From the Editor
* “We are an arts charity – can we take action on Palestine?”. That’s the question that Artists for Palestine UK sets out to answer in a new briefing. The advice begins by declaring, “Yes! While there are restrictions around charities’ ability to undertake work deemed ‘political activity’, this does not mean that you can’t undertake work in solidarity with Palestine.” Full statement here.
Daniel Nelson london.globalevents@gmail.com
TALKS AND MEETINGS
Monday 23 February
* Are you a social entrepreneur or NGO manager navigating the current anti-“woke” backlash?, Colette Fox, Elaine Siu, Cliff Oswick, Henri Schildt, Maggie Chen, Yanfei Hu, Itziar Castelló , 8.10 - 9.45am, free, Bayes Business School, 33 Finsbury Square, EC2A 1AG. Info: City St Georges
* The World in 2026, Fiona Hill, 7pm, from £19.99, Union Chappel, Upper Street, 19b Compton Terrace, N1 2UN. Info: Intelligence Squared
* Embedded Generations: Family life and social change in contemporary China, Jieyu Liu’s book launch, 5pm, SOAS, 10 Thornhaugh Street WC1H 0XG
* Discourses of solidarity fatigue and misrecognition in the context of Ukrainian displacement, Rob Sharp discusses Ukrainian refugee experiences through the politics of recognition, 4-5pm, UCL Knowledge Lab, 23 Emerald Street, WC1N 3QS. Info: Institute of Education
Tuesday 24 February
* The Go-Home Office: Border Forces since 1962, Juanita Cox, Liam Liburd and Bobby Phe Amis on how border control has changed and how the Home Office participates in the politics of immigration and race-making, 5 - 7.30pm, Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road E1 6LA. Info: Birkbeck
* An Evening with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 7pm, from £29.99, Barbican Hall, Barbican Centre, Silk Street EC2Y 8DS. Info: Intelligence Squared
* An introduction to public law for environmental campaigners, Alex Shattock, Natasha Jackson, Joe Haydn, Naomi Luhde-Thompson, 11 - 12.30pm, online. Info: Public Law Project
Wednesday 25 February
* Refugee Week 2026 Conference, how to get involved in this year's festival (15 - 21 June), 10.30am - 1pm, online. Info: Refugee Week.
* Indie Night, Deepa Anappara, Khairani Barokka, Vigdis Hjorth, Tim MacGabhann, Okechukwu Nzelu and Eliza Clark celebrate independent publishers, 7.45pm, from £15, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road. Info: Southbank Centre
* Financing in protracted crises: Lessons from education, health and social protection, S. Ali Abbas, Abdul Kader Alaeddin, Adnan Khan, Freddie Carver, Abdulkarim Ekzayez, Tom Hart,Olya Homonchuk, Hans Peter Lankes, Simon McNorton, Sara Pantuliano, Juliet Parker, Mike Pearson, 9.30am - 6pm, in person and online, Overseas Development Institute, 4 Millbank SW1P 3JA . Info: ODI
Thursday 26 February
* Faith, homosecularism and LGBTIQ+ asylum in the UK, Diego García Rodríguez, 12 - 1.30pm, 55 - 59 Gordon Square, WC1H 0NT. Info: Institute of Education
* Beyond the Hostile Environment: A New Vision for Migrant Domestic Workers, Mimi Jalmasco, Grace Nine, Alison Spencer-Scragg, Simon Israel, Alzua, Carol, Christina, Christine Joy, Dannah, Fawzia, Marigold, Mary Queen, Mercy, Vangie, Rose Ann, Ritchel, Hina Bokharin, 6.30 - 8pm, City Law School Building, Clerkenwell campus, Sebastian Street, Northampton Square, EC1V 0HB. Info: City University
* Crossings: Migrant Knowledges, Migrant Forms, Natalya Din-Kariuki, 6 - 8pm, £10, students free, SOAS University of London, 10 Thornhaugh Street, W1CH 0XG. Info: SOAS
* Exploring rangeland myths: Mobility drives conflict and insecurity, new ways of seeing rangelands, Teklehaymanot G. Weldemichel and Linda Pappagallo, online, 11am - 12.30pm. Info: Institute of Development Studies
EXHIBITIONS
* Emergency Exits: The Fight for Independence in Malaya, Kenya and Cyprus, how post Second World War “Emergencies” , as they were termed by the UK, shaped Britain, its former territories and the modern world, free, Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road SE1 6HZ until 29 March. Info: IWM
+ 28 February, Discussion Day, Yasmin Khan, Rose Miyonga, Maria Hadjiathanasiou, Bethany Rebisz, David Anderson, Huw Bennett, Karl Hack, 2 - 7pm, £30
* Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans, a celebration of art and history, £14/ £16, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG until 25 May. Info: Hawai’i
* A Greenland shadow over a wonderful Hawai’i exhibition
