School of Education researchers from TLANG Project at Connected Communities Utopias Fair 2016

Staff, undergraduates and postgraduate students from across three faculties are involved - ESSL, PVAC and Arts.

Members of the TLANG research team from the University of Leeds School of Education are currently working on a co-produced arts and language research project with a local arts organisation, Faceless Arts (www.facelessarts.co.uk) for the Utopias Festival 2016 (utopia2016.com). The project is called 'Migration and Home' and is funded by the AHRC's Connected Communities programme. The project will finish with the Utopias Fair at Somerset House in London on 24-26 June 2016.

The team have been working with RETAS in Harehills, Leeds and with an initial accommodation centre, to lead visual arts and singing workshops with refugee and asylum seeker groups. The theme for these activities, in line with the overall Utopias Festival, is Thomas More's Utopia, and the project team - which includes researchers, visual artists, musicians, performers and students - has been using arts methods, language and performance to consider what it means to 'welcome' in modern day utopia. They are building on research methods and partnerships developed through the TLANG project.

Staff, undergraduates and postgraduate students from across three faculties are involved - ESSL, PVAC and Arts. Professor Paul Cooke (from the Centre for World Cinemas and and Digital Cultures) has made a film about the project and you can view it here:

<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/165216455" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

There will be a preview of the performance that is currently being developed (in conjunction with students from PCI and LCS) on campus on 22nd June 2016. More details to follow soon.

For more information please contact Jessica Bradley (j.m.bradley@leeds.ac.uk) or James Simpson (j.e.b.simpson@leeds.ac.uk). There is also a project blog: www.welcomeutopia2016.wordpress.com.