In a community-led, multi-artform project, Alnwick Playhouse will invite the people of Alnwick and district to consider what freedom means to us now, and if and how that has changed in the 80 years since the end of the Second World War, with the aim of creating a takeover weekend at the Playhouse later this year.  Local volunteers, the Playhouse band, Youth Theatre, Alnwick community groups, the Duchess High School, and more will be supported by Playhouse staff and the artists engaged with the community to deliver this event.

An Tobar and Mull Theatre’s community-led project will invite local people to remember and reflect on VE Day, Tobermory’s history as a naval base during WWII, and what freedom has meant across generations on Mull. Involving older residents and wartime descendants; young people and schools; local businesses and shop owners along Tobermory Main Street (as hosts for window and in-store installations); and community groups and clubs, the island’s living history and heritage will be captured and brought to life through a creative trail following a route unique to Tobermory, from Main Street through to the Lighthouse path, using physical landmarks to anchor the narrative.

Exploring what freedom means, here and now, in the context of the end of the Second World War, ARC Stockton will invite local people to join them at ARC’s creative engagement classes to collaborate on leading and shaping pieces of creative work. These will be brought together as recordings filmed across Stockton and live performances, in a public event in November that will reflect Stockton’s unique voice.

Working with three distinctly different communities, each of which already has roots at ARC, will ensure a diversity of voices that belong to the area. These will be Full Circle, an award-winning independent theatre company of learning disabled theatre makers; refugees and asylum seekers (the Borough is a major resettlement area for displaced people); and participants in ARC’s weekly creative engagement classes for adults across Stockton (from Tai Chi and art, to ukulele playing and Taiko drumming).

ARK, Cliftonville’s Cultural Space – a former synagogue with a unique heritage and based in a unique part of Thanet with diverse communities – will invite people to contribute to and take part in The Freedom Space project through building planters, planting (with herbs for the community to use), and creating mosaics and ceramic pieces.

Through its active volunteer programme; free activities for the local Roma community and refugee and migrant communities, weekly drop-ins and programme of workshops for local schools celebrating Jewish heritage; members from the local mosque; and the wider local community, this project will celebrate the diversity of the community, and ARK as an inclusive, creative cultural resource, and will also provide an opportunity for people to continue to be connected to ARK, and each other, while the building is closed for improvements over the summer.

Grounded in the rich, complex history of Oxford and the diverse voices of those who call it home, Arts at Old Fire Station’s project will invite participants to come together and reflect on the legacy of World War 2, and how freedom has been won, challenged, and redefined across generations.

Participants will be drawn from a range of groups including The Hidden Spire Collective, an Everyday Muslim focus group, Damascus Rose Kitchen & the Syrian Sisters, Crisis, St Mungo’s, Homeless Oxfordshire, Aspire Oxford, Unrebel Housing, and HMP Bullingdon. They will respond to these community-led conversations, connecting personal narratives with broader social themes, through a creative exercise each week which will help shape a performance, supported by an artist, in mid-November.

Forming an intergenerational and cross-artform creative community from four of its groups – Washington Youth Theatre, Right Track Young Musicians Project, Creative Age, and Washington Community Podcasters – and working with Washington Heritage Partnership, Arts Centre Washington will present a multimedia performance based on stories and reflections on the theme of freedom from its communities across Washington and Sunderland. Spotlight, Arts Centre Washington’s annual open exhibition, will also reflect the themes of the project this year.

Shaped by the people of Burnt Oak, home to a rich tapestry of communities, including a strong Nepalese presence rooted in the ex-Gurkha community, as well as long-standing Jewish and Irish populations, and more recently, Romanian communities, artsdepot in London will collaborate on a series of a series of inclusive and participatory workshops which will enable local voices to share their perspectives on what freedom means to them.

Creating space for diverse voices and perspectives to be heard and valued, these creative workshops will culminate in a community-led installation or public artwork which will be showcased both in the local area and at artsdepot, with the aim of sparking conversation, reflection, and celebration around the theme of freedom.

With support from local people and groups, the Awen Cultural Trust team plans to create a multimedia, immersive-style experience based around wartime memories but also around stories and feelings of freedom. Accessible for all generations, from schoolchildren to veterans and everyone in between, this will be a very special opportunity for the community to come together to mark this year’s Remembrance Day, 80 years on from VE/VJ Day.

