Image by Sarah Al-Sarraj
Journeys Festival International
Exploring journeys, migration and the world around us.
This October we journey back to the heart of our festival, working with communities to celebrate Leicester as an international and diverse city.
We’re presenting work from local and international artists that embraces different world cultures and celebrates our different journeys together.
For 2024 we’re bringing hilarious comedy shows, creative family workshops, intricate installations and beautiful exhibitions for you to enjoy.
We’ll be weaving through the city’s streets with community parades, story telling and street theatre. Join us on the journey!
We strive to make our festival inclusive, safe and enjoyable to all.
How to join us on the journey!
You’ll find this guide useful to plan your weekend, so keep your copy handy. Head to JourneysFestival.com for more information about the festival, artists, events and partners. Use #JourneysFestival24 to share your posts and join us on social media.
Throughout the festival guide, you’ll find these icons that will help you know what to expect from the festival.
Image by Omar Sultan
Discover Plants and Play
by Mandeep Dhadialla
11–31 October
Monday–Friday 9.00am–5.00pm
Saturday 10.00am–5.00pm
Sunday 12.00pm–3.00pm
Leicester Cathedral
Visit the cathedral to Discover Plants and Play, a unique installation by artist Mandeep Dhadialla. This interactive artwork highlights the importance of play for our wellbeing, using the fun and familiar element of a garden swing. A giant garden swing invites people of all ages to take a seat and swing. This isn’t just any swing — it’s surrounded by a stunning suspended paper garden with large, vibrant flowers, fruits, foliage and wildlife.
The installation showcases how play can uplift spirits, strengthen community bonds and encourage conversations about the environment. Visitors are not just observers but participants. Climb onto the swing and immerse yourself in the beautiful, imaginative garden. Feel the joy of play and let it transform your visit into an extraordinary adventure.
Join us at the cathedral to swing amidst this magical garden and see how play can bring us all closer together, while also reminding us of the beauty of nature and the importance of caring for our environment.
Comedy at Curve No Direction Home by Counterpoint Arts
Selam Amare, Loraine Mponela and Anastasia
Chokuwamba have performed with No Direction Home at gigs across the country including at London’s Soho Theatre and Southbank Centre, appearing with guest headliners such as Rob Delany, Fatiha El-Ghorri and Romesh Ranganathan.
Loraine and Anastasia are both based in Coventry. They bring humour to their insights into the asylum system and fresh takes on life in the UK. Loraine is also a poet — her second collection, Now I Sing, was published in 2023.
Selam is a comedy performer and producer based in London who runs her own regular nights, Azmari Bet, bringing together Ethiopian and Eritrean performers across music, poetry and stand-up.
Counterpoints Arts runs No Direction Home comedy workshops and performances as part of their PopChange programme.
Saturday 12 October
8.00pm–9.00pm
Curve Theatre
£10 per ticket or £6 for concessions
*Carers go free
Image by Paul Gilbey
DESIblitz Truck Art Bus
Art on Wheels
Saturday 12 October
10.00am–12.00pm
1.00pm–3.00pm
Town Hall Square
Step aboard the DESIblitz Truck Art Bus and unleash your creativity! This is your chance to dive into a world of colour and culture. Learn about the fascinating cross-cultural connections that make truck art so unique, and share your thoughts and interpretations with others. Whether you’re a budding artist or just looking for a creative outlet, the DESIblitz Truck Art Bus promises an engaging and educational experience for all ages.
Don’t miss this opportunity to celebrate art, culture and creativity with us!
Image DESIblitz
TOAST
by Pif-Paf Theatre
Saturday 12 October
12.00pm–12.50pm 2.15pm–3.05pm
Town Hall Square
A beautiful big-hearted journey through food, dance, live music, songs and tales from around the world. Join the Guild of Toasters and dance with their cart through the seasons, as you toast your own lives with batter-based treats from around the world in a love song to community.
Image by Ash Mills
The House of Weaving Songs
by Dhaqan Collective
The House of Weaving Songs is a domed steel structure based on an Aqal, a Somali nomadic home found in the arid landscapes of Somalia.
