ark
cities. climate. culture.
ark doncaster
Ark Doncaster is a city-wide creative programme in April 2026 that gathers voices from across Doncaster to ask a simple question: what form does the flood take here, and how will we build our ark?
It is being developed in partnership with City of Doncaster Council and collaborators across the borough, aligned with Doncaster’s emerging UNESCO Biosphere Reserve proposal.
Ark uses small, hosted gatherings (meals, walks, workshops, events) to create a shared civic story. Those conversations culminate in a larger public event, the Storm-Gathering, with selected recorded conversations woven into the soundscape.
This April 2026, the Storm-Cycle unfolds across Doncaster.
It is a programme of arts-led events building toward the Storm-Gathering at Cast on Wednesday 22 April (Earth Day).
We have invited local artists, organisers, and communities to respond to the question: What form does the flood take? And in response, how might we build an ark? Through meals, workshops, walks, and gatherings, these events ask what we carry forward, what we leave behind, and how we navigate a time of ecological and social upheaval.
Scroll down to find out how you can get involved in warm, welcoming, and inclusive events across the city, and take part in a conversation about where we go from here.
the storm-cycle
7-22 April 2026
swaptimism - with josh daniels
Josh Daniels wants to lead some community discussions with members of Thorne's community. Josh wants to bring people together, and have them swap their favourite stories about Thorne. The places they mention along with their stories will shape guided heritage walks around Thorne which will be disabled friendly. These walks will then be printed onto leaflets.
Location: The Vermuyden Centre, Field Side, Thorne, Doncaster DN8 4BQ
Date: 7 April 2026
Time: Morning
recipes 4 change cooking class with age uk
Join Recipe 4 Change at Age UK Doncaster to develop your cooking skills and enjoy good conversation as part of the Ark Doncaster project. Learn how to make your own shakshuka and share a tasty meal made by your own hands!
Location: Silverlink Centre, Bennetthorpe, DN2 6AA
Date: 8 April 2026
Time: 10 am - 12 pm
the ark of small things - with jane keightley and natalie parfitt
Participants will write and illustrate a single object, memory, tool, or value they would carry onto the ark and an object or feeling they would leave behind - something practical, emotional, symbolic, or unexpected. Together, these contributions will be assembled into a large-scale collaborative concertina book: a shared Ark made of many small offerings.
Location: Bawtry Community Library, Doncaster Road, DN10 6NE
Date: 9 April 2026
Time: 10:30 am - 12:30 pm
the meet and eat with mha
MHA provides care and support to older people through care homes, retirement living, social groups, and befriending services. Through the Ark Doncaster programme, we will be offering a free lunch to our Cantley Meet and Eat group members and discussing what the ark and the flood look like in later life.
Location: Cantley Methodist Church, Highbury Avenue, DN4 6BT
Date: 9 April 2026
Time: 12 pm - 3 pm
the ark we build together - with creative push
"Drawing the Flood / Drawing the Future” is an inclusive digital art workshop inviting people from across Doncaster to create side‑by‑side using iPads and Procreate. Beginners and experienced artists collaborate, share skills, and break down the idea of who “gets” to be an artist. Each artwork is screen‑recorded, capturing the creative journey, mistakes, conversations, and discoveries, turning the process itself into the final piece. Participants respond to Ark questions about the flood, survival, imagination, and what we carry forward. Filmed interactions and digital recordings will be woven into a short collective artwork celebrating community, care, and creative response.
Location: Church View, DN1 1AF
Date: 9 April 2026
Time: Evening
men's meal at changing lives
Changing Lives provides vital support to members of our community facing homelessness as well as asylum seekers and refugees. We will be hosting some open discussions about the challenges we face and how we could move forward together in a relaxed, supportive environment at our centre.
Location: 2-5 Prince's Street, DN1 3NJ
Date: 10 April 2026
Time: 11 am - 1 pm
pizza night with afro-caribbean hub
Ark Doncaster and the A C (Afro-Caribbean) Hub are working together to run a free meal for members of the community. Join us for good food and conversation about the challenges we face and how we can address them together.
