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Reclaiming public space as a ground for climate imagination

What happens when public space becomes a climate commons; shared, shaped and reclaimed through creativity? We Gather Here Because We Must is an international artist exchange and residency between Get It Done (Manchester) and Aks Creative Hub (Ankara), and supported by the British Council’s Connections Through Culture programme. The project will pair four emerging artists from Türkiye and the UK to explore how simple, playful and low-cost creative interventions can activate public space for climate awareness, resilience and connection.

On opposite ends of Europe, Ankara and Manchester are cities on the edge of transformation: facing climate stress, rapid redevelopment and a shrinking sense of local ownership. Both hold a generation of young creatives who care deeply about their cities, yet often lack the space, support and agency to make change. In response, this project asks a simple question:

How can artists intervene in public space to make the climate crisis visible, build solidarity and spark small, everyday actions?

Over the coming months, we are excited to work with two emerging and underrepresented artists from Greater Manchester, and two from Ankara. The programme is structured as follows:

1. Online Exchange Programme

Three sessions led by Get It Done and Ankara Aks introduce participatory design approaches, creative climate interventions and community engagement practices. Artists work in international pairs to explore public space contexts in each city and begin forming their ideas.

2. Independent Research Period

Artist pairs research public space issues, share ideas and begin drafting their interventions. Regular online meetings between partners are expected.

3. In-person Residency in Ankara, Türkiye

With Get It Done, two UK-based artists will travel to Ankara for a micro-residency hosted by Ankara Aks and Bilkent University. Across three days, the group will build a temporary, low-budget public intervention using recycled and found materials as a chance to test ideas in real space.

4. Reflective Zine / Publication A creative publication will bring together reflections, methods and outcomes, offering a practical model for future international climate collaborations.

Though geographically distant, Ankara and Manchester face parallel pressures. Our partnership creates a space for emerging artists to compare contexts, share methods and test what becomes possible when local knowledge meets new perspectives. This pilot offers a new model for cross-city learning, producing immediate public outcomes (interventions, tools and professional development) while laying foundations for a long-term collaboration and future co-designed public space strategies.

This project does not aim to redesign public spaces or deliver measurable climate impact at this stage. Instead, it moves us from discussing ideas to getting things done. The urgency of the title frames the work: we gather here because we must. For many, public space is the only space available. We aim to create artistic interventions rather than climate adaptations; small, visible, participatory acts that reclaim public space as a site of testing, imagination, care and collective action.

As artists increasingly take on roles as organisers, educators and advocates, this project creates space to explore those expanded roles together, through mutual learning and cross- cultural exchange.

Following this pilot, we hope to expand the exchange into a larger, reciprocal programme, including a future residency in Manchester and co-designed public space interventions in the UK. At that stage, we hope to work with climate experts and universities to move towards tangible climate impact.

This project has been funded by the British Council Connections Through Culture 2026 grant programme.

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. We do this through our work in arts and culture, education and the English language. We work with people in over 200 countries and territories and are on the ground in more than 100 countries.