HOME and Community Arts North West (CAN) have announced that Horizons Festival will return to Manchester between Thu 12 Jun – Sun 15 Jun, taking place as part of Refugee Week.
Celebrating creativity, community, and connection, this year’s theme More in Common reflects a shared desire to build understanding and prevent divisions in society caused by fear and misinformation, championing the power of art to unite people across cultures.
Curated in collaboration with the Arts & Migration Group of international artists, Horizons 2025 pays tribute to those who advocate for unity, justice, equality, and reconciliation. The festival honours the artists and communities building bridges, creating connections, and challenging hate and despair while celebrating the richness of global cultures through a week of visual art, film, community events, family-friendly workshops, and live music.
On Thu 12 Jun, Horizons Festival kicks off at Band on the Wall where Manchester’s global diaspora takes centre stage, celebrating Band on the Wall and CAN’s World of Song programme. Audiences can enjoy contemporary and traditional music from Somalia with Xaawo Kiin, the rhythms of Latin America and the Caribbean with the Guacamaya Latin Band, and the folk music of Iran with the Hamsaz Ensemble. Plus, 11-piece, cross cultural youth band Without Borders make their debut, promising a night of fresh sounds celebrating different styles, genres and global heritages.
Fri 13 Jun features the unveiling of Between the Lines, a new public commission by photographer Pinar Yildiz, accompanied by performances from local musicians. Refugee Action present their brand-new report Asylum in the UK: A Frontline for Racial Justice through a compelling panel discussion highlighting the urgent need to address racism in the asylum system featuring Jonathan Kazembe (Refugee Action) and Catherine Lebadou (Lived Experience Activist from RAS Voice). The night concludes with the Horizons Festival After-Party + Networking event with a special live performance from Refugee Action’s band, hosted by CAN & HOME’s Arts and Migration Group of international artists.
On Sat 14 Jun, families are invited to dive into a day of creativity, with free activities and workshops. Drop in to make a paper mosaic with artist Ahmed Elzber, drum along to the rhythms of the Djembe with musician Godfrey Pambalipe, learn the steps of traditional Palestinian Dabke Dance with Fares Farraj, and create prints with artist Linda Wachaga. Families can also enjoy a specially curated film in our cinema, programmed by Culture Bridge.
For those interested in exploring global heritage crafts, Cartwheel Arts hosts hands-on sessions, including traditional Ukrainian Petrykivka painting with Valeria Leonova and clay tea light making in honour of Diwali with Deepa Parma. These artists are part of the Crafting Heritage project, a two-year exploration of heritage crafts thriving within Rochdale’s vibrant communities with lived experience of forced migration.
Art lovers can celebrate the unveiling of a brand-new visual art exhibition at HOME’s Inspire Gallery created by WAST (Women Seeking Asylum Together), a network of sanctuary-seeking women in Greater Manchester. In collaboration with visual artist Ashleigh Beattie, they have created original new works, accompanied by a live performance from the WAST Choir.
The afternoon brings the Global Youth Takeover in Theatre 2, a vibrant showcase of theatre, dance, live music, and animation created by young people from Afrocats, Community Arts North West, Band on the Wall, and Culture Bridge’s community-based creative engagement programmes. Expect a joyful medley of performances from Manchester’s young talent, including children and young people who have recently settled in the UK.
On Sun 15 Jun, the festival closes with Arts and Migration On Screen, a captivating series of short films from animation to experimental documentary exploring migration, belonging, and community through the eyes of local filmmakers. The screening includes HOME’s newly commissioned documentary by Mohammed Ali Sheida, featuring personal stories from international artists who have found a home and creative voice in Manchester.
Commenting on this year’s festival, Community Arts North West Creative Director Anna Vu Thompson shared “Horizon’s Festival is an essential space where unheard voices are amplified and celebrated. It’s more than just a festival; it’s a statement. It’s a bold, creative declaration that we, as communities, have far more in common than that which divides us. 
“In partnership with HOME, and this year working with Band on the Wall, we are proud to create a festival that brings communities together, uniting people through joy, celebration, and powerful provocation. Horizons entertains whilst shifting perspectives, using creativity to spark dialogue about the world we live in.
“It’s a showcase for Greater Manchester’s most exciting creative talent from communities that are often overlooked. A space where they can trust their creativity will be honoured, authentically and accurately.Through the Horizons Festival, we don’t just witness change—we make it happen, together.”
HOME’s Creative Engagement Visual Arts Practitioner Lucy Follon said “Horizons festival is authentic Mancunian magic, an unapologetic creative expression of our culture and communities. It’s a vibrant celebration of artistic practice shaped by migration, cultural hybridity and displacement. It’s a multi-artform, multilingual, multilateral showcase.
“We are so proud to work alongside Community Arts North West and Band on The Wall to present this year’s exceptional programme. For nearly a decade, Horizons has been a platform for Manchester’s most crucial and creative voices to draw on their personal histories, inherited traditions, cultural practices, and complexities of multifaceted identities. It’s a space for both joyous and challenging work – work that celebrates diasporic experiences and unflinchingly provokes the most urgent conversations for right here, right now.”
Tickets for Horizons Festival 2025 are available from Fri 2 May. For more information and to secure your tickets, visit homemcr.org or contact the box office at 0161 200 1500.
