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.

Our Freedom: Stockton Rising was a powerful live event reflecting on what freedom means to the people of Stockton, 80 years after the end of the Second World War.

Taking place on Remembrance Day, the event brought together original work co-created by local participants from ARC’s regular creative engagement classes, refugees and asylum seekers who now call Stockton home, ARC’s award-winning associate company of learning-disabled theatre makers, Full Circle, and members of Tees Valley New Creatives.

The production wove together each group’s creative response to Freedom Road, a specially commissioned poem by Poet Laureate Simon Armitage. Each moment offered a window into personal, imaginative and hope-filled answers to the question: what does freedom mean to you, here and now?

The evening opened with a special performance from acclaimed 1940s singer Samantha Holden, whose rendition of The White Cliffs of Dover set the tone and instantly engaged the audience.

ARC hosted six workshops led by associate artist Umar Butt, who worked with a group of local refugees and asylum seekers to co-create a moving piece of theatre exploring their experiences of freedom. The performance traced their journeys to Stockton and reflected on what the town now represents in their lives.

A bespoke piece of poetry was written and performed by poet Aisha Lama. Delivered from the theatre balcony, the poem explored what freedom means to her:

We’ve tasted freedom
At the silence of guns
And the talks of treaties

And I like everyone
come from some shard
of freedom
From the right to travel
The right to settle
The right to citizenship

But freedom does not come
Easy nor instantly  And I don’t think we will know
what real freedom is
Until each of us on this earth
is well and truly free

Six members of Tees Valley New Creatives, a project supporting recently graduated creatives, devised and performed a piece of theatre exploring what freedom means to the local community. This work was created through conversations with members of community groups and members of the public visiting ARC.

They also delivered a dramatised reading of a letter submitted by a community member: a father writing to his son about the day he returned from war. This deeply heartfelt moment resonated strongly with the audience.

ARC’s regular ARCulele class came together to perform a series of songs reflecting on freedom, including I Can See Clearly Now and It’s a Long Way to Tipperary.

To close the show, Full Circle shared a film capturing what freedom means to each individual member of their company. The film explored what needs to be in place for disabled people to feel free, from trips to theme parks to dancing in nightclubs, and much more, offering a joyful and honest celebration of autonomy and possibility.

Together, Our Freedom: Stockton Rising honoured the past while amplifying the voices shaping Stockton’s present and future.

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 in the city across generations.

Participants will be drawn from a range of groups including the existing Hidden Spire Collective, as well as our partners, Crisis, other charitable partners across Oxford, and members of the public who would like to take part.

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.

Voices of Freedom, a multi-sensory immersive exhibition in Maesteg Town Hall, was a space to reflect and remember the sacrifices of our Armed Forces, past and present. Many visitors described it as “peaceful and beautiful” and “deeply moving”, with several noting how it brought back personal memories of loved ones who had served.

Ahead of the exhibition, the project’s associated artist, craftivist Nazeem Syed, led six creative lantern-making workshops across the Awen libraries in Bridgend County. Local people decorated the lanterns and left messages on them, reflecting on what freedom meant to them, as well as to honour the sacrifices of the Armed Forces. For many who took part, seeing their lanterns later displayed in such a calm and meaningful space felt “beautiful, thoughtful and reflective”, adding a personal connection to the final installation.

These lanterns were then taken to Maesteg Town Hall where they formed part of the immersive exhibition, created with project partner 4Pi Productions. The exhibition included several multi-media elements:

• Room of Reflection: A candle-lit mirrored room where visitors listened to a recording of the poem Freedom Road by Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, amongst the decorated lanterns. Visitors often described this room as “thoughtprovoking, calming and imaginative”, with some saying they were “immediately involved in the spirit of the exhibition”.
• Veterans’ Voices: Videos of local veterans sharing stories of their experiences and thoughts on freedom, which visitors heard through individual headsets. Many found these testimonies moving, praising the empathy and care shown in their presentation.
• Fields of Poppies: Augmented reality was used to digitally project a field of red poppies, which moved as visitors walked across the installation. This interactive element resonated strongly with both adults and children, who loved the opportunity to engage physically with the space.
• Wishing Well: A well created with books, with moving images of veterans from across South Wales at the bottom.
• The Welsh at Mametz Wood: A large digital projection of the painting by Maesteg-born and renowned Welsh artist Christopher Williams, portraying the 11 July 1916 ‘Charge of the Welsh Division at Mametz Wood’. Audio shared Williams’ own experiences as he made his way to Mametz Wood, taken from his 1916 letters. Several visitors commented on how powerful and poignant this element felt within the wider exhibition.

