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People, Place[making] and Culture: A Learning Festival by The Ubele Initiative
For two days from Wednesday, June 17th - Thursday, June 18th, 2026, The Ubele Initiative brings together leaders from across our network to the Wolves Lane Centre in Haringey for our first national Learning Festival.
Under our 2026 theme, Seeds of Innovation, this learning festival will explore how people, place[making], and culture can cultivate collective responses to racial, socio-economic, and environmental injustices.
We’re convening leaders who represent and/or support Black, Asian, and racially minoritised communities to:
Strengthen leadership and collaboration across networks, grounded in lived experience, and informed by research and development practices
Reimagine land, social infrastructure, and policy to better serve place-based social and ecological needs
Harness art, heritage, and storytelling as tools for sense-making and catalysts for systems change
This is not just a space to talk, it’s a space to build.
What to expect
Emerging two-day programme (Subject to Evolve):
Day 1 — People, Place[making] and Culture
09:30 - 10:30 Arrival, Registration, + Light Breakfast Snacks
10:30 - 12:30 - Plenary introducing the learning festival theme whilst unpacking the structural forces shaping our present reality, including how racialised wealth inequality limits access to space and land.
Yvonne Field OBE
Dr Shabna Begum - Runnymede Trust
Dr Jessica Allen - UCL Institute of Health Equity (Marmot Review)
12:30 - 13:30 Lunch and Networking
13:30 - 16:00 Learning exhibition, site tours, & workshops demonstrating innovative work challenging systems
Every City Needs A Seedbank - Explore seed saving and food justice with Black Rootz and The Wolves Lane Centre Seed Protectors
Insights from Investing in 30 Black and Racially Minoritised Social Enterprises: What Pathway Fund Is Learning About Equity and Investment
16:00 - 17:00 The Art of Learning
Michael Hamilton
17:00 - 18:30 Cultural Performance, Networking + Canapes
Day 2 — Collaborating Towards Desired Futures
09:30 - 10:30 Arrival, Registration + Light Breakfast Snacks
10:30 - 12:30 Future oriented plenary mapping community-led models, community wealth, and how neighbourhood scale infrastructure serves place-based needs
Immy Kaur - CIVIC Square
Jake Ferguson - Baobab Foundation & Black AI Futures
Amahra Spence - Hood Futures
12:30 - 13:30 Lunch and Networking
13:30 - 16:00 Cultural Horizons and Learning Exhibition
Afternoon Sessions Announced Soon
16:00 - 19:00 Closing set from the legendary Channel One Sound System
Why
As the UK prepares to roll out Pride in Place, there is growing attention on how place-based development approaches are understood and implemented.
Drawing on over 10 years of learning, we know communities must play a central role in shaping local systems that affect them while recognising how history, ecology, and culture shape both the challenges we face and the solutions we build.
The Learning Festival brings these ideas into practice — building on learning from activities taking place across the year, including our Seed Swap Festival; Mek Wi Chat Art Exhibition, report launch, and workshop series; and the launch of Okun Policy forum.
Who this is for
Community leaders, organisers, funders, policymakers, artists, growers, and social entrepreneurs working to build community-led futures across the UK.
The setting
Set within the Wolves Lane Centre - a 3.5-acre food growing and social enterprise hub - the festival takes place inside a living example of community-led innovation.
The land itself will feed us, with meals shaped from produce grown on site, prepared by Rosamund Grant, a celebrated voice in African-Caribbean food culture.
Contribution
To support accessibility, attendees from philanthropy, public institutions, and national infrastructure organisations are asked to contribute £250 per attendee.
This enables participation from grassroots leaders, freelancers, and local VCSE organisations - ensuring the festival remains rooted in community.
If you are unsure about which ticket category applies to you or discuss group discount options, please contact [email protected].
Photograph: Taken for Gaia Foundation Event launching Arpita Shah's commission titled We Feed the UK at the Wolves Lane Centre 2025, July 15th.