Working with the Bridgend Veterans group, a local refugee group (through the Croeso Bridgend Network), local History Societies, and the Awen Heritage volunteers, workshops will be held in local libraries and venues across Bridgend County Borough, with the main public event to be hosted at Maesteg Town Hall.

Where possible the public content will be bilingual, in English and Welsh.

Centred on the idea of ‘Freedom from Want’ and exploring community solidarity and collective action in Barnsley from the 1940s to the present day, Barnsley Civic will focus on food, then and now, linking war-time rationing, growing-your-own, and food waste reduction, to modern-day food banks and community pantries.Local organisations and individuals will come together to share their stories, views and experiences to explore what ‘Freedom from Want’ means to them. From communities specifically associated with food and welfare such as Good Food Pantries, FareShare and Barnsley Food Bank, to groups and partners such as Barnsley U3A, Barnsley Archives, local history groups, schools, the Youth Council, and Young Civilians, participants will be invited to work with local artists and creatives to create a visual response to the prompt ‘What can you bring to the table?’ which will help shape a community celebration in Mandela Gardens in September, and encourage community solidarity, building new networks, relationships and common bonds.

At the heart of an area that was bombed during air raids in the Barrow Blitz, Barrow Library (helped by co-located services at Cumbria Archives) will be engaging young adults, communities of interest, and specific neighbourhoods to look back at what freedom meant for people living in Barrow during 1945 as the Second World War ended, exploring what powered young people’s hope back then and what powers hope today for them today as changemakers of the future. Participants will work alongside a professional Comic Artist to help realise ideas visually through the medium of comics, developing skills in storytelling, collage, drawing, and creative writing.

Exploring how the idea of freedom has been expressed through the growth and transformation of Bracknell since it was established as a post-war new town, Bracknell Forest Libraries will lead on a project which aims to collect and celebrate the memories of those who have lived in Bracknell from its early days to today, while also looking forward to hopes for the future.

Local community groups (including local history organisations, Bracknell U3A, and South Hill Park – Bracknell’s arts centre) will work together to create creative opportunities that invite people of all ages and backgrounds to engage, share stories, and reflect on how Bracknell has changed and to share what freedom means to the people who’ve called it home. The programme will culminate in celebratory public events to showcase the community’s contributions.

Working with communities in Stonebridge, Harlesden, and Wembley Park – areas with rich cultural diversity, strong community networks, and historical links to migration, resilience, and civic pride – libraries at Harlesden and Wembley will lead on ‘Wembley at War’, an opportunity for local people to creatively explore and share Brent’s hidden wartime stories, connecting the past with their own experiences of community, resilience, and freedom today.

Inspired by the important role women brewers played during WWII to maintain this vital industry, the Brewhouse Arts Centre (housed in a former brewery building donated by Bass to support local theatre) will lead on a project exploring what freedom and community means now, 80 years on from the end of the Second World War, especially for the people in Burton.

Working with a range of community groups and the National Brewing Heritage Trust, a series of creative workshops will be developed to share stories and help shape an exhibition and a new commission for the Brewhouse, honouring the contribution these pioneering women made to the town’s social fabric and brewing culture.

To mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, Bridport Arts Centre is bringing together voices from across its community to explore what it is to be free in Bridport in 2025. Working with three community groups from across Bridport and the surrounding villages – children from the Bridport Youth and Community Club (BYCC); older people, especially those with an association with or interest in WWII; and the general public, especially those who are interested in creative expression/creativity – they will run a series of creative workshops that will feed into an important exhibition taking place this autumn in the Allsop Gallery.

To mark 80 years since the end of the Second World War, Cast in Doncaster, together with local people, partners, charities, and creatives, will be diving into the idea of freedom – what it meant back then, and what it means to us now, especially to those seeking sanctuary. Through poetry, dance, music, and spoken word, they’ll bring shared stories of strength, hope, and togetherness to life in a celebration of unity.