Project photographer Abbie Poulson took photos of the exhibition and created artwork on the first day of the installation.

Voices of Freedom was open to the public from Saturday 8 November until Tuesday 11 November. On the morning of Remembrance Day, a ‘relaxed opening’ was held, with reduced visitor numbers and audio, followed by visitors and staff observing two minutes’ silence at 11am. Some described being present for the silence as making a wonderful experience “even more poignant”.

On Monday 10 November, local Llynfi Valley primary schools brought pupils to see the exhibition, hosted by Awen Heritage and Libraries staff. Pupils learned about Remembrance Day and enjoyed the exhibition in smaller groups. Especially pleasing was that the interactive poppies made as much of an impact on the children as the Room of Reflection and the Mametz Wood painting.

Across the open days, visitors repeatedly praised the exhibition’s creativity, emotional depth and thoughtful use of the Town Hall space. Many described it as “a wonderful and moving experience”, one that would stay with them, and a powerful reminder of those “who gave up their freedom so we could have ours”.

Voices of Freedom

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 is leading 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.

Bracknell’s project is inspired by Bracknell Forest’s iconic trees – symbols of shelter, strength, and growth. The project will feature the creation and performance of a Bracknell fairytale. The community will also be invited to help decorate Reading Freedom Trees which will be displayed across Bracknell Forest’s libraries for everyone to enjoy.

Read more information on the Bracknell Forest Libraries website.

The Jason Roberts Foundation (JRF) supported the delivery of four community events in collaboration with Brent Libraries, Culture and Heritage as part of the Our Freedom: Then and Now project. These events were made possible through collaborative community funding following a UK Government grant awarded via Arts Council England. JRF’s role centred on community engagement, coordination and ensuring that activities were accessible to a wide range of residents, particularly young people and families.

The programme included events at Harlesden Library featuring former professional footballers Richard Langley and Mark Stein, who shared personal reflections on their careers, identity and life after sport. Their stories of resilience and opportunity strongly resonated with young people and families, helping to connect sport, culture and lived experience in a way that encouraged aspiration and meaningful dialogue.

Additional sessions were delivered by Connie Henry MBE and Yamilé Aldama, both respected athletes and advocates for youth development. A standout moment was the interactive Your Move event, where Yamilé spoke about her childhood in Cuba and her love of chess, showing how strategic thinking, discipline and creativity shaped her journey. This session effectively bridged culture, heritage and personal development, engaging participants in conversations about freedom, choice and opportunity across generations.

Alongside these events, Splats Entertainment worked with children and families to create a short performance exploring the theme of Then and Now, comparing childhood during the Second World War with childhood today. Splats, a circus, drama and mask company, used these art forms to help participants explore the theme in an engaging and accessible way. The project took place at Wembley Library on Saturday afternoons, beginning with a circus workshop and an introduction to the period through discussion, children’s books and videos from Brent Libraries. The children had no prior awareness of the war or its ending, and the sessions helped build their understanding while giving them the chance to try new skills.

Parents and children spoke warmly about the experience, describing it as “amazing”, “fabulous” and “a great opportunity”. Several families attended every week, saying they had “learnt a lot” and that the Splats team were “great teachers”. Many highlighted how valuable it was to have free weekend activities for younger children, noting that “there is nothing to do at the weekend with small children” and that the sessions offered something enjoyable and accessible. Children particularly loved trying out different equipment, practising balance skills and experimenting with circus props – with one young participant proudly sharing, “It was so good playing. I liked the plate and stick.”

In addition to the Splats workshops, the programme also included a series of heritage-focused events across Brent Libraries:

• Kingsbury Coffee Morning: Wembley’s 1948 Olympic Games with local historian Philip Grant at Kingsbury Library

• Wartime Letters from Wembley’s Preston Park with Philip Grant at Wembley Library

• Stepping Back in Time: WW2 Object Handling Session and Coffee Morning with the Brent Heritage Team at The Library at Willesden Green

• The Higher You Build Your Barriers, the Taller We Become: a celebration of the history of women in football with author Phil Vasili at The Library at Willesden Green

• Engage with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra: a lunchtime concert at The Library at Willesden Green

Overall, the events contributed significantly to local cultural engagement and provided opportunities for residents to connect with different perspectives through accessible, community based activity.

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.

