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