sanctuary and culture network

The Sanctuary and Culture Network brings together people and organisations across the North East with the shared aim to build a more inclusive, welcoming region for people seeking sanctuary. 

Collectively, we share knowledge, strengthen access to the arts, and create sustainable opportunities for people seeking sanctuary. We are artists, community groups, organisations, institutions, and individuals who believe culture has the power to connect us and that everyone should have access to creative spaces where they feel seen, safe, and heard.
Are you passionate about building a more inclusive, welcoming region for people with lived experience of displacement?  You are warmly invited to join the Sanctuary and Culture Network.
​D6 supports artists with small bursaries providing access to materials to continue their practice.   To find out more email us at  [email protected].
In the face of activity planned by far-right groups in Newcastle, 318 representatives across the culture and voluntary sectors came together to sign an Open Letter to Newcastle City Council.
Our commitment to supporting artists seeking sanctuary is long established and as a recipient of the award we join with the City of Sanctuary UK and other organisations in a shared vision of welcome and solidarity.
People around the world mark International Migrants Day each year on 18 December. We take this moment to celebrate with our communities and artists,  fostering empathy and understanding and offering a shared sense of community. 
In solidarity with people seeking sanctuary in the UK, D6 has signed a national pledge to defend the right to seek safety from war and persecution in the UK. ​​
Read about some of our earlier initiatives working with our sector to support people seeking sanctuary in the North East.

Network Training, 2021

D6 invited individuals working across the North East cultural sector to participate in a bespoke training programme focussed on asylum law, support and creating environments of care.

Co-designed and facilitated by the  West End Refugee Service, the training programme helped participants build their knowledge and understanding of the constructs and day to day realities of the UK’s immigration system. It provided space for a shared and deep consideration of practice, process and behaviours in the cultural sector that uphold systems of oppression and inequalities, and aspired to instigate change.

The sessions included Busting Myths around Asylum, Understanding Asylum Law and Reform, Understanding Asylum Support, and Creating environments of care through deep listening, empathy and understanding where the boundaries lie. This training is an ongoing area of work across the Sanctuary and Culture programme.

Growing our studio of sanctuary, 2020

As part of D6's renovations and with the generous support of volunteers and donations of equipment and money, we built a new studio and we also created a kitchen.  A warm and welcoming space to share food and company, a space to co-host friends and strangers, a space to cook together, to eat together, a space  to get to know each other.

In this space we now regularly invite artists, volunteers and partners to fuse culinary traditions, and experiment with ingredients as we aim for zero waste and locally sourced produce.  Here we recalibrate our connection to each other, taking time from our desks and studio practice to put the world to rights.

'A Little Help' Food Bank, 2020

During the time of COVID-19, D6 made a number of donations and volunteered time to a temporary volunteer run food bank serving individuals and families seeking asylum in Newcastle and Gateshead and led by Md Hamid (former D6 volunteer, Law Student and Activist) in response to COVID-19. We secured emergency funding from Paul Hamlyn Foundation to extend this initiative and provide a monthly service between August-December 2020 to clients with no recourse to public funds. 

With the support of 118 volunteer hours and in collaboration with Curious Monkey Theatre, we shopped, packed and delivered food and sanitary parcels to 121 individuals and 89 families, with an additional donation of new winter clothing purchased for the West End Refugee Service to distribute. The food bank revealed challenges relating to the hostility and complexity of the immigration system, access to food bank provision and safeguarding in the context of the pandemic.