Recognising that freedom thrives where acceptance lives, Cast is proud to stand with Doncaster’s multicultural communities and celebrate the vibrant, diverse city it calls home. Working with school groups (through partnership with the National Literacy Trust); refugee and asylum seekers (through partnership with local charities Changing Lives, Doncaster Conversation Club and Cast Community Ambassadors); older people with lived experience (through partnership with Doncaster Age Friendly Steering Group, and Cast Community Board), Doncaster People’s Theatre (Cast’s in-house intergenerational community theatre company); local uniformed groups; and involving Doncaster Archives, Heritage Services, and the Museum, Cast will be opening its doors wide to everyone who wants to get involved as they connect and celebrate the voices of the community at a tea party on 30 August, sharing flavours from around the world, local cuisine, and heartfelt stories in a joyful, welcoming atmosphere.

During the Nazi regime, thousands of Deaf people were subjected to forced sterilisation in the belief that they were a burden to society and the state and with the anticipation that disability could be eliminated in future Aryan generations. Chapter, rooted in the heart of Cardiff, Wales, will create a Deaf-led project which aims to reflect on this history and collective trauma and to uniquely explore what freedom means through the lens of Deaf creativity in Wales, centring their lived experiences today.

Commissioning early-career Deaf practitioners to create work responding to the theme of the programme and working with Deaf audiences who are often excluded from participation and engagement in cultural projects, the project outcomes will be presented at Deaf Gathering Cymru, Wales’s largest Deaf-led creative festival, held at Chapter in November 2025.

(West Dunbartonshire Libraries)

Working with local communities, including writers; heritage, book, and craft groups; and residential centres to capture memories of celebration and freedom, Clydebank Library will be reflecting on the feeling of freedom that VE/VJ Day brought, and asking what freedom means today. Hopeful in nature, a photo/video exhibition will be created showing the impact of the Clydebank Blitz and how the landscape has recovered today.

Local author Paul Bristow will hold sessions with schools to look at how the end of the war was celebrated, and to gather the views of now and future from the area’s young people.

Through its distinctive network of community ambassadors – including representatives from African Families UK, Balkerne Trust Care Home Community, Colchester Gujarati Community, Colchester Arts Centre Youth Board, Colchester Nepalese Society, and Autism Anglia – Colchester Arts Centre will work with its young people, global majority, elderly, and disabled communities to design a celebratory event, exploring what freedom and community means to us now, 80 years since the end of the Second World War.

Working across the county from libraries in Belper, Bolsover, Chesterfield, Ilkeston, and Eckington, Derbyshire Libraries & Heritage Service will lead on a project exploring what freedom means to the people of Derbyshire now, developing ideas for a series of creative community events to take place this autumn. Each event will be unique to the town it takes place in, reflecting the varied nature and heritage of such a large county.

Bringing people together and creating connections across the broad spectrum of Derbyshire communities (particularly those who are most isolated or whose voices aren’t usually heard), this project will provide opportunities to engage in creative activities, and to reflect in a positive way on the freedoms we enjoy, bought at such heavy cost during the Second World War.

Eastern Angles puts local heritage at the forefront of its work, and The Man Who Fell From The Sky will see Eastern Angles Centre exploring WW2 stories specifically linked to its building’s location within the Westgate Ward, Ipswich. Working with members of their core community groups – EA Youth Theatre; EA Young Company; EA Third Act; and EA After School Club – and engaging members of their local community (in particular Gatacre, Bramford and Yarmouth Road which neighbour the Arts Centre as participants and audience members), weekly research and development drama workshops will help shape ideas for a project with local voices and stories at its heart.

To mark 80 years since the end of World War II, Eden Court will invite a diverse range of local communities across Inverness and the Highland region to help shape and lead a powerful community project called Cinema Against Fascism. Sparking discussion through a season of thought-provoking films, speaker introductions and community event screenings, they will reflect on what freedom meant then and what it means now – especially in the face of rising hate, division and authoritarianism around the world today.

Working in partnership with organisations deeply embedded in the region – including community cinemas via the BFI Spotlight project, the National Trust for Scotland and the popular German Filmklub – they will draw on existing cultural networks, experience and place-based knowledge to ensure the project feels distinctive to the Highlands and to Eden Court.

In celebration of libraries as inclusive spaces, Barnstaple, Exeter, and Newton Abbott Libraries will invite participants in all three locations to consider the everyday sacrifices of ordinary people during World War II, often overlooked, and think about what freedom means to these communities today.

