Origins Festival

21/03/2026

Everyone at Border Crossings and the ORIGINS Festival is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Rhoda Roberts: the visionary Bundjalung cultural leader and activist. Rhoda's extraordinary foundation and curation of the Dreaming Festival inspired us in so many ways. We could never have undertaken the managing of an Indigneous Festival in London without her extraordinary example. She will be remembered with profound gratitude and love.

02/02/2026

This March!

For six nights only, Border Crossings brings an urgent new interactive play to the stage.

Across Europe, displacement is framed as a threat rather than a human reality—while the voices of the voices of refugees themselves remain unheard.

Developed through a month-long collaboration with Syrian refugee women in Turkey, the performance centres first-hand accounts of displacement.

Tobi King Bakare, Vlad Gurdis and Albie Marber lead audiences through a contemporary reimagining of The Suppliants, Aeschylus’ 2,500-year-old play about asylum and democracy.

And each night, the audience faces a decision:
Should the Suppliants be welcomed into our city?

That’s not all…

🫶An exhibition of visual art by artists from refugee backgrounds frames the show.

🎶 After each performance different local refugee choirs incl Counterpoints Arts Sounds Like Home choir, Pan Intercultural Arts Amies Freedom Choir and Syrian musicians incl Rama Alcoutlabi and Rihab Azar take to the stage.

📍 Hoxton Hall
📆 Tue 3 - Sun 8 March
🎟️ https://hoxtonhall.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/1173671430

10/01/2026

Email: [email protected] by 10 February!

Share with anyone interested! 🔁

We’re inviting artists from refugee backgrounds to exhibit their work at Hall , a historic theatre and creative hub in East London.

Selected artworks will be shown as part of ARRIVING, BECOMING, BELONGING, an outreach project running alongside the new multimedia performance SUPPLIANTS OF SYRIA (3–8 March 2026).

SUPPLIANTS OF SYRIA explores what it means to seek asylum, flee war and persecution, and build a life in a new land. The exhibition will be open to performance audiences and daytime visitors of Hoxton Hall.

How to apply
Please send:
• A photo of your artwork
• Dimensions
• A short text about you and the work

📧[email protected]
📅Deadline: 10 February 2026

Please share with artists and communities who may be interested.



The National Lottery Community Fund.

15/10/2025

08/09/2025

Border Crossings are on the lookout for an Archivist!

📣 We’re Hiring: Freelance Archivist

As part of our 30th anniversary celebrations, Border Crossings is seeking a freelance Archivist to help preserve and develop our archive from 1995 to today.

🗂 You’ll be sorting, cataloguing and safeguarding a rich collection of material that charts our journey from a small theatre company into an international force for intercultural performance.

This 7-month project (3 days per week, fee £14,000) offers the chance to collaborate with the University of Bristol Theatre Collection.

The post may suit a recently qualified archivist: the opportunity to be mentored by an experienced archivist from the Theatre Collection will be offered.

Requirements:
- Formal qualification in Archive Management
- Experience managing physical and digital archives
- A commitment to accessible, participatory heritage

📅 Applications close: 22 September
📅 Interviews: 30 September

Find out more: https://www.artsjobs.org.uk/jobs/search/67490

15/08/2025

It is with great sadness that we acknowledge the passing of Uncle Noel Tovey AM, an extraordinary performer, director and writer whose life and career were nothing short of inspiring. Overcoming incredible challenges in his childhood, Noel became the first Australian ballet dancer of Indigenous heritage.

In 2011 Noel brought his powerful autobiographical performance LITTLE BLACK BASTARD to Origins Festival. It was a privilege for us to offer him a platform on which he could recount his extraordinary life.

31/07/2025

*Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this film contains images and voices of deceased persons.*

We are saddened to acknowledge the recent passing of Paul Coe, a prominent figure in the Indigenous land rights movement in Australia.

On 2nd November 1976, Paul Coe and Cecil Patten landed on Dover Beach and planted the Aboriginal flag, symbolically claiming the land for Indigenous Australians by virtue of possession.

This short film, featuring both Paul and Jasmine Coe, reflects on the 1976 act, Paul’s decades of activism, and the unveiling of the commemorative plaque on the same beach in 2022 as part of Border Crossings ORIGINS Festival.