Arts Events Archives - Risky Cities

A Dry Topic: Creative Community Engagement for Drought Resilience

16th September 202615th September 2026 by Ed Brookes

by Nathalie Holloway Centre for Water Cultures PhD student Nathalie Holloway reflects on her research project ‘A Dry Topic: Creative Community Engagement for Drought Resilience’ which explores using creative and historical methods for building household resilience to drought. Recent dry weather has brought drought and future water scarcity to the fore of public discussion, …

Tales from Down the Drain: opening the archives to uncover the hidden social histories of urban waterways

15th September 202615th September 2026 by Ed Brookes

by Emily Ingram Centre for Water Cultures PhD student Emily Ingram reflects on her research project ‘Tales from Down the Drain’ which explores Hull’s hidden drainage histories: How many times a week do you walk or drive past a stretch of canal, muddy stream, or rubbish-strewn waterway? These urban ‘brown-blue’ spaces are, in many ways, …

Tapping into local knowledge of water management on the thirsty island of Aigina

25th August 20264th August 2026 by Ed Brookes

by Katerina Velentza, Briony McDonagh, Steven Forrest and Irene Polinskaya In April 2026, we spent a week on the Greek island of Aegina as part of a project – led by Professor Irene Polinskaya at the Department of Classics, King’s College London – exploring ‘hidden’ cultural heritage and its potential to address acute water shortages …

City of Water: Learning from the past to live better with water today

10th May 20249th May 2024 by Amy Richardson

Risky Cities artwork in the City of Water exhibition

Artwork produced during our Risky Cities project was integral to two inspiring exhibitions recently programmed by Hull’s Ferens Art Gallery, attracting a total of 60,000 visitors who came to explore the city’s watery history and artwork. Dr Ed Brookes and Dr Stewart Mottram reflect on the partnerships that helped produce these watery-themed exhibitions, the key …

Virtual Horizons Explores the Future of Hull’s Landscape Through VR and Theatre

5th September 202416th October 2023 by Amy Richardson

Maureen Lennon and Jack Chamberlain with the River Hull behind them

Two vital Risky Cities’ team members, Jack Chamberlain and Maureen Lennon, have continued their creative work on Hull’s watery stories in a new show featuring VR and theatre. Both were involved in delivering Risky Cities’ intensive community engagement programme, experiences that they have built on to develop their ‘Virtual Horizons’ as freelance creatives. For Risky …

Risky Cities is proud to announce our five commissioned artists for our Flow of Words sharing events

14th September 202321st October 2022 by Amy Richardson

RIsky Cities workshop participants look through newspaper articles detailing historic flood incidents in Hull

Dr Kate Smith of the University of Hull’s Risky Cities project looks forward to the ‘Flow of Words’ sharing events, featuring newly commissioned works by five different artists. Throughout August 2022, we ran creative writing workshops with community groups around Preston Road with writer Maureen Lennon. Inspired by the histories of flooding in Hull, and …

Sharing flood memories, stories and histories through Follow the Thread

7th January 20265th October 2022 by Amy Richardson

A display of woven and embroidered textile art fhanging from a display board as part of the ‘Follow the Thread’ exhibition

Dr Ed Brookes of the University of Hull’s Risky Cities project reflects on the powerful and emotive textiles exhibition that formed the culmination of weeks of community workshop activity After months of weaving, crafting and scratching our heads at how best to display all the amazing textile art produced by communities over the summer, the …

Following the thread through Hull’s flood histories

5th September 20249th August 2022 by Amy Richardson

Workshop participants make textiles artworks on flood and watery themes

A personal view of the Risky Cities community textiles workshops by Kate Smith

The rewards of letting go: putting young people’s voices centre-stage at COP26

17th May 20243rd December 2021 by Amy Richardson

In a ground-breaking Knowledge Exchange collaboration between academics and young creatives, researchers from the University of Hull have been working with the National Youth Theatre to create a powerful, site-specific response to the climate crisis for COP26.

University of Hull partners with National Youth Theatre ahead of COP26 performance

15th October 2021 by Amy Richardson

Projections of various National Youth Theatre cast members on the side of a building as part of the University of Hull co-production of The Last Harvest

A production title ‘On the Edge’ co-created by the University of Hull and National Youth Theatre will be performed live at the global climate summit, COP26.