Working with a range of community members (including a resettlement charity in Barnstaple, a mental health drop-in group in Exeter, and the Railway Studies Collection Volunteers in Newton Abbott), the heritage of VE Day 80 years on will be explored through a series of workshops. Each site will reflect on a unique local narrative: Barnstaple’s secret WWII unit, Newton Abbot’s crucial wartime railway links, and Exeter’s experience of the Blitz. By anchoring the project in the stories from each place, ‘Threads of Freedom’ will weave together national history with personal reflection and will culminate in a co-created artwork that is celebratory and unifies the three different communities across Devon.

Working with a range of groups and communities – including the South East Area Army Welfare Service (to involve the children of military families in the Aldershot area); Farnham Integrated Care Services (to reach isolated adults in the community); local primary and secondary schools; and a local choir – Farnham Maltings will invite local people to create and curate a brand-new creative project alongside professional artists and makers which will celebrate and remember the 80th anniversary of VE/VJ Day and what it meant to people in Aldershot and Farnham.

A series of creative workshops inspired by Simon Armitage’s stimulus poem will help to develop a celebratory performance and/or exhibition event for friends, family and the local community at Farnham Maltings in mid-November 2025.

80 years ago, Gosforth Central Hall was opened as a place for all the community to gather.  It was built as a memorial to “remember the brave people of our town, who gave their lives whilst serving in Her Majesties Forces and the Merchant Navy in the 1939-1945 war”. It is now Gosforth Civic Theatre, who will work with groups of people with Learning Disabilities and Autism – in-house, in partner SEND schools, and in other local groups – to create a community performance piece using dance, physical theatre and song to celebrate this journey of freedom, to honour its past heritage then and celebrate where we are now.

Working closely with local museums including Hartlepool’s Heugh Battery Museum, The Local and Family History Centre, and Hartlepool Art Gallery to ensure that the ideas developed are distinctive to the town, Hartlepool Community Hubs/Libraries will lead on a project to capture meaningful insight about the past and present, that highlights the challenges and achievements which have shaped our understanding of freedom over time.

Involving Hartlepool residents of all ages, some of the celebration events will be intergenerational, while some will be targeted to specific age groups including school aged children, and young and older adults (including housebound library users). Other groups including care homes, veterans and their families, and refugees and asylum seekers will also be invited to share their experience of freedom and what it means to them.

As a Jewish cultural centre with a longstanding commitment to Holocaust learning, remembrance, and community engagement, JW3 will be inviting young people aged 18-35 to join a creative project, shaping a public exhibition that explores how the Holocaust is remembered across generations. A series of artist-led workshops will see participants gaining skills in storytelling, podcasting, and exhibition design, and learning how to communicate complex history with creativity and care. Their resulting work will be displayed at JW3 and featured in a companion podcast series that shares these stories with wider audiences, offering others the opportunity to engage with this sensitive history in a meaningful and respectful way.

Working with a cross-section of the Cockermouth community, Kirkgate Arts and Heritage will gather a group of people to help put together a performance and display to explore what freedom means to each of us, individually and together.

Working with participants from The Kirkgate Centre’s Open Mic sessions and Poetry Evening and their Heritage Group volunteers, and local community groups including the English Café, Cockermouth Linking Lives, Andy’s Mans Club, the RAF Association, and local schools, they will run a series of workshops for people to explore the theme of the project and develop their ideas for a performance piece which will be performed by community members (drawing on the strong community choirs, music and drama groups in the town) at The Kirkgate Centre and at the Cockermouth Christmas Lights Switch On in November 2025.

Working with the Sikh community through the Sikh Soldiers Organisation and their Community Ambassador Hardeep Sahota; their Community Partners for their Theatre of Sanctuary work, IASK (Immigration & Asylum Support Kirklees) and The Ukrainian British Friendship Group; and local refugee and asylum seeker groups via 6 Million Plus, Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield will bring people together across different communities to reflect creatively on what freedom meant during the Second World War and what it means now.

The creative workshops will enable a variety of distinctive and culturally diverse Kirklees experiences to be reflected in the final event, as well as a variety of art forms and creativity, creating fresh understanding and connections.

