Micro Rainbow: imagining a perfect community
- Borough: London-wide
- Organisation: Micro Rainbow
- Topics: civil society, community life
Who we are
Micro Rainbow provides social inclusion activities to reduce the extreme isolation faced by LGBTQI asylum seekers and refugees in the UK. In these sessions, individuals form new friendships and become part of a community.
The emphasis of Micro Rainbow’s social inclusion work is to move away from disconnection and fragmentation and towards connection. In regular workshops, beneficiaries build on their strengths and aspirations and use the arts to help heal trauma.
Exploring the theme of community through theatre
On 13 February 2024, Micro Rainbow ran a theatre workshop with 18 LGBTQI asylum seekers and refugees, focused on the theme of community.
Relationship building is key to civic strength, particularly amongst communities who may feel on the outer edges of society. LGBTQI asylum seekers are unable to work and may find it difficult to form bonds in traditional asylum accommodation where homophobia and transphobia is common.
In this session, as in all Micro Rainbow sessions, participants and facilitators were given the opportunity to bond with one another, reflecting on their commonalities and differences with equal respect and care.
Representing strong communities through movement
The facilitators then instructed them to form small groups, and use their bodies to create images of what makes a good community. Participants embraced, held hands, and used their imaginations to physically represent connection, sharing, balance, brotherhood, and care.
Imagining their perfect communities
The group was then called upon to imagine their perfect communities. Facilitator Lucy Richardson walked the participants through a quiet imagination exercise, prompting the group to think about their imaginary utopias.
We heard of communities that were leafy and green, sunny, and busy, kind, and diverse, queer, and accepting. Some were quiet and peaceful; others played the music of pop stars from windows.
The settings of these communities ranged from the backstage of a catwalk to sunny islands with beaches and children playing. Always having enough food to share was important.
What makes a perfect community
The group was then split in two, to act out a representation of their perfect communities. Laughs were shared as participants draped pride flags around their shoulders, danced, mimed, and wrote up rules for their new societies.
These were then performed, with questions asked what would happen if someone broke the rules and how would you welcome a stranger to your community.
The session ended by drafting a Manifesto for the Micro Rainbow community. The group decided that this community valued honesty, loyalty, respect, contribution, and equality.
Participants shared that in this session, a sense of family and home that they often find missing from their lives in the UK was fostered.
The changes we would like to see
For all asylum seekers to have local authority travel passes so that they do not put themselves in poverty by attending vital services and workshops for growth, integration, and healing.
Find out more
Get in touch
If you have any questions about Micro Rainbow you can get in touch at [email protected]
Need a document on this page in an accessible format?
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of a PDF or other document on this page in a more accessible format, please get in touch via our online form and tell us which format you need.
It will also help us if you tell us which assistive technology you use. We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.