Nightjar
a movement for belonging, creativity, and change across homelands
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Vision
We believe everyone deserves to feel seen, valued and rooted.
The Nightjar reminds us that migration is natural: you carry one homeland with you, even as you put down roots in another. Every journey carries the place you leave into the place you reach — and belonging can grow in both.
Through art, storytelling and community connection, Nightjar makes visible this lived reality and celebrates it as a source of strength. Rooted in the New Forest and Gonja, and reaching across West Africa and the UK, we nurture belonging locally and globally, for today and for generations to come.
Belonging
Everyone deserves to feel recognised and rooted.
Duality
We honour the richness of living with layered and intersectional identities
Regeneration
We plant for the future, culturally, environmentally and socially.
Creativity
Using art, music and story to bring joy, visibility and connection.
Equity
Tackling barriers and creating fairer spaces for all.
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How it Began
Nightjar began with a simple idea: this small migratory bird could give voice to a lived reality too often unseen. It is natural to move. Migration does not mean abandoning the place you leave, and it does not mean you do not belong in the place you arrive. Nightjar makes visible how so many of us live — between worlds, yet fully at home in both.
From the start, Nightjar has grown through community — gatherings, exhibitions, festivals and conversations in the New Forest and in Gonja. Each step has been shaped not by us alone, but with the people who join the journey. Nightjar is more than a project: it is a movement carried forward by stories, voices and creativity across two homelands.
Stories of Belonging
An older gentleman of mixed heritage told us how unwelcome his sister had felt in the New Forest. After seeing the Nightjar sculpture, he took photos to show her — so she might feel she could visit him, knowing there were others here too.
Families told us their children were ‘Nightjars too,’ grateful for a new way of framing dual identity with pride. Visitors described the drumming and storytelling as a ‘haven’ — a pause of joy and connection amidst the busyness of the show.
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Mission and Approach
Nightjar is not a top-down project but a movement co-created with communities.
Co-created with artists, young people, and community members.
Rooted in indigenous knowledge, ecology, and lived experience.
Made visible through art, performance and storytelling across borders.
Our approach ensures Nightjar grows with, not for, the people it seeks to serve — centring equity, joy and long-term sustainability.
Featured Initiatives
Drums, Stories, and Belonging: Nightjar at Summer Festivals
This summer, Nightjar took to the road, travelling from Thrive Festival to the New Forest Show, from the Mela to Camp Bestival. Everywhere we went, people joined us to drum, dance, and share stories. Highlights included: Families at the New Forest Show telling us “we...
A Movement Hatches: Nightjar Launch Exhibition
Exhibition & Nightjar Launch When we opened the doors to the Nightjar exhibition at SPUD, we hoped it would spark conversation. What happened went far beyond our hopes. Visitors told us: “It was the best exhibition opening we’ve ever been to.” “For the first time,...
Africa is Not a Country, But Is it Really “Countries” Anyway?
As we begin our collaboration with museums to examine their African collections, we run into familiar challenges. Geography, music, and art don’t fit neatly into the borders most people associate with Africa. These borders—lines on maps that now divide countries—were...
Our Partners & Sponsors
