ark
cities. climate. culture.
ark doncaster
Ark Doncaster is a city-wide creative programme that began in April 2026, gathering 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 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, including meals, walks, workshops, and events, to create a shared civic story. During the Storm-Cycle, those conversations culminate in the Storm-Gathering, a larger public event in which selected recorded conversations are woven into the soundscape.
In April 2026, the Storm-Cycle unfolded across Doncaster.
It was a programme of arts-led events building toward the Storm-Gathering at Cast on Wednesday 22 April, Earth Day.
We invited local artists, organisers, and communities to respond to the question: What form did the flood take? And in response, how might we build an ark? Through meals, workshops, walks, and gatherings, these events asked what we carried forward, what we left behind, and how we navigated a time of ecological and social upheaval.
Scroll down to explore how people took part in events across the city, and joined a wider conversation about what comes next.
the storm-cycle
7-22 April 2026
swaptimism - with josh daniels
Josh Daniels led community discussions with members of Thorne’s community, bringing people together to share their favourite stories about the town. The places and memories that emerged helped shape a series of accessible heritage walks around Thorne, later produced as printed leaflets.
Location: The Vermuyden Centre
Date: 7 April 2026
let's build a boat - with mandy keating
Participants walked, foraged, and built boats from recycled and found materials with visual artist Mandy Keating, before launching them on the water. Along the way, they drew and wrote their hopes for the future, creating small vessels shaped by imagination, making, and the landscape itself.
Location: Hatfield Moors Nature Reserve
Date: 7 April 2026
recipe 4 change cooking class with age uk
Participants joined Recipe 4 Change at Age UK Doncaster to build their cooking skills and share conversation as part of Ark Doncaster.
Together, they learned to make shakshuka and sat down to a meal made by their own hands.
Location: Silverlink Centre
Date: 8 April 2026
the ark of small things - with jane keightley and natalie parfitt
Participants wrote and illustrated a single object, memory, tool, or value they would carry onto the ark, alongside an object or feeling they would leave behind: something practical, emotional, symbolic, or unexpected. Together, these contributions were assembled into a large-scale collaborative concertina book, a shared Ark made of many small offerings.
Location: Bawtry Community Library,
Date: 9 April 2026
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 Ark Doncaster, we offered a free lunch to members of the Cantley Meet and Eat group and opened up a conversation about what the ark and the flood look like in later life.
Location: Cantley Methodist Church
Date: 9 April 2026
the ark we build together - with creative push
“Drawing the Flood / Drawing the Future” was an inclusive digital art workshop inviting people from across Doncaster to create side by side using iPads and Procreate. Beginners and experienced artists collaborated, shared skills, and opened up the question of who gets to be an artist. Participants responded to Ark questions about the flood, survival, imagination, and what we carry forward. Filmed interactions and digital recordings were woven into a short collective artwork shaped by community, care, and creative response.
Location: Church View
Date: 9 April 2026
pizza night with afro-caribbean hub
Ark Doncaster and the AC Hub worked together to host a free meal for members of the community, bringing people together for food and conversation about the challenges we face and how we might respond to them together.
Location: The Grove Inn, York Rd
Date: 10 April 2026
women's meal with changing lives
Changing Lives provides vital support to members of the community facing homelessness, as well as asylum seekers and refugees. Through Ark Doncaster, it hosted open discussions about the challenges people face and how we might move forward together.
Location: 2-5 Prince's Street
Date: 13 April 2026
your voice in the ark - with ark doncaster
Participants took part in relaxed recorded conversations exploring the Ark questions. Their words became part of a live soundscape presented at Cast on 22 April, with recording sessions delivered in association with our media partner Sine FM.
Location: Higher Rhythm, Nether Hall Rd
Date: 14 April 2026
lunch and conversation at sprotbrough library
Members of the community joined Sprotbrough Library for lunch and conversation, discussing what form the flood takes in Sprotbrough, what their ark might look like, what they would take with them, and what they would leave behind.
Location: Sprotbrough Library, Sprotbrough Rd
Date: 14 April 2026
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. Built on kindness, openness, and bravery, the group shared a meal and a discussion about their experiences and how they look