Collective Futures is a 12-month artist-community organiser residency that I started in September 2025 in collaboration with Inna Cebotari (Moldovan actor, writer & dramaturg). Organised by POMOC (https://www.pomoc.org.uk/), a grassroots organisation building power with/in Eastern European communities, it is the first residency specifically for socially engaged Eastern European artists in the UK to work alongside seasoned community organisers, bridge art and organising methodologies and learning from one another. 

Created off the back of the success of CRY FOR ME and the fruitful collaboration with POMOC, Collective Futures will involve the exploration of the complex relationship between Eastern European and migrant identities, and the re-imagining and enactment of new ways of belonging – ones that are rooted in collective action and solidarity between diverse Eastern European communities as well as other migrant communities. The final outcome of this residency will take the shape of a community-led civic space, where belonging is built and sustained. Civic spaces have been eroded in the UK, yet they are critical to shaping collective thinking and motivating communities towards action.

The idea is to empower people with tools and invitations into spaces that allow them to reflect, play and imagine different versions of themselves and of the world we live in, collectively. Inna and I are learning about community organising and opening a dialogue between the artistic process and the community organising process. We will work with a group of Romanian and Moldovan people living in Brent for one year, and we will activate the group through prompts, conversations and artistic provocations. The aim is that the group will become a group and a community that can organise themselves around issues relevant to them, create allyship with other communities and join networks of solidarity of existing communities.