Freedom Road: Celebration Street Party

Mon 25 Aug – 12pm-6pm

Ticketed

Colchester Arts Centre are throwing a street party and dancing the afternoon away! They’ll be serving up lunch and other refreshments, and the arts centre will be open all afternoon as the fabulous Syd Lawrence 18-piece swing band play. There will be pop-up events happening throughout the afternoon with the emphasis on what Freedom and Peace means to us all. This is an opportunity to come together and meet new people from across local communities, and everyone is welcome.

Tickets and more information available on Colchester Arts Centres website.

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.

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 has grown and moved since then, becoming Gosforth Civic Theatre, the only theatre in the country that was founded and continues to be guided by people with learning disabilities.

For Our Freedom: Then and Now, GCT’s flagship performance became its largest ever. Their annual platform showcasing new work created by artists with a learning disability and autism reflected on what freedom means 80 years after the end of the Second World War, and Freedom Moving: Then and Now was their first full length show involving more than 60 performers and 40 members of the Sing United Choir.

This performance piece used dance, physical theatre and song to celebrate this journey of freedom, to honour its past heritage and celebrate where we are now. Audiences described it as “uplifting and amazing”, praising the passion of the performers and the “wonderful welcoming atmosphere” created throughout the event. Many spoke about how “beautiful and moving” the piece was, with others calling it “powerful… and at times, fun”, and “one of my best nights in any theatre”.

The scale and ambition of the production left a lasting impression. People highlighted the strength of the music and dance, the talent on stage and behind the scenes, and the relevance of the story being told. Several audience members simply summed it up as “brilliant”- a testament to everyone who took part.

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.

They are working with two local artists, storyteller Jessie McMeekin and musician JP Worsfold, to create a musical that will be performed by local people at The Kirkgate Centre and at events in the town in November 2025. The community musical will be inspired by stories from Cockermouth at the end of the Second World War and in the post-war period. It will use research from the Cockermouth Heritage Collection, alongside reflections from the people living in the town today on what freedom means to them, gathered from a series of community workshops they will hold in the town over the summer.

On Sunday 19 October 2025 Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield held a free event – Our Freedom – to explore the legacy of VE Day, and what freedom means to us now in 2025. The event was a culmination of their involvement in Our Freedom: Then and Now, a national creative programme marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

Choosing to look at the theme in collaboration with their local South Asian and refugee and asylum seeker communities gave a special perspective on freedom – what it meant in 1945 and now. LBT worked with four local groups – Immigration and Asylum Support Kirklees (IASK), The Sikh Soldiers Organisation, The Ukrainian British Friendship Group and 6 million+. They paired each group with a local artist and, using Simon Armitage’s poem Freedom Road, they each created a very different creative response.

The performances began with The Sikh Soldier Organisation taking to the stage to give an impassioned reading, alongside artist Hardeep Sahota, who had worked with the group to create five hanging banners under the title of The Golden Thread of Seva. These beautifully detailed banners told the legacy of the Sikh Soldiers, not just on the battlefield of World War II, but also on building the foundations of the Guru Nanak Gurudwara in Springwood, the first purpose-built Sikh temple of its kind in the UK. Interweaving between the other group performances, Hardeep read poems for each of the banners, mixing history and personal experience to give a rich and heartfelt picture of the Sikh community.

Second on the line-up was 6 million+ who worked with artist Anthony Haddon, African refugees and local people on a piece entitled Freedom Desert. In this collaborative performance using poetry, theatre and imagery of the desert, the group linked present day East African experiences with the almost forgotten East African campaign of World War II. Each member of the group spoke about what freedom means and if this had changed between now and 1945.

This was followed by IASK and artist Rob Crisp, who delivered a creative and improvised musical performance, titled Our Freedom. The main house was filled with a glorious and diverse range of instruments that took elements of Simon Armitage’s poem and created their own, unique interpretation of the source material. The group, which included musicians from Iran and Nigeria, particularly enjoyed the poem line about potatoes and created a collective soundscape around this versatile vegetable.

The final performance came from the Ukrainian British Friendship Group who worked with artist Natalie Mirkun on a movement and dance piece titled We were. We are. We will be. The stage came alive with children and adults from the group giving a spirited performance that was moving, poignant but also joyous. Sharing Ukrainian traditions, the effect of the war on the country and the hopes for future generations, the Ukrainian British Friendship Group embodied the need to reflect on freedom and ensure it is something that everyone should be able to experience.

After the performances everyone enjoyed a shared feast of a variety of cuisines over warm conversations about the event and celebrating all of those who took part and who took to the stage.