* Botanical Tales and Seeds of Empire & Flora Indica: Recovering the lost histories of Indian botanical art, The Singh Twins examine the global mythologies of plants and the histories of Empire + Flora Indica – work by historical Indian botanical artists, admission with Kew entry fee, Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Kew Gardens until 12 April
+ The Singh Twins light up the links between empire and botany
+ The Singh Twins spotlight Kew’s role in the business of Empire
* Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times In An Instant), Mexican artist Teresa Margolles’ cuboid on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square is a memorial to trans people worldwide
* Nigerian Modernism, Nigerian artists working before and after the decade of national independence from British colonial rule in 1960, Tate Modern, Bankside SE1 9TG until 10 May. Info: Tate
* A Story of South Asian Art: Mrinalini Mukherjee and Her Circle, artists who have shaped the trajectory of Indian Modernism, £17, Royal Academy, Burlington House, Piccadilly W1J until 24 February. Info: RA
* I Still Dream of Lost Vocabularies, examination of political dissent and erasure through the idea of collage, Sabrina Tirvengadum, Sunil Gupta, Qualeasha Wood, Jess Atieno, Sheida Soleimani, free, Autograph, Rivington Place, EC2A 3BA until 21 March. Info: Exhibition
* The Land Carries, work by three international artists: Ahmed Akasha (UK), Dina Nur Satti (US) and Yasmin Elnour (Bahrain) responding to material in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian and Sudanese Archaeology, 1 - 5pm, Petrie Museum, University College London, Malet Place, WC1E 6BT until 16 May. Info: Sudan exhibition
* Collecting and Empire, trail making connections between archaeology, anthropology and the British Empire, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1. Info: British Museum
* British Library, installation of 6,328 books marks the contributions of migrants to UK, Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1. Info: Installation/ 7887 8888
* Target Queen, large-scale commission by British-Indian artist Bharti Kher, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre
* Charlie Phillips - Somewhere, Somehow, work by the immigrant who became one of Britain’s greatest photographers, Riverside Studios, 101 Queen Caroline Stret W6 9BN until 9 March. Info: Riverside
* Tixinda, A Snail’s Purple, exhibition about a sea snail whose ink can be milked to produce a purple pigment known as Tyrian or Royal purple, by British-Mexican artist Melanie Smith and Patricio Villarreal Ávila, Peltz Gallery, 43 Gordon Square, WC1H 0PD, until 11 March. Info: Pellz
* Water Pantanal Fire, photography exhibition revealing the fragile beauty of the Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland that sprawls across Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, free, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 2DD until 31 May. Info: Museum
* To Survive To Witness, works by Gaza-based Palestinian artist Marwan Nassar created during the 2023-25 war in Gaza, P21, 21-27 Chalton Street, NW1 1JD until 13 March. Info: P21
* Bouchra Khalili: Circles and Storytellers, the culmination of the French-Moroccan artist and educator’s exploration of the Mouvement des Travailleurs Arabes and its theatre groups, Al Assifa and Al Halaka, free, Mosaic Rooms, 226 Cromwell Road, SW5 0SW, until 14 June. Info: Mosaic
from Wednesday 25 February
* Beatriz González, the groundbreaking Colombian artist explores the power and impact of the images we encounter every day, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS until 10 May. Info: Barbican
ARTS OPPORTUNITIES
* Wanted: poems and short prose on the tragedy of refugee deaths in the Channel.
* The UK's biggest playwriting award is back, with productions, commissions and cash awards to be won. Open for entries until 5pm, 16 March. Details here.
* The Counterpoints Creators Awards is offering 10 creators £250 each for original, vertical videos (personal ,poetic, cinematic or satirical, up to 2 minutes) that offer fresh, self-authored perspectives by 28 February.
* the other side of hope: journeys in refugee and immigrant literature invites submissions for its next issue, “other tongue, mother tongue.” It seeks poetry by migrants in any language except English. Guidelines.
