Hull Truck Theatre are celebrating one year since they announced their coveted ‘Theatre of Sanctuary’ status during Refugee Week 2025. As the only theatre in the East Yorkshire and Humber area to achieve this prestigious accreditation, the theatre has prioritised embedding learnings into all areas of their organisation – from programming, audience development, participation and partnerships.
Building on their outreach work and partnering with a number of different specialist groups within the city, Hull Truck Theatre has continued to engage with refugees and sanctuary seekers through a varied range of initiatives after marking their public commitment to officially extending their welcome and inclusion work.
The theme for Refugee Week 2026 is courage. Inspired by the lives of people seeking sanctuary, it celebrates the courage that refugees show every day – facing unknown journeys, rebuilding lives, and stepping into an uncertain world. Inspired by the lives and experiences of people seeking sanctuary. Hull Truck Theatre in partnership with the Refugee Council will be hosting a visual art exhibition centred around this year’s theme. All artwork has been created as a result of two art workshops, created by Refugee Council clients and delivered by Square Peg, Hull.
Tom Saunders, Associate Director at Hull Truck Theatre, said: “We’re delighted to be celebrating our first anniversary as an official Theatre of Sanctuary organisation. We’ve really enjoyed getting to know members of the local community better through our various programmes of work and are always looking for new ways to connect – both through activities delivered at our venue on Ferensway, but also out in the community. We look forward to continuing our work in this area across the year ahead.
“The celebration event as part of Refugee Week 2026 is going to be a wonderful opportunity for everyone to come together and celebrate these amazing people and the power of art and culture as a catalyst for creativity and inclusion.”
Throughout the first year of their tenure, Hull Truck Theatre have continued to strengthen their relationship with Open Doors, Welcome House, Refugee Council, Welcome to English, CIAC’S Women’s Group, HANA and Borashabaa.
From the inaugural Celebrating Sanctuary event as part of Refugee Week 2025, these connections with key groups have grown and led to Sanctuary Seekers living locally being able to engage with the theatre more deeply and on a more regular basis. Sanctuary seekers have been invited to attend a series of Hull Truck Theatre productions across the past year, including Pride & Prejudice, Oliver Twist, The Little Mermaid, Macbeth and our family programme, A Great Adventure. In addition, a Sanctuary Seekers family were recruited as part of the theatre’s cohort of Family Reviewers for 2025/26 to help develop a family offer and embed sanctuary voices into the work that the theatre creates.
Cecil Jones, Drop in and Community Organiser for Open Doors and Community Ambassador for Hull Truck Theatre, said: “Hull Truck Theatre’s support over the last year has had a hugely positive impact on The Open Doors Project, helping build confidence, connection, and a stronger sense of belonging through creativity and inclusion”.
Other successes include the development of the theatres creative outreach activity and storyboarding sessions with members of the sanctuary seeker community. This creative participation resulted in artwork displayed in the theatre, creating a visible welcome and creative representation within the spaces of the building. Providing a free Creative ESOL programme with the University of Hull also provided approximately 50 engagements across four weeks, to use drama to teach conversational English. All supporting to grow the attendance from this community.
Francesca Bisby, Community Development Worker at Hull Refugee Council, said: “We have been fortunate enough to use Hull Truck’s space for our ongoing Conversation Cafe and clients of all ages have been given countless opportunities to experience the arts showcased there: our clients particularly enjoyed the creative ESOL sessions! It has been inspiring to be able to count on this partnership and so wonderful to be able to show our clients’ artistic abilities.”
To find out more about Hull Truck Theatre’s commitment as a Theatre of Sanctuary, please visit: www.hulltruck.co.uk/about-us/theatre-of-sanctuary
The exhibition as part of Refugee Week 2026 will run at Hull Truck Theatre until Saturday 20th June.