Inspired by the poetry of Simon Armitage, Leeds Libraries will be working with communities across the city to explore and reflect on what freedom means to the residents of Leeds. A great textile city, they will be celebrating this with artists who will support the creation of a collaborative textile artwork to be displayed alongside the Leeds Tapestry in Leeds Central Library.

Working with a range of different local artists and facilitators, LEVEL Centre will place its local community at the heart of a project to shine a light on the secret history of Matlock and the surrounding district, an area which played a fascinating part in the war but one whose stories are often overlooked. Providing a creative platform for intergenerational storytelling, people of all ages will be able to engage with local heritage and the lived experiences of older generations, ensuring these important stories continue to resonate in a contemporary, meaningful context.

Lighthouse in Poole will be inviting a range of groups from their community – including Poole Maritime Trust, DEED and the Dorset Ukrainian Community, pupil premium students at local primary schools, local care homes, NHS student nurses, and Young Writers & Adult Writers groups at Lighthouse – as well as sharing on open invitation to the public, to work with them on developing a newly commissioned intergenerational spoken word project around the theme of freedom, and what freedom means for different people, both at the end of WWII and now.

Having recently worked with volunteers from the Poole Maritime Trust on an exhibition celebrating the stories of local people at Dunkirk and VE day, they anticipate collating these stories as a starting point for a series of creative workshops to help frame the project ahead of the final outcome, to be shared in November.

Lincolnshire’s heritage is closely bound to the Royal Air Force, and in this 80th anniversary year of VE Day, Lincoln Arts Centre will lead on a community project which will delve into the powerful stories preserved in the International Bomber Command Centre’s Digital Archive. From there, the intergenerational mix of participants – from personnel at RAF Digby, Waddington & Cranwell, to students from the University of Lincoln, and more – will be invited to co-create an ambitious, high-quality artistic event, performance, or artwork to be showcased at Lincoln Arts Centre later this year.

Exploring what the end of the Second World War meant then, especially to the people of Berwick, and what freedom and community means to us now, The Maltings will create ways for young people who are part of the Berwick Youth Project to reflect and be creative together, helping to shape artistic responses to explore what freedom means to each of them individually, and together.

Working with partners in the wider Living Barracks development, primarily the Berwick Record Office, Berwick Literary Festival, and the King’s Own Scottish Borderers Association, will ground the ideas developed in this project in the fabric and history of the town, with the intention that the final public facing response will be displayed or exhibited to as many people in the town as possible.

From their base in one of the most diverse areas of the UK, Newham Libraries will be celebrating the contributions of the South Asian community in the Second World War, allowing the community to commemorate their achievements, as well as collecting memories and memorabilia for the wider public and future generations. Local community groups will work with artists to co-create events around the theme of freedom in the context of World War II – what it meant then, and what it means now – which will take place during South Asian Heritage Month and Islamophobia Awareness Month.

Working with Voluntary Norfolk, Freshly Greated (the Creative People & Places project for Great Yarmouth), and the Kick the Dust Youth project run by Norfolk Museums, Great Yarmouth Library will lead on a project which helps people explore the town and its heritage. With visits to other community venues outside of the library, and sites of historical interest locally (including Great Yarmouth Minster, Time and Tide Museum of Great Yarmouth Life, and East/North Norfolk coastal defences), participants will learn historical information about WWII, respond to Simon Armitage’s poem while developing a broader understanding of poetry as an artform, and explore and engage with a range of other art forms.

Sitting within the Active & Creative Communities department of North Lanarkshire Council, North Lanarkshire Libraries will draw on connections with groups through Community Learning & Development (including for New Scots), Social Work, Justice and Rehabilitation, and more – including the Lanarkshire Armed Forces Community and Veterans Covenant group – to lead on a project which invites people to reflect on the past, share stories and memories of events in 1945 (sometimes using items from the current museum/archives collections as prompts), and to revisit the idea of freedom now in today’s world.

Members of existing library-based groups, including creative writing groups and memory/reminiscence groups, will be invited to participate, alongside the intergenerational projects which are part of the Driving Digital Locally programme.

All this local community involvement will help shape the content for the immersive rooms which are planned as the final outcome of the project, reflecting the stories and thoughts gathered in the earlier phases.