* The Young Playwrights Award is a free, open-access competition for any teenager in the UK interested in writing a play. Entries are open until 22 April.
* The Royal Court Theatre’s Writers’ Card aims to help playwrights through mentoring, networking, funding opportunities, events, subsidised meals and free script printing.
* P21 Gallery & Az Theatre invite submissions for an upcoming exhibition and activities programme on artistic responses to genocide: all media, any genocide.
* The Climate Migration Collaborative seeks contributors to its Climate Migration Storytelling initiative.
* Comedian Munya Chawawa has launched Black Boys Theatre Club “to give young men access to a world of theatre”.
* Women writers, directors, performers, musicians and visual artists are invited to submit projects for the Playground Theatre’s planned Women’s Voices: A Celebration
* The BFI is to invest £150m over the next three years under six headings: audiences, education & heritage, filmmaking & talent development, skills & workforce development, international, and insight & industry.
* New Diorama Theatre is distributing grants of £500 to migrant theatre makers to ease the burden of visa, legal, and other bureaucratic costs affecting migrants navigating UK immigration.
* Good Chance, formed in the Calais Jungle refugee camp, is launching Stage Door 10 - a national programme placing 10 creatives from refugee backgrounds in paid roles across 10 UK theatres and arts organisations.
* Theatro Technis and Hyphen Artist Collective’s offer free in-person & online writing sessions + community chats for hyphenated & global majority creatives.
* Artist Surgeries at the Gate Theatre: on the second Thursday of every month.
* As Yet Unscene, year-round initiative to find and develop scripts in early stages of development. it includes workshops, rehearsed readings and fully-rehearsed performances of longer extracts. Details here
* The Cockpit Theatre offers classes, workshops, readings, advice sessions, support & performance opportunities.
* Papatango hopes its new Playwrights’ Studio will be a home for playwrights of all levels of experience. Its advantages include digital workshops, lone-to-one, and thousands of pounds in open-access funding.
* If you are a refugee, immigrant or asylum-seeking writer interested in exploring your own poetry and prose, Exiled Writers Ink offers classes.
FILM
* My Father’s Shadow, two brothers connect with their father in this drama set against the backdrop of the 1993 Nigerian presidential election, BFI Southbank, Curzon Bloomsbury, Rio, Barbican; Lexi; Rio Picturehouses Finsbury Park, Hackney, Ritzy;
+ A father’s shadow - and the shadow of a Nigerian coup
+ Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù: ’If the west doesn’t say a film is good, that doesn’t mean it’s no good’
* The President’s Cake, despite hardships in 1990s Iraq, Saddam Hussein requires every school to prepare a cake to celebrate his birthday. So 9-year-old Lamia must use her wits to gather ingredients for the cake or face punishment; Finsbury Park Picturehouse
+ A girl, a boy, a rooster and a cake for Saddam
* It Was Just An Accident, Jafar Panahi’s award-winning Iranian black comedy thriller is a powerful indictment of state-sponsored terror and a moving drama of individuals seeking to rebuild their lives after being subject to it, Curzon Bloomsbury
+ Twice-jailed Panahi spins a moral tale for our authoritarian times
* No Other Choice, a man’s desperation to secure a new job finds him exploring unique ways to eliminate his competitors, in South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s madcap thriller; cinemas all over town
* The Secret Agent, Brazilian political thriller; cinemas all over town
* I’m Migrant Film Festival, film from the SWANA region. programme includes 22 Feb, Fractured Homes, three films about migration and refuge; 24 Feb, Home Truths, stories exploring relationships and private lives; 27 Feb, I’m Migrant, two documentary portraits. Genesis Cinema.
