To Gather is a publication and community arts project that existed as part of Refugee Festival Scotland 2025.

To Gather is a celebration of safe gathering spaces for those seeking sanctuary in Scotland. It’s a tribute to the libraries, community groups and open spaces where newly arrived communities can gather, be welcomed and experience imaginative respite. It’s also a championing of the incredible cultural enrichment and heritage that those communities bring with them when they arrive in Scotland.

The project was facilitated and developed by the artist Saffa Khan. Five community groups took part in To Gather, through a series of multilingual writing and clay making workshops in Spring 2025: 

• Unity Sisters in Glasgow – a non-hierarchical peer support group for asylum-seeking women, refugees, and their children.  

• A group of Afghan women in Helensburgh – connected to the project through the Argyll & Bute Resettlement team, alongside Music Broth. Music Broth is ‘Scotland’s loudest library’, a musical instrument lending library based in Glasgow.  

• Local New Scot community members in Dumfries – brought together through the Stove Network, as part of their new multicultural publication project – Off the Margins 

• A group of Afghan women in Inverness – with support from the Open Hearts project at Wasps, Inverness.  

• A group of young refugees and asylum seekers in Arbroath – part of the NSYP Youth Project and supported through Angus Council’s resettlement team.  

The publication is the fruits of those workshops; and a weaving of the stories, drawings and recollections that the people involved in these gatherings were so generous in sharing.  

It is also a dialogue with – and resource for – libraries, about developing safe gathering spaces in Scotland for newly arrived communities. You’ll find resources in this publication, as well as creative prompts for workshops. 

You can read the publication here. 

RESOURCES 

Here are links to the Resources mentioned in the publication. It’s a broad range of resources, aimed at libraries, community groups, organisations and safe gathering spaces that support asylum seekers and refugees in Scotland: 

• Libraries of Sanctuary Resource Pack – A pack full of information and ideas, published by City of Sanctuary which holds the vision that our nations will be welcoming places of safety for all and proud to offer sanctuary to people fleeing violence and persecution. 

• New Scots Connect Map – you can use this to find out what kind of refugee and asylum seeker groups, support and opportunities there are in your local area. 

• Where We Meet – A good practice resource for arts organisations and artists with lived experience of displacement 

• The Other Side of Hope – A migrant-led, independent publication and ‘home of the migrant writers and poets of the world.’

• Refugee Survival Trust – A programme to support one-off payments to refugees and people seeking asylum in Scotland facing extreme poverty and homelessness. 

CONTACTS 

Thank you so much to everyone who took part in the To Gather project. We’d love it if this publication opens up more connections and conversations about developing safe gathering spaces in Scotland for newly arrived communities. 

If you want to get in touch, feel free to contact the team behind the project: 

S Khan – saffakhan@live.com 

Refugee Festival Scotland – Festival@scottishrefugeecouncil.org.uk

Image credit: Design by Saffa Khan, featuring photography from the To Gather workshops. 

To Gather is made possible with support from the National Lottery through Creative Scotland and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Many thanks to all our generous funders.