As We Are, Might Have Been, and Could Be is the Arab British Centre’s UK-wide visual arts and talent development programme, curated by Jessica El Mal and supported by the Freelands Foundation.

We organised an As We Are Creative Exchange Day in partnership with Manchester’s Longsight Art Space. The day was an opportunity for people with a connection to the 22 Arab nations to get together, get inspired, and think about practical steps they can take to help advance their creative practice. It was also a chance for us to more deeply understand the needs of our creative community, and help us shape our artist development initiatives for the future.

Saturday 20 June| Longsight Art Space

As We Are Creative Exchange Day was mainly focused on building your creative career while having another job. It was the first of our Creative Exchange Days, specifically for people who are already working on creative projects for the love of it, not necessarily for pay, or have no formal arts education, often due to pressure from families to pursue a more quote “sensible” career (we’ve all been there!). From our research and development phase, we found that multi-hyphens came to The Arab British Centre with goals of getting ideas off the ground, getting projects or ideas funded, building networks and making creative passions economically viable. So that’s exactly what our first Creative Exchange on Saturday 20 June offered. 

The day started with the Dear Moon creative workshop by Kareema Munassar, it helped us creatively reflect on our hopes, dreams and goals. After the first workshop, we offered a vegetarian lunch from Sips and Dips, where the conversations that started in the first workshop continued.  

With a talk from Bahraini British artist Ali Al-Jamri to gain insight on how he switched from poet to visual artist working on his first film commission with us, while also holding down a full time job, group crit sessions helped gain valuable feedback and a ‘getting your idea off the ground’ workshop, with Somali-Dominican curator, artist and producer Fauziya Johnson, the day equipped participants with practical tools and new ideas to think about while connecting them with a network of local with a network of local, like-minded individuals.

Read more about the Creative Exchange Day in our curatorial intern’s blog post.

The As We Are Network pilot workshop is a partnership between The Arab British Centre and Longsight Art Space, supported by The Freelands Foundation. 

Longsight Art Space is a community-led creative hub, founded in 2021. They believe everyone should have access to creativity, regardless of background. Their projects grow from the stories, skills and needs of local people. Focused on creativity, care, wellbeing and belonging, their space brings people together through exhibitions, workshops, and simple shared moments.