Location: The Grove Inn, York Rd, DN5 8HL
Date: 10 April 2026
Time: 6 pm onwards
emotions flooded by colour - with hidden treasures
Allow your emotions to be flooded with colour. Choose the emotion that is flooding your body right now and the colour you associate to that emotion. Get creative and express yourself using different shades of your chosen colour to symbolise the emotion flooding you in colour. Is Love flooding your heart, choose pink or red, is happiness flooding your whole body from the top of your head to the tips of your toes choose yellow. Does the emotion flood your head or your heart.
Location: Scawthorpe Community Centre, DN5 9PH
Date: 13 April 2026
Time: 4:30 pm - 6 pm
your voice in the ark - with ark doncaster
Take part in a relaxed recorded conversation exploring the Ark questions.
Your words will become part of a live soundscape presented at Cast on 22 April.
Location: TBC
Date: 14 April 2026
10 am - 2 pm
(40-minute slots. Only 8 places available.)
Registration: TBC
the incredible house on the hill - with phil sheppard
Phil will work with a small group of children at a Town Field Primary school to create a large interactive artwork inspired by my poem 'The Incredible House on the Hill'. The poem tells the story of a family living in a self-sustaining house surrounded by water, hinting at flooding and global warming. Children will create the house using card and recycled materials, and the finished piece will be exhibited in the school. They will also record the poem on talking pads placed around the artwork, allowing visitors to hear it as they explore. I will perform my eco story show for the school, with the group joining me to introduce the poem and their artwork.
Location: Town Field Primary School, 54 Thorne Rd, Doncaster DN1 2JP
Date: 14 April 2026
Time: 9 am - 12 pm
women's meal with changing lives
Changing Lives provides vital support to members of our community facing homelessness as well as asylum seekers and refugees. We will be hosting some open discussions about the challenges we face and how we could move forward together in a relaxed, supportive environment at our centre.
Location: 2-5 Prince's Street, DN1 3NJ
Date: 14 April 2026
Time: 11 am - 1 pm
lunch and conversation at sprotbrough library
Members of the community are invited to join Sprotbrough Library for lunch and conversation on Tuesday 14th April. We will be discussing what form the flood takes in Sprotbrough, what our ark could look like, what we would take with us and what we would leave behind.
Location: Sprotbrough Library, 136 Sprotbrough Rd, DN5 8BA
Date: 14 April 2026
Time: 12 pm - 2 pm
pizza night with doncaster peoples theatre
The Doncaster People's Theatre is a space for people to connect and create through drama, music, movement, and poetry. The group is built on kindness, openness, and bravery. We will be sharing a meal and discussion about our experiences and how we look to the future.
Location: Cast Theatre, Waterdale, DN1 3BU
Date: 14 April 2026
Time: 5:15 pm onwards
walk in the woods with doncaster college
Our group from Doncaster College will be visiting Sandall Beat Wood for an Ark conversation in the wild.
Location: Sandall Beat Wood, DN2 6JP
Date: 15 April 2026
Time: 9:30 am - 11:30 pm
your voice in the ark - with ark doncaster
Take part in a relaxed recorded conversation exploring the Ark questions.
Your words will become part of a live soundscape presented at Cast on 22 April.
Location: TBC
Date: 15 April 2026
10 am - 2 pm
(40-minute slots. Only 8 places available.)
Registration: TBC
the ark of belonging - with fun filled days
We will be making 'arks' in the form of care packages to be distributed to members of the community who may be sleeping rough, in temporary accommodation or seeking asylum. Including essential items such as hygiene products, non-perishable food and drink, books and warm clothing, the arks will be decorated by service users at Fun Filled Days while we discuss what the 'flood' looks like for other people in our community. We will also invite friends of the group who have experienced these situations to speak on the day, raising our awareness of how other people might face challenges that we cannot see. The care packages will be donated to Changing Lives and distributed to those who need them most.