North Shields & Wallsend Community Hubs & Libraries is inviting local people of all ages and backgrounds to join them in creating a powerful community-based project. The River to Freedom will use the long history of the River Tyne as a starting point to explore and capture ideas of freedom, and this collaborative project will produce a piece of work from local and library community groups, supported by artists, in the artform(s) that feel most appropriate as the process develops.

The project will be shared with the many existing community groups and organisations across the Community Hubs and Libraries including art, knit and natter, tai chi, reading, writing, and pop-up choirs, and invitations will also be extended to wider community groups including local history, churches, and the Walking With refugee charity, as well as local young carers and youth groups, ensuring the project has an intergenerational element.

Working with local families who live at or are linked to Albemarle Army Barracks and RAF Spadeadam, Queen’s Hall Arts in Hexham will deliver a series of workshops to introduce their project to communities in West Northumberland, interpreting the theme of freedom and responding in a way that is relevant to them. Members of the community will also be involved in selecting the artist(s) who will help them shape the final outcome of the project.

Rural Arts in North Yorkshire is designing a community led process that is rooted in the specific lived experiences of local people living near a military base in Catterick. By engaging directly with military families whose lives are shaped by constant movement, disrupted routines, and constrained freedoms, they will tap into stories and perspectives that are unique to this place.

By bringing together young people (with Thirsk Youth Club as a lead group), older residents, and military connected communities, this project will foster an intergenerational dialogue on the significance of freedom, both in historical and contemporary contexts. It will create opportunities for reflection, strengthen community bonds, and give a platform to rural and military voices that are often overlooked.

Rooted in the community, this project will offer multiple ways to engage in workshops and interventions around the theme of freedom, either as a one-off interaction or workshop, or longer-term.

These include postcards (to be distributed across Knowle, asking ‘What does freedom meant to you’, with ideas and thoughts to inspire a song to be performed by a community choir); working with a writer-in-residence (at British Legion events and also at cafés and social spots across the village) who will support individuals to write poetry or prose on the theme of freedom (with the option of attending further workshops to develop new work for an exhibition or publication); and photography (working with groups of older people at The Royal British Legion and with children and young people at two local schools to develop new images and photographic outcomes which may result in an exhibition or publication).

The community postcards, writer-in-residence opportunities, and the photography projects will help shape a celebration event and launch of an exhibition/publication/song to be decided by participants as the project develops.

Involving South Ayrshire Council Museums & Galleries, Girvan Library, Girvan & District Great War Project (GDGWP), Sacred Heart Primary School, and Simon Lamb (poet and Carnegie-nominated author), this project will work with school-aged children and other local community groups to focus on stories of individuals in the area, and spark ideas for the development of the public facing element which will mark this moment in history.

Working with participants in two groups – 16-25 year olds and those aged over 55 – from diverse cultural backgrounds, living or working in Croydon, Stanley Arts will lead on an intergenerational arts activism project exploring what freedom means to its local communities. With a focus on food, conversation and expressive creativity and performance, participants will have the chance to meet new people, have their voices heard, learn creative facilitation skills and coaching techniques, meet artists, and work towards public community events that they will design and curate.

Partners on the project will include South Norwood community kitchen, Living Record (a mental health support service for young people aged 14-25), CAYSH (a charity supporting vulnerable and homeless young people), Care4Calais (supporting asylum seekers and refugees in the local area), Aim Higher (a Croydon-based youth charity), St John’s Church, Age UK, and Croydon BME Forum. Local schools, day care centres, and participants of previous Stanley Arts engagement projects will also be invited to get involved.

Honouring the past but also building bridges between different generations and communities by emphasising the ongoing importance of freedom, Bredbury Library will lead on a project which will create a Remembrance Walk (starting at the Bredbury and Romiley War Memorial); engage the community in recording a ‘Lived Experience’ project; and see the installation of a mural in the library’s Community Garden (which will be supported by written accounts to be exhibited in their Community Room).

Working with refugees, veterans, and young people (partnering with schools, the Stockport Race Equality Partnership, and Stockport Armed Forces Community Organisation amongst others) will create the opportunity to share different perspectives and learn from other participants, fostering understanding and appreciation for the importance of freedom, then and now.

