Brought to Life by the Community
Festival31 is Merseyside’s arts festival to celebrate under-represented artists and broaden engagement with the experiences of displacement, forced migration, and resettlement. The programme offers a counter-narrative to negative perception and a lack of understanding about these experiences. As well as opportunity for arts activism and social change at a grassroots level. Festival31 provides a platform for people seeking sanctuary and those with settled status, creating opportunities to share artwork and draw attention to the diverse experiences within the refugee narrative.
A Symbol of Community and Change
Festival31 (also written as F31) is a community-owned symbol of dialogue, change, and solidarity with displaced and resettled people — not just a festival, but a movement shaped by care, creativity, and connection.
Adele Spiers
Managing Director and Clinical Lead at SOLA Arts
Powered by Community, Driven by Purpose
Festival31 has always been a champion of and a platform for finding new and meaningful ways to bring people from different backgrounds and life experiences together through art and socially focused activism.
A hub of artistic talent
Festival31 has become a hub for artistic talent and creative individuals from displaced backgrounds, bringing together their skills and talents. The programme nurtures and provides opportunities for emerging artists who may not yet recognise their own talents and benefit from a platform through which to spring forward as a creative.
F31: 2025 – a time for Research & Development
After ten years of Festival31, we are taking the time to research and develop, using Festival31’s legacy as a catalyst to create a longer-term vision and plan for the future. Currently, we are formulating a 2-5 year vision including artists residencies, events, exhibitions, collaborations and more.
The experience of seeking sanctuary in the UK typically lasts upwards from 3 months upon arrival and application for safety. This process and resulting resettlement experience can last many months and sometimes years and then it is only after a period of 5 years after being granted Leave to Remain in the UK that an Indefinite Leave to Remain status and long term safety in the UK can currently be applied for to the Home Office. We are mirroring this through a 2-5-year vision for future programming; to reflect and parallel this timeframe and journey of seeking sanctuary and resettlement in the UK.
Previous festival collaborations, including exhibitions with Tate Liverpool and partnerships with various community organisations, have strengthened our mission, and we are thankful for the support from agencies like Heart of Glass, Africa Oye and Culture Liverpool to support our programming and moving forward.
In 2025, F31 is collaborating with new partners and organisations to explore how best to engage with the narrative of displacement and resettlement through the arts and throughout the Liverpool City Region.
Alongside of this, residencies are evolving and artistic commissions offered and through this understand their potential to promote broader participation and engagement. We have commissioned six artists—three established artists from the UK and three emerging artists of displaced backgrounds—to collaborate on artworks that explore narratives of displacement.
This year has seen an Artists Without Borders Network launched for Liverpool City region; supporting creative talents across the communities. Click here to find out more.
Additionally, a new Youth Voices strand empowers young people with lived experiences to share their stories and peer foster understanding of displacement and resettlement from young people’s experience. We appreciate the continued support from MPAC, Our Liverpool, the National Lottery, and other funders who are supporting this new opportunity.As we prepare for an exciting year ahead, we encourage you to check our calendar page for details on upcoming events.
Why is F31 needed?
The aim of our initiative is to open up conversations about forced displacement and settlement while challenging stereotypes. It’s true that many people don’t engage with insight with these important issues, at the same time we’re seeing a growing sense of hostility in society, through the political agenda and in the media towards people of refugee backgrounds seeking sanctuary and settling in the UK.
In the Liverpool City Region, especially in Merseyside, we have a vibrant multicultural and diverse community where these discussions may take place. However, many in the wider population might not fully understand these lived experiences or have opportunity to explore more and develop greater knowledge and clarity of the narrative.
We believe that arts and culture can play a fundamental role in exploring these themes in an honest, open and approachable way; helping to create emotional connections to the stories being shared and providing opportunity for talents to be recognised.
Festival31 showcases the incredible talents of individuals eager to share their artistic skills while collaborating with other UK artists. This collaborative approach not only enriches our arts and culture scene but also supports the region’s growth and vitality.
We want to provide for representation from artists and makers of the complex breadth of experiences of displacement and resettlement, because it’s so important for their work to be recognised and their creative voices heard. Festival31 offers a welcoming space for these artists, giving a space to self-express and reconnect with their creative identities whilst enriching arts, cultural, creative industries and enabling connection and community. We all benefit from Festival31!
To find out more email us; contact@festival31.co.uk
