Our Work

a movement for belonging, creativity, and change across homelands

Join the movement

1 Exhibition, 6 Festivals and 1000’s of connections

Our Work

Nightjar grows through the work we do with communities — in the New Forest, in Gonja, and across West Africa and the UK. Our work brings people together to create, to share stories, to nurture youth leadership, and to connect ecological and cultural knowledge across borders.

1000’s of people engaged at festivals and events across the South

Festivals and Public Events

Delivering interactive spaces at festivals and community gatherings — with the Nightjar sculpture, drumming, storytelling, and making bottle-bird Nightjars. These moments bring people together in joy, visibility, and shared belonging.

2 Stakeholder meetings, 1 Creative Network, 1 Youth Board

Creating Connextions

This strand includes stakeholder meetings, youth board development, support for African associations as cultural anchors — and the Nightjar Creatives Network.

The Creatives Network began as a simple WhatsApp group linking artists, writers and makers. It has since grown into a dynamic space for sharing opportunities, testing ideas, and co-creating the future of Nightjar from the inside out.

Creative Learning

Developing the Nightjar Curriculum for Afro-Caribbean societies in colleges and universities, and New Forest Primaries at Key stage 1 to maxmise oppertinties for connection in an increasingly polarised world. Workshops and circles in community spaces build wellbeing and community through art, story, and ecological knowledge. Nightjar creates spaces for learning that centre lived experience, reframes narratives and builds connections.

2 films sharing indigenous knowledge

Shared Knowledge and Exchange

Nightjar bridges the New Forest and Gonja through exchanges such as the sustainable burning film project, youth-led film nights, and cross-continental dialogues on ecology, land care and belonging.

We recognise that cultural exchange is never neutral. Too often, power imbalances have meant that knowledge flows one way, causing harm to those who share it. Nightjar works differently: we begin by listening, we honour lived expertise, and we strive to level the ground so that exchange is deep, reciprocal and meaningful.

Exhibitions, commisions, careers and

training

Artistic Development

Working with artists (sculptors, writers, musicians, storytellers) to co-create new works inspired by Nightjar — from sculpture trails to performances. Nightjar nurtures artists as well as communities, ensuring the movement grows creatively.