Working with an intergenerational group of residents of Winsford and delivering a series of masterclasses ranging from creative writing to performance, filmmaking to visual arts, to explore the theme of freedom, Storyhouse will present a project in Winsford Library reflecting the thoughts and experiences of the people of this area.

Strand Arts Centre will work with local care home residents and school pupils, alongside individuals in the community with an interest in the heritage of the local area, to ask what ‘Our Freedom’ meant in east Belfast at the end of the Second World War, and what it means today. Delving into archival photography and oral history, the project will explore how the area has changed, and participants will work with artists to develop an exciting series of public events taking place this autumn.

Inspired by the Castellers of Barcelona – who build human towers as a symbol of unity, trust, and collective strength – The Albany will invite local residents to explore the idea of freedom through the lens of interdependence, asking what does freedom mean when we stand together, and how have communities in Deptford held each other up, past and present? Hyper-local to Deptford, Lewisham (SE8), and designed to engage the diverse communities that call Deptford home, this project seeks to thread its community – from families to elders; young people to sanctuary seekers – together through trust and celebration.

Working alongside project partner the National Centre for Circus Arts to co-create a programme that blends physical workshops (safe, symbolic recreations of castell building), oral histories and performance, the Albany will deliver a programme of community workshops where participants might map their own ‘human towers’, representing people or moments that gave them strength or shaped their freedom. They’ll explore VE/VJ Day memories alongside more recent stories – migration, activism, care networks – drawing connections across time.

The project will culminate in a celebratory public event or installation, built collaboratively by the community, echoing the castellers’ motto: Força, equilibri, valor i seny (strength, balance, courage and common sense) – four pillars that speak powerfully to both the history and future of freedom.

Through the co-creation of The Festival of Freedom, Peace and Unity, The Art House will invite its local communities, especially those with lived experience of forced displacement and conflict, to come together to explore what freedom for everyone means today, through art and creativity, storytelling and sharing, food and music.

Celebrating resilience, hope, and unity, the festival will be shaped by a series of informal and welcoming workshops. From collaborative textile-making – taking inspiration from the Studio of Sanctuary community group members who meet every week to explore stitch and embroidery – and sharing food, recipes and stories of home and family, the Festival of Freedom, Peace and Unity will be unmistakably distinctive to its place and will celebrate the blend of traditions, languages, crafts, and stories that have found a home in Wakefield.

Fitting under the umbrella of its Out of the Blue (OOTB) Project, and with most of the sessions taking place in the form of after school clubs, the Bluecoat will lead on an exciting project which will result in a public facing family programme in October 2025 based on the theme of freedom.

Expanding its existing OOTB programme to a new city centre-based school, St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Primary, for the duration of the project, the Bluecoat will engage a group of children aged 8-11 in a range of creative activities, unpicking and understanding the theme of Our Freedom: Then and Now.

The commissioned work will then open in early October with artist-led activities each weekend before concluding in a celebratory programme of events across the October half term for the wider public, and wider audience of children and families visiting the arts centre.

Working with those connected to the armed forces, either as veterans or their families, The Customs House in South Shields will lead on a project shaped by local history and personal memories, drawing on the powerful legacy of South Tyneside’s seafaring past and the vital role that local people played during the Second World War.

Local volunteers from the town, dressed like real people who lived and served during the war, especially those connected to the sea, will quietly stand as a living memorial, honouring the past and bringing those memories to life for the community today.

The Dukes will invite local communities to explore the history of Lancaster, its part in WW2 and what freedom truly means to us, utilising different art forms and embracing varied experiences to make a significant contribution to art and history in the city centre.

Partnering with organisations such as Lancaster King Street Gallery and Lancaster City Museum, and supported by its Associate Artists, The Dukes team will work with a range of groups including Age Concern Lancaster; schools and young people; groups in surrounding villages; and young people (16+) from groups across Lancaster and Morecambe, such as More Music, to encourage cross art form and intergenerational working, and work towards public performances.

Rooted in Bury and working with the town’s veterans groups, its LGBTQ+ Forum, the area’s South Asian and migrant community, and volunteers and staff at the Fusiliers Museum, The Met will engage with its diverse communities to gather responses to the notion of freedom. How free are we now? Are some of us more free than others? How do we continue to work for greater freedom? The involvement of the Fusiliers Museum staff, volunteers, and archive will be key to the development of the creative outcomes and will ensure that the project is anchored to both the history and stories of the local regiment and local stories relating to other drives for freedom that have taken place or impacted the local area.

