Communities

Inspire Galleries

Our expanded Inspire Gallery community exhibition programme now lives across two dedicated exhibition spaces at HOME. Our purpose-built community white box exhibition space is located to the right of the Box Office and opened in 2024 which joins the original Inspire Gallery located in HOME’s downstairs bar area. Both spaces showcase artworks by local people that encourage community, tell important stories, inspire others and celebrate the power of art to connect us under all circumstances. If you are an artist, participant or project coordinator working on an existing project that you would like to exhibit in HOME’s Inspire Galleries, please get in touch with Lucy, Creative Development Practitioner for Visual Arts [email protected] or tell us about your exhibition idea here.

Image credit: Shirlaine Forrest

Showcases and Exhibitions around our building

Artists and communities regularly exhibit work across all areas of our building at HOME. You might see a pop-up exhibition or one-off showcase in our ground floor foyer, or a large-scale artwork on the outside of our building. The commissions and exhibitions showcase artworks created in communities or by artists to mark important celebrations for our local communities.

Image credit: Shirlaine Forrest

Horizons Festival

Co-curated with Community Arts Northwest and programmed by producers with lived experience of forced Migration, Horizons based at HOME brings together diverse communities, families and audiences to celebrate creativity. Horizons Festival continues to be the largest multi-disciplinary showcase led by artists from a migrant background in the Northwest. The festival invites people to come together, connect, learn, stand in solidarity with, and share the traditions and talents of people forced to leave their countries and make Manchester their home. Horizons Festival programmes and commissions local artists to create and perform theatre, film, visual art, spoken word, storytelling, music, dance, workshops across an action-packed programme in June during Refugee Week. Horizons Festival also commissions community artists and organisations to co-create with new migrant communities/asylum seeker/refugee/communities all year round, leading to showcases and celebrations that happen during the festival, such as an exhibition by children and young people in HOME’s Inspire Galleries. If you are an artist or a community organiser interested in showcasing work at the next Horizons Festival, please email here.

Image credit: Shirlaine Forrest

Arts & Migration Group

The Arts and Migration Group is a network of artists, freelancers, facilitators, and producers who have lived experience of migration hosted by Community Arts North West and HOME. The group typically meets twice a year and hosts a celebration event during Horizons Festival annually.  Meetings of the Arts and Migration group typically include discussion on local priorities and work by artists from a refugee background, festival programming for Horizons Festival (which takes place in June at HOME for Refugee Week) and a social event to meet and share opportunities and support with others in the network. Catering is provided for attendees and an agenda is sent out in advance. New members are welcome to join the network meetings and socials and can subscribe to an email group.  For more information or to join please contact: [email protected] or [email protected].

Image credit: Shirlaine Forrest

If you work with a community group, charity or voluntary organisation or know of any groups you think would like to know more or get involved, please get in touch at [email protected]