Artists In Exile

ARTISTS IN EXILE offers help and support for Ukrainian artists coming to the UK.

We help with travel, accommodation and making links with artist communities.

MORE ABOUT ARTISTS IN EXILE BELOW.

BUT FIRST –

Lots of us can’t sponsor a refugee to live in our homes, but we can help by sponsoring a journey. Choose a journey and pay for all of it, club together with colleagues and friends – or make a donation.

Here are some of the journeys that people are hoping to make right now and over the next month, to start their new lives. We desperately need money to pay for their tickets.

“In my life it’s the first time in this situation”.

A 15 year old singer and her mum are making the 900 kilometre journey from refugee accommodation in Southern France, where they have been placed by the French government, to a Visa Application Centre in Paris where they will stay with volunteer families – and then on to Cardiff. Help them make a new life.

£343

“A friend just called me and said that an enemy missile hit the house where we lived. When such horrors happen in another city, it is very disturbing. But when it happens on the street, in the house where you lived, the pain is terrible”

A 15 year old nationally acclaimed musician, her mother and 6 year old sister, have just travelled from Kyiv to the Polish border, where they stood in line for 4 hours. Help them travel to Cambridge where they have a new home.

£253

“I want to come to this family. They are very kind. Suppose I’ll fit right in. I want to believe in it”.

A visual artist, aged 19, is travelling alone from Kyiv to the Polish border, on a bus. Help her make the journey to Leeds.

£162

“When you are a tourist you know you will come home. When you are a refugee, you don’t know where you will be tomorrow”.

A visual artist and her daughter are on the Polish border with a suitcase of rolled paintings. Help them come to Wales and share her work.

£510

“Thank you for your warm souls. No-one wants to experience this”.

A young queer couple and their ginger cat need to travel by road from Germany to Manchester. Help them all travel to safety.

£249

“We left the house with backpacks, a tent, mats. We live in some kind of dream. My friend says we need to forget the old life and start building a new one from scratch, I don’t know if I’m ready for it”.

A young dancer and her mum need to travel from Munich to Bath, before their temporary accommodation in Germany runs out.

£267

“It is very, very difficult. Every day. But I have no choice to give up, because of my children”.

A brilliant young cellist, her mum and 9 year old sister are starting their new lives in Bristol. They need to travel from Italy – with a seat booked on the plan for the cello.

£255

“I have an apartment for another 11 days. Then nothing”.

A singer whose band had to stay in Ukraine needs to fly from Germany to London. Help her make new contacts and sing again.

£159

ARTISTS IN EXILE offers help and support to Ukrainian artists. Artists who come to the UK through the government's Homes For Ukraine scheme will be helped with accommodation, support and help finding work as artists.

Every one of these opportunities is bespoke. We will find out individual needs before making specific arrangements. If artists have children or other immediate family members, they can come too. We have good safeguarding procedures and use enhanced DBS checks where needed.

As a group of working artists, we aim to help Ukrainian artists find the best communities and opportunities that can support their practice.

As part of the project, we also plan opportunities for Ukrainian artists to create and present work both as individuals and together, to communicate thoughts and responses to UK audiences and beyond.

We have already helped to accommodate artists – musicians, filmakers, dancers, etc – and have helped set them up with links and partnerships with suitable work and institutions.

More details on our website.