Embark on a sensory journey as 360-degree audio surrounds you, transporting you to the heart of Somali nomadic life through the musicality of Somali women’s weaving songs. Wander through nomadic tapestries adorned with tales of tradition and resilience, which ignite when touched, each thread weaving a story of heritage and belonging.
11–13 October
Monday–Friday 9.00am–5.00pm Saturday 10.00am–5.00pm Sunday 12.00pm–3.00pm Leicester Cathedral
Image by Luke O’Donovan
Songs of the Water
by Kaajal Modi
Songs of the Water is an audio visual installation inspired by rediscovering our ancestral connections to water as lifeblood that sustains all people; what we learn from it, how to protect it, how we connect with it, and how to preserve it in such a challenging environmental climate. The work brings together artists, oral histories and citizen science as a way to explore new ways of looking at how we live with our waterways in urban environments. By listening to, recording and responding to urban river ecologies, communities around Leicester are invited to creatively explore how species entangle in polluted and clean waterways — and to go out and discover their local surroundings.
This audio installation is created by Kaajal Modi, made through engagement workshops and communal listening sessions in collaboration with sound designer Kitty Turner; and working with participants in partnership with Soft Touch Arts using hydrophones and DIY underwater listening technologies.
11–12 October 11 October 10.00am–4.00pm 6.00pm–9.00pm 12 October 10.00am–4.00pm
Soft Touch Arts Cafe
Image by Sunigh, Soft Touch Arts Intern
Festival Hub
11 and 12 October
11.00am–4.00pm
Haymarket Shopping Centre
Join us at the Journeys Festival International hub in the Haymarket Shopping Centre. Drop in for free family activities and more information on the festival programme. On Saturday, Mission Magpie will be hosting free creative textile workshops for families and you can take your repurposed fabric creation home with you.
Come and say hello to the festival team, who will be able to answer your questions and signpost you to events taking place around the city centre.
We look forward to seeing you!
Image by Pete Martin Photography
Come and join us on Saturday afternoon for Crossing Paths, our celebration of the festival weaving its way towards Jubilee Square and ending in a mass participatory dance spectacle! Expertly led by Leicesterbased Moving Together, this joyous community event brings together talented people of all ages from across the city in a piece inspired by unity, local pride and belonging.
Groups from Cross Corners, The Grove and Highfields Centre will be taking part. Our parade will begin at the Clock Tower at 3.00pm and end on Jubilee Square with a grand finale for
Crossing Paths City Centre Parade
Saturday 12 October
3.00pm—3.45pm
Starts at Clock Tower
Image by Pete Martin Photography
Separated by Millennia by Sarah Al-Sarraj
Separated by Millennia is an epic love story spanning thousands of years and told through a series of paintings, presented by artist Sarah Al-Sarraj. Inspired by navigation and time reckoning methods native to the Arabian peninsula, visitors are invited to follow the story of a nomadic tribe.
11–25 October*
11 October 12.00pm–5.00pm and 6.00pm–9.00pm
12 October 12.00pm–5.00pm
13 October 12.00pm–5.00pm
*See 2queens.com for all opening hours
Two Queens Gallery
Image by Sarah Al-Sarraj
Friday 11 October
12.30pm–3.00pm
Phoenix Arts Centre
Come and join us for food and discussion about culture, clothing, minority and indigenous communities. Art Reach, Elle Sofe Company (Norway) and artist Olga Regitze Dyrløv Høegh (Denmark) will present ‘Birra’ (outreach).
Birra will consist of a short performance of a ‘Yoik’ (Sami singing tradition) by artist Emma Elliane Oskal Valkeapää before inviting participants to discuss provocations about cultural identity and traditional clothing whilst having an informal lunch.
Spaces will be allocated on a first come first served basis. You must pre-book by emailing Hello@artreach.org.uk
Image by Darin Gregson
Africa Migration Report: Readings
and Conversations by Forced Migration and The Arts, with CivicLeicester and Regularise
Thursday 10 October
6.00pm–7.30pm Online
Join us for an evening of poetry and conversation on the theme of African migration.
