Common Ground
Seif Eddine Jlassi & Mousa AlNana: HOW IF WHEN:, photo by Haneen Hadiy.
Common Ground is a creative and social project within the CCA dedicated to bringing diverse communities together through arts and culture.
We aim to create an empowering environment with and for refugee communities, underrepresented groups, and individuals to collaborate and organise, and to more broadly diversify and facilitate opportunities within the arts and creative sectors.
The project exists as both a physical space and a programme of activities, and is for and led by people with lived experience of forced migration and from refugee backgrounds. This is inclusive of people who have not directly gone through the refugee and asylum process, but come from refugee families.
Current Projects
Flavour
Flavour is a series of food-sharing workshops and activities in which cooking practices are a method of connection, collaboration and story-telling. Participants are invited to share their favourite recipes and to learn about different food cultures while celebrating the creativity of cooking.
Common Sound
Delivered in collaboration with The Sound Lab, Common Sound is a series of music workshops involving taster sessions for a variety of instruments, as well as DJing and music production.
Art for Artists by Sadaf
Art for Artists is a series of beginner-friendly art making workshops which involves painting, drawing and crafts. The sessions are relaxed and flexible to allow participants to go at their own pace and to explore different forms of art making.
Seed to Plate
Formed through our partnership with Glasgow Seed Library, Seed to Plate is a series of events which celebrate the connections between what we grow and what we eat through activities such as seed-sorting, sharing and exchanging knowledge around growing, and celebrating what ends up on our plates by cooking/eating!
If you’re interested in getting involved in our programme either as a participant or partner, or just want to find out more, then please get in touch at commonground@cca-glasgow.com / 07756 288837.
Physical Space
We run a space which hosts a variety of social and creative activities. Some of these are organised internally and others with partner organisations, groups, or individuals within our community. Common Ground is used in a range of ways, from serving as a hub for community drop-in sessions, to being a space for creative gatherings such as clay workshops. The space is designed to provide a safe, social environment to break isolation, increase connectivity and facilitate collaborations among individuals, the wider community and the creative arts.
The space is available to book, and prioritises:
Groups and organisations led by people with lived experience of forced migration and from refugee backgrounds
Groups and organisations co-producing or working with people with lived experience of forced migration and from refugee backgrounds
Groups and organisations working for or providing services for people with lived experience of forced migration and from refugee backgrounds
Groups and organisations with aligned values to hire the space
If you’re interested in hiring the Common Ground space, please get in touch with us at commonground@cca-glasgow.com / 07756 288837.
We charge a fee for funded organisations, but are able to provide the space in kind or on a pay-what-you-can basis for refugee-led groups which don’t have the budget to pay for hire.
Background
Common Ground was developed from CCA’s open-source model. This approach lays the foundations for the project’s open and mutual practice with forced migrants, refugees and those in the asylum process to develop the autonomous use of the space and direction of the project. In our first year, we focused on widening engagement through our consultation and collaboration with community members and a variety of local groups and organisations across Glasgow. Since this period we have been working to develop a core year-round programme in order to provide more creative opportunities for communities across the city. We also delivered the first ever Common Ground Festival in June 2024 which celebrated the work and practises of artists in our communities.
Our vision
Common Ground aims to:
Maintain a thriving social space for connection, creativity and collaboration
Improve access and participation through a range of information and group work sessions covering social, cultural and creative arts activities
Foster wider public engagement through partnerships with a variety of refugee-led and local community groups, projects and organisations
Support the development and implementation of social and cultural activities led by communities
Values
Our visions and aims are centred around supporting people from forced migrant backgrounds through creative means, as a way to make the arts more inclusive and accessible for a variety of communities. In order to achieve these aims our work is embedded in key values, including:
Working with historically disempowered communities
Maintaining a community-led approach
Practicing antiracism and decolonisation
Sustainable programming through building long-term community relationships and investing in the development of community groups and individuals
Common Ground Festival, photo by Haneen Hadiy
Partnerships
Common Ground has worked with many organisations and community groups to create sustainable partnerships built on shared values. Since opening the space, we have focused on developing our network and establishing partnerships which have taken many different forms, from shared activity delivery and facilitation, to providing support to community groups, individual artists and organisers. If you have an idea or proposal for a partnership and share our values, please get in touch at commonground@cca-glasgow.com / 07756 288837.
How to get involved
If you are interested in working together, would like to find out how to participate in any of our activities, or are just seeking more information about Common Ground then please contact us via email at commonground@cca-glasgow.com, or give us a call/message on 07756 288837. You can also give us a follow on Instagram to stay informed about what we’re up to!
Please note that participation in our activities is for people with lived experience of forced migration and from refugee backgrounds, inclusive of people who have not directly gone through the refugee and asylum process but come from refugee families.