Jenny Goodman, Head of Participation at Lawrence Batley Theatre said “What a special event! We were delighted to see the Our Freedom project come together on our Main Stage. The performances were all moving, thought-provoking and joyful and it was brilliant to see such a large and diverse audience. At Lawrence Batley Theatre we pride ourselves on offering a creative home to people who rarely get the opportunity to tell their stories and share those stories in a professional theatre – Our Freedom achieved that beyond anything we could have dreamed.”

(Film credit: Towers Film and Media)

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.

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.

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 Tyneside Community Hubs and 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.

North Lincolnshire Libraries and 20-21 Visual Arts Centre will be working with different communities and referencing local experiences from a range of intergenerational voices to explore how our heritage informs our present and the future.

Members from organisations and groups including North Lincolnshire Veterans Hub and the local Royal British Legion, Scunthorpe Church of England Primary School, Speak Out Scunny CIC, North Lincolnshire Sanctuary Group, North Lincolnshire Dance Community, North Lincolnshire Music Hub, and North Lincolnshire Museum Young Historians Group, as well as participants recruited through an open call, will work with creative producer Fred Garland of Tenfoot Dance to develop, shape, and co-create a programme that reflects the interests and skills of those involved, from poetry and dance to visual arts and more.

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.

Stanley Arts delivered a series of community workshops in Croydon, exploring the question of what freedom means today. Using Freedom Road by Simon Armitage as a starting point, participants engaged in facilitated, closed‑group conversations with community partners. The aim was to bridge intergenerational and intercultural divides by creating space for honest reflection on a theme of deep personal significance.

These workshops became the foundation for a co‑curation process through which Stanley Arts commissioned artists to develop creative responses to the perspectives that emerged. The resulting performances were shared both with workshop participants and the wider public at Stanley Arts’ Community Supper Socials – hosted dinner events designed to spark new connections. Supper Socials took place in the Society Room (September 2025) and the organisation’s celebrated historic main hall (November 2025).

Stanley Arts would like to thank Shaniqua Benjamin for hosting the Supper Socials, and Leo Food & South Norwood Community Kitchen for providing food for the community. They also extend their gratitude to the community groups and artists who contributed their time, creativity and perspectives to the project:

Community Groups & Partners

• Beeja Dance
• Choir On The Hill
• The BRIT School
• Queer Croydon
• Fences & Frontiers
• Croydon Youth Theatre Organisation (CYTO)
• Upper Norwood Association for Community Care (UNACC)
• Maya Productions

Individual Poets (via Maya Productions)

• Poona Singh
• Rebecca Beddoe
• Sharon Owen
• Mary Bywater
• Mavis Bird
• Liza Castellino
• Ganga Careswell
• Agnes Harris
• Norma Brady

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 Castellars of Barcelona, the Albany worked with students from the National Centre for Circus Arts to create a celebration of balance, resilience and community spirit.

Following workshops with local secondary school students exploring what freedom means to young people in Deptford today, the Albany hosted a community celebration during October Half Term.

Shoulders of Giants was a joyful afternoon of creativity, performance and play for local people in Deptford. The day included a chance to try out circus skills and watch a moving performance from the NCCA students; a community feast of pie and mash; and a workshop led by Albany Associate Artists Sue and Chuck.

Sue and Chuck led a craft session creating flags and badges exploring themes of community, love, freedom and togetherness. Participants shared their inspiration behind making their flags and badges, and what community means to them, in a collaborative film which was screened at the end of the day.

The event celebrated both the people and moments that give us strength, and spoke powerfully to both the history and the 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.

Our Freedom was a co-created project led by The Customs House in South Shields, created to mark the 80th anniversary of VE and VJ Day. Rooted in local history and personal memory, the project honoured South Tyneside’s veteran community and the vital role local people played during the Second World War.

The project began in June after The Customs House was selected as one of the 80 projects nationally as part of a Future Arts Centres programme commemorating the anniversary. This project supported an ambitious creative process that placed veterans and their families at the heart of the work. Over the research phase, the creative team engaged with 103 veterans and family members from across South Tyneside, gathering stories, memories, and lived experiences that would shape the final performances.

These conversations were central to the project. Veterans were invited to share both the proud and painful aspects of their experiences, ensuring the work was created with honesty, integrity, and deep respect. Many of those who contributed later attended the performances themselves, recognising their stories reflected on stage and responding with a moving standing ovation.

The performances took place on Saturday 9 August, culminating in two outdoor presentations attended by approximately 120 audience members. Set across six locations at the Mill Dam and Harton Quays, with the River Tyne as a backdrop, the event transformed familiar spaces into sites of reflection and remembrance and connected to South Tyneside’s seafaring heritage. The performers created living memorials, as they honoured the past while powerfully connecting it to the present.