In Hampshire, The Point, Eastleigh, will lead on a project that offers the opportunity to take part in creative activities that incorporate writing/poetry, visual arts, and textiles, leading to the creation of a set of flags and banners that represent what freedom means – then and now – to be displayed across the Borough.

Partnering primary aged school children with older people living in care settings, the project will connect local people with local artists, and will incorporate local history, particularly Eastleigh’s deep connection with Spitfires.

Marking 80 years since the end of the Second World War, The Spring Arts & Heritage Centre will explore what this anniversary means to the people of Havant Borough, and how they view freedom and community today. Collaborating with local groups – including Havant History Group, Pompey Pals, community knitting groups based at The Spring, and young people from local schools and partner organisations – they will co-create a project that explores ways for everyone in Havant to reflect, connect, and express themselves through shared artistic experiences.

From its home in the heart of East/Central Bristol, the Trinity Centre will bring together different members of its community to understand how war has shaped modern Bristol, sharing and celebrating the diversity of the city that exists today.

Inspired by an exploration of the themes of freedom and community with the local North African community of women and children who use Trinity regularly for socialising and learning meetups, and reflections on the local impact of the war in Bristol with an established group of elders, a public event or exhibition will be created to be shared at the end of the year.

Warwickshire Libraries will engage communities across four locations – Nuneaton, Bedworth, Atherstone, and Lillington – to collect, preserve, and creatively interpret local WWII stories and experiences of freedom.

By anchoring the work in the distinctive industrial, social, and cultural history of each location, the resulting creative outputs will authentically represent Warwickshire’s diverse communities while highlighting their shared experiences during a pivotal historical moment, and each event will – by extension – look and feel unique to its place and community.

Inviting Polish women in Hounslow to share their personal stories, reflect on their migration experiences, and take part in creating a powerful portrait of the local community, Watermans will lead on a project exploring what freedom means to women today, through their own words, histories, and identities. They will work with artist and ethnographer Anna Jochymek, and two key local organisations serving this community – the Polish-British Social Integration Club Wawel and the Polish Clan Association – to invite participants to a friendly, safe and respectful conversation where they can speak about their journey, challenges, and what has empowered them as women and migrants in the UK.

Leabharlainn nan Eilean Siar/Western Isles Libraries will facilitate a community project that honours the vital role Hebridean women played during World War II. With the ‘Battle of the Atlantic’ from the British Film Archive to spark reflection on the distinct wartime experiences of island communities, they will work with partners Tasglann nan Eilean (Outer Hebrides Archives) and Skye and Lochalsh Archive Centre to host a series of events in libraries, inviting the community to gather and share their stories, highlighting the bravery and resilience of island women, and how their contributions helped shape the freedoms we enjoy today.

Wolverhampton Arts Centre will be working with two local groups, Wolverhampton Cultural Youth Board and residents from Bilston engaged through Gazebo’s Creative Hub, to co-design a public VE/VJ Day celebration event that honours Wolverhampton’s WW2 history and brings together different generations.

The project centres around the Arts Centre, formerly a Grammar school with a deep WW2 history. By spotlighting the building’s wartime role and linking it with local stories, such as Wolverhampton’s connections to RAF Cosford and the community-funded Spitfires, community voices will shape a uniquely Wolverhampton interpretation of wartime resilience and contemporary freedom.

Woolwich played a vital role in the war effort, serving as a hub for munitions production and home to thousands who contributed to the Allied cause. Now, they will explore what freedom means to the people of Woolwich – both in the present and for future generations. In partnership with Woolwich Library, and with the support of Greenwich Heritage Archives, local artists Lucia and Stuart are creating a Living Memory Wall – a growing, participatory artwork that honours Woolwich’s unique wartime history. This installation invites residents and visitors alike to reflect and contribute their personal thoughts on freedom, remembrance, and resilience.

Consultation with local groups – including the Woolwich & District Family History Society, the Veterans’ Breakfast Club, and Woolwich Barracks – will ensure that the project is deeply rooted in Woolwich’s unique history, identity, and community voices.