Location: Balby, DN4
Date: 15 April 2026
Time: 10:00 am - 3 pm
emotions flooded by colour - with hidden treasures
Allow your emotions to be flooded with colour. Choose the emotion that is flooding your body right now and the colour you associate to that emotion. Get creative and express yourself using different shades of your chosen colour to symbolise the emotion flooding you in colour. Is Love flooding your heart, choose pink or red, is happiness flooding your whole body from the top of your head to the tips of your toes choose yellow. Does the emotion flood your head or your heart.
Location: Scawthorpe Community Centre, DN5 9PH
Date: 15 April 2026
Time: 12:00 pm - 2 pm
dissolving negativity - with alan morgan
We will discuss as a group what the flood means and what forms it can take, then use what we learned to decorate two A4 pieces of paper. Then, under instruction, we will fold both pieces into origami boats - our arks. We will disolve our negative ark into a bowl of water, representing what we would leave behind, and take home our positive arks.
Location: 18 Priory Pl, Doncaster, DN1 1BZ
Date: 15 April 2026
Time: 2 pm - 4 pm
life after loss with found my niche
Found My Niche's 'Life After Loss' grief cafes provide a supportive environment for members of our community who have experienced a loss. We will be discussing the flood grief creates and thinking about how we can build our ark as a collective.
Location: Castle Close Community Centre, Tickhill, DN11 9QT
Date: 15 April 2026
Time: 5:30 pm onwards
lunch at the library with SCCCC
SCCCC's mission is to help prevent isolation amongst older people in Doncaster and Sheffield. We will be bringing some of our volunteers and service users together for lunch and a natter, focusing on the 'flood' of loneliness and how community, care and kindness form the 'ark'.
Location: DGLAM, Waterdale, DN1 3BZ
Date: 16 April 2026
Time: 12 pm - 2:30 pm
let's build a boat - with mandy keating
Walk, discuss, collaborate, build. Tell your Ark story, using your own words and even drawings, on recycled sheets of paper that you will turn into a boat. You will add recycled plastic elements to make it waterproof, yet still allowing your story to be seen. You will add natural elements, foraged from Hatfield Moors, to finish your boat. Then you will launch it onto water, allowing your hopes, dreams, issues - your story somewhere to go, only leaving behind the unimportant things. You may build together or alone, that will be your choice.
Location: Thorne & Hatfield Moors, Grange Rd, Moorends, Doncaster DN8 4NH
Date: 17 April 2026
Time: Morning
The Storm-Gathering is a large public assembly at Cast on 22 April (Earth Day) that brings the borough-wide conversation into one room. It will share and amplify what emerged during the Storm-Cycle, combining live elements with an audio soundscape drawn from community conversations.
At the heart of the event will be listening and collective reflection rather than performance in the conventional sense. A small number of participants may be invited to join a live circle at the centre of the space, continuing the conversation in public.
The Storm-Gathering will mark the culmination of the cycle and the handover into After the Storm, where learning is consolidated, documented and used to support the Biosphere proposal and follow-on work.
the storm-gathering
22 April 2026
acknowledgments
Ark Doncaster is made possible through the support of City of Doncaster Council, Cast, Sheffield Hallam University, and partners across the city.
Supported by our media partner, Sine FM.
Ark Doncaster forms part of the wider environmental vision supporting Doncaster’s UNESCO Biosphere proposal.
Ark Doncaster is supported by Quality-Related Research (QR) funding administered by Research England, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Ark Doncaster team
Project leads: Dr Tom Payne (Sheffield Hallam University), Alex Powell (City of Doncaster Council)
Core project team: Dr Lizzie Freeman (Sheffield Hallam University); Alice Wilson and Tim Newton (City of Doncaster Council); Meg Lewis (South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre); Sarah Clough, Sylvia Kluczewski, Dawn Richmond-Gordon, Natalie Brown, Laura Tolson and Lee Walker (Cast)
Documentation, broadcast and access: Becky Payne (Photographer); Rajnish Madaan (Videographer); Steve Mundin (SINE FM); Jane Kelsall (BSL Interpreter)