The production featured high-quality acting and movement work led by choreographer Rob Anderson, whose national experience includes working with companies such as Gary Clarke Dance. Rob described the process as emotional and humbling, noting the responsibility he felt in telling these stories faithfully. His leadership ensured the performances were both artistically ambitious and grounded in the voices of the veteran community, creating work that resonated deeply with audiences.

Audience and stakeholder feedback highlighted the project’s impact. Councillor Dean, Lead on Voluntary Sector, Partnerships and Equalities, described Our Freedom as “a truly fitting tribute for the 80th Anniversary of VE & VJ Day,” praising how veterans’ own stories were sensitively woven into the performance. Actor Ben Gettins reflected on the pride the project inspired, describing it as rooted in South Tyneside’s respect and gratitude for its veterans, and a piece he would “hold very close” to his heart.

The legacy of Our Freedom extends beyond the performances themselves. As a direct result of the project, The Customs House has been invited to join South Tyneside’s Armed Forces Forum, strengthening ongoing relationships with the local authority and veteran support networks.

At its heart, Our Freedom was about connection, between generations, community, and between past and present. By placing veterans’ voices at the centre of the process, the project created a shared moment of remembrance that felt authentic, inclusive, and deeply meaningful.

Our Freedom was a living act of remembrance, a celebration of historical events, and a testament to the power of art to bring communities together.

The Dukes will work with 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 including Assembly Arts, Lancaster BID and Lancaster City Museum, The Dukes will create two City Centre Murals that reflect work with their communities, what freedom means to them and celebrate the City. They are working with Light Up Lancaster and idontloveyouanymore to bring an exceptional light trail to Lancaster – By The Light of Our Losses. A beautiful, thought provoking light art installation illuminating, with multiple light bulbs inscribed with poetic reflective messages of loss, at The Dukes and across the city. Audiences will follow the trail of these lights to reach Moor Space at The Dukes where draping festoons of the lights will reflect stories of loss, liberation and resolve.

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.

Freedom: A Journey and a Destination

Thu 30 Oct – 7.30pm-10.30pm

Ticketed

What does freedom mean to you?

Throughout summer 2025, The Met has been working closely with community partners ADAB, The Proud Trust, and the Two Tubs pub (on their Military Mondays) to interrogate this very question, inspired by the 80th anniversary of VE and VJ Day this year.

And now you’re invited to an event featuring the world premiere of three new pieces of music by local artists, created in collaboration with these community groups to express how local people feel about freedom in 2025.

These original compositions will be shared alongside contributions from other local groups responding to the theme of freedom.

Tickets and more information available from The Met website

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 is working with artist Helen Sill to create Threads of Freedom – a powerful textile art project.  Together Helen and the communities of Havant Borough, will create a large scale collaborative artwork exploring what freedom means today – through simple hand stitching.

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.

Working with Bristol’s City Poet Sukina Noor and Edson Burton, Trinity is running creative writing sessions to capture reflections from the past, and thoughts on freedom today, working with local residents and community groups who use Trinity regularly for socialising and learning meet-ups. Local visual artist, Sonja Burniston, will then take these words as inspiration and collaborate with participants to build a large-scale, thought-provoking exhibition of billboard art and placard poetry, launched by an intimate poetry sharing, and celebratory gig.

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.

With the ‘Battle of the Atlantic’ from the British Film Archive to spark reflection on the distinct wartime experiences of island communities, Leabharlainn nan Eilean Siar/Western Isles Libraries will work with partners the Harris Tweed Authority 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.

Woolwich At War – Introductory talk

Sat 20 Sep – 2-4pm

Free

Woolwich Centre Library invites you to step back in time and explore the powerful legacy of Woolwich in war and peace. Local artists Lucia Collelo and Stuart Lee will unveil a stunning new artwork inspired by Woolwich’s remarkable role in the war effort and explore what freedom means in today’s world, while local historian Richard Sylvester will deliver a fascinating talk which sheds light on the crucial contributions made by Woolwich during times of conflict, revealing untold stories of courage, resilience, and innovation.

The event will also showcase a rare selection of items from the Greenwich archives, offering a unique chance to see historic documents, photographs and artefacts connected to Woolwich’s wartime past. Whether you’re a history enthusiast, art lover, or curious local, this is an unmissable evening of discovery, creativity and reflection.

Tickets available via Eventbrite

Woolwich At War – Exhibition

Sat 20 Sep – Mon 29 Sep

Free