The Africa Migration Report: Readings and Conversations, brought to you by Forced Migration and The Arts, brings together a number of poets featured in the upcoming, African Migration Report: an Anthology of Poems; Volume 1 (CivicLeicester, forthcoming).
As part of the evening, the poets will share thoughts, experiences and poetry on the theme of African migration as well as discuss what they are seeing around African migration. In addition, the poets will share the vision they have on African migration, and how we get to that future.
Sustainable Futures
Voices
and Visions from the Global Majority
Saturday 12 October
10.00am–12.00pm
Leicester Gallery (De Montfort University)
Join us for breakfast and a panel discussion with artists from this year’s festival and academics from De Montfort University. They will be exploring how art and culture can foster belonging and drive sustainability.
Hosted by DMU as part of the 2024 Journeys Festival International, in partnership with Art Reach.
Image by Drew Forsyth Photography
We love feedback. It’s your way to tell us what you think of the festival. It helps us to improve each year too. All of your survey responses are made anonymous, so you can be completely honest. You’re not only helping us to improve the programme with your feedback, but you have the chance to win a fabulous prize! Enter the prize draw by 31 October. The winner will be randomly selected and contacted by 8 November with the news of their £100 High Street Shopping Voucher.
To enter the draw feedback on one of the surveys at the webpage below and be sure to leave your contact details in case you win!
artreach.org.uk/journeysfestival/feedback/
Image by Pete Martin Photography
Access Information
Our website has accessibility tools that will help you find what you need and we’re striving to make every element of the festival enjoyable for all.
You’ll find all key information on our website artreach.org.uk/access
If you want to chat about any access requirements in advance or would like this information in a different format, please contact Amelia@artreach.org.uk or call 01162 616 882.
Large print and digital versions of this brochure are available to download using the QR code on this page and on our website and available by post in advance.
On our festival map, which you’ll find on the website, you’ll find locations for accessible toilets and blue badge parking spaces.
We’re very keen to make our festival enjoyable for all, so if you’ve got suggestions for improving our access provision, your feedback is most welcome.
Friday 11 October
Times Title Company Location
9.00am–5.00pm Discover Plants and Play Mandeep Dhadialla Leicester Cathedral
9.00am–5.00pm The House of Weaving Songs Dhaqan Collective Leicester Cathedral
10.00am–4.00pm 6.00pm–9.00pm Songs of the Water Kaajal Modi Soft Touch Arts Café
11.00am–4.00pm Festival Hub Festival Team Haymarket Shopping Centre
12.00pm–5.00pm 6.00pm–9.00pm Separated by Millennia Sarah Al-Sarraj Two Queens Gallery
12.30pm–3.00pm Birra Elle Sofe Company and Olga Regitze Dyrløv Høegh Phoenix Arts Centre
Saturday 12 October
Times Title Company Location
10.00am–5.00pm Discover Plants and Play Mandeep Dhadialla Leicester Cathedral
10.00am–5.00pm The House of Weaving Songs Dhaqan Collective Leicester Cathedral
10.00am–4.00pm Songs of the Water Kaajal Modi Soft Touch Arts Café
10.00am–12.00pm 1.00pm–3.00pm Art on Wheels DESIblitz Town Hall Square
10.00am–12.00pm Sustainable Futures De Montfort University Leicester Gallery (De Montfort University)
11.00am–4.00pm Festival Hub Mission Magpie Haymarket Shopping Centre
12.00pm–12.50pm 2.15pm–3.05pm TOAST Pif-Paf Theatre Town Hall Square
12.00pm–5.00pm Separated by Millennia Sarah Al-Sarraj Two Queens Gallery
3.00pm–3.45pm Crossing Paths City Centre Parade Moving Together Starts at Clock Tower
8.00pm–9.00pm Comedy at Curve Counterpoint Arts Curve Theatre