+ I’m Migrant Film Festival is back
* Masterpieces of the Iranian New Wave, sexuality, identity and oppression explored with honesty, until 26 February. Programme includes 24 Feb, The Night It Rained + documentary shorts by Ebrahim Golestan; 25 Feb, Dancer of the City; 26 Feb, Secrets of the Jinn Valley Treasure. Info: Barbican
* All That’s Left of You, Palestinian American director Cherien Dabis takes us on an epic and poignant journey through a Palestinian family's 75-year history; 22-23 February National Film Theatre
Sunday 22 February
* West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty, Med Hondo’s spectacular musical traces the history of the West Indies + introduction by Ashley Clarke, 3.10pm, National Film Theatre
from Sunday 22 February
* Cutting Through Rocks, extraordinary documentary about Sara Shahverdi, an indomitable, motorcycle-riding divorcee and the first woman to be elected to the council of her Iranian village - provoking a backlash, 2.30pm, Curzon Bloomsbury + 25, 26 February
+ Cutting through the patriarchy in an Iranian village
* Do You Love Me, playful and personal journey through archival footage of Lebanon, a fragmented history in a country without a national archive, celebrating creative expression as resistance, renewal and a way to preserve memory, Curzon Bloomsbury + 25 February
Monday 23 February
* Ninxs, filmed over eight years in a small Mexican town, 15-year-old Karla tells her coming-of-age story as she navigates life as a trans teenager + filmmaker Q&A, 6.20pm, Curzon Bloomsbury
Tuesday 24 February
* The Last Ambassador, What do you do as an ambassador for Afghanistan when the Taliban take power and you are a feminist? You fight back - at least if you're Manizha Bakhtari + Q&A with Bakhtari, Curzon Bloomsbury
PERFORMANCE
* Far Gone, one-man performance tracing a boy’s journey from innocence to child soldier with the Lord’s Resistance Army, and survival, £22, Brixton House, 85 Coldharbour Lane, SW9 8GL until 21 February. Info: Brixton House
+ From boy to man in a flash in the Lord’s Resistance Army
* Sweetmeats, a touching love story between two South Asian elders begins in a London diabetes clinic when a “scary Indian woman” meets an “irritating Pakistani man”, £10 - £35, Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Road, W12 8LJ, until 21 March. Info: Bush
+ A British-Indian~Pakistani rom com sparked by diabetes
Friday 27 February
* To Ebb Is To Flow, artists from East and Southeast Asia (including Miamor, Zhuyang Liu, Alya Hatta, Xiaoxin Li, Natasha Tontey, Yan Wang, Luo Yang, Yuqiang Sun Preston, Hannah Lim, Haffendi Anuar, Carrie Chan) reimagine gender, 6.30 - 10pm, free, V&A Museum, Cromwell Road SW7 2RL. Info: Victoria & Albert Museum
TV and RADIO
Saturday 21 February
* Sikisa’s Border Control, comedy with immigration solicitor and stand-up comedian Sikisa Bostwick-Barnes, 11pm, Radio4
Sunday 22 February
* BBC Radio 1Xtra Comedy Gala With Eddie Kadi and Friends, new voices from the Black comedy circuit, 11.40pm, BBC1
* Desert Island Discs, Roula Khalaf, the British-Lebanese editor of the Financial Times, 10am, Radio4
Monday 23 February
* Global Eye, current affairs magazine, 7pm, BBC2
* How did we get here?, series on the origins of the Middle East conflict, 8pm, Radio4
* Full Moon on Progress Street, five programmes looking at the music and contributions to social change of five Black female musicians: Sarah Vaughan, 9.45pm, Radio3
Tuesday 24 February
* Weathered: Earth’s Extremes, six-parter on the climate crisis, 8.30pm, PBS America
* History’s Heroes, Cardinal Sin and a political revolution in The Philippines, 3pm, Radio4
* Full Moon on Progress Street, five programmes looking at the music and contributions to social change of five Black female musicians: Bessie Smith 9.45pm, Radio3
Wednesday 25 February
* Weathered: Earth’s Extremes, six-parter on the climate crisis, 8.30pm, PBS America
* Full Moon on Progress Street, five programmes looking at the music and contributions to social change of five Black female musicians: Abbey Lincoln, 9.45pm, Radio3
* Slim’s Guide To Life, series in which a 53-year-old stand-up looks back at his Black British teenagerdon, 11pm, Radio4
Thursday 26 February
* Weathered: Earth’s Extremes, six-parter on the climate crisis, 8.40pm, PBS America
* Full Moon on Progress Street, five programmes looking at the music and contributions to social change of five Black female musicians: Ma Rainey, 9.45pm, Radio3
Friday 27 February
* Syria after Assad, 10.25am, PBS America
* The Food Programme, the future of food in The Philippines, 11am, Radio4
* Full Moon on Progress Street, five programmes looking at the music and contributions to social change of five Black female musicians: Josephine Baker, 9.45pm, Radio3