Refugee Week, which is co-ordinated by Counterpoints Arts, has published Stories of Change, the results of a deep-dive research project commissioned with HEAL Collective – who also worked on the recent update to Refugee Week’s Theory of Change.
Stories of Change: Insights Report
See also the Full Refugee Week 2025 Impact & Evaluation Report
The reports explore a simple question: what does Refugee Week actually change on the ground?
The research focused on three city-wide Refugee Week festivals – Gloucester, Luton and Nottingham – and drew on interviews with a wide range of people involved in making Refugee Week happen locally.
This included organisers, artists, people with lived experience of forced migration, councils, health partners, volunteers and community organisations. The aim was to understand not just what happens during Refugee Week itself, but how it shapes relationships, networks and civic life over time.
Refugee Week as social infrastructure
Across all three cities, Refugee Week consistently showed up as social infrastructure.
More than a week-long festival, it creates the conditions for connection, trust and collaboration across a city all year round. People described Refugee Week – and the planning process around it – as the moment when networks come together, relationships are formed, and communities feel visible, valued and proud.
Countering hostility without confrontation
The research shows that Refugee Week is particularly powerful at countering hostility without escalating conflict.
In places experiencing far-right activity or rising tension, Refugee Week offered a way to push back through care, creativity and togetherness – whether that was a picnic, a public artwork, a yoga class or a shared meal. It allowed people to say “there are more of us who care” without confrontation, and without feeding polarisation.
The power of unexpected partnerships
Some of the strongest impact came from partnerships beyond the usual refugee and arts spaces.
This included collaborations with councils, NHS trusts, environmental organisations, libraries, local businesses and sports groups. These partnerships helped embed Refugee Week into everyday civic life, while also unlocking new resources, audiences and legitimacy for the work.
Naming the challenges
The research also names real and growing challenges.
Increased visibility can bring pushback. Safety concerns are rising. And there is a significant burden on local organisers – many of whom are delivering Refugee Week on top of already stretched jobs or on a voluntary basis.
There is also a clear tension between creating safe spaces for communities with lived experience, while ensuring those spaces don’t become closed bubbles disconnected from the wider public.
What people want next
The research is very clear about what people want from Refugee Week going forward:
-Practical resources and toolkits
-Training and guidance, particularly around safety and safeguarding
-Support with evaluation and demonstrating impact
-More opportunities to learn from one another across the Refugee Week network
We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who took part in this research, and to HEAL Collective for the care and depth they brought to the process.
If you’re involved in Refugee Week locally – or are curious about what it can make possible in your area – we really encourage you to read the full reports and dig into the detail.They offer a powerful picture of what community-led, values-driven work can look like in practice.
Stories of Change: Insights Report
See also the Full Refugee Week 2025 Impact & Evaluation Report
About HEAL Collective
HEAL (Hostile Environment / Art-fuelled Learning) Collective is a migration arts learning collective that creates socially engaged creative projects and civic learning / leadership spaces with and for people affected by the UK immigration and asylum system. Mobilising our skills as photographers, filmmakers, writers, curators, producers, researchers, spokespeople and community educators with and without lived migration experience, we empower migrant voices, transform civic understanding and strive for creative healing from social division and injustice. We collaborate and consult across cultural, educational, community and civic systems, to create spaces of horizontal learning in which community voice can lead.
Images: From You Look As Though You Might Be A Relation by Dana Olărescu featuring a performance by Zariq Rosita-Hanif in Gloucester as part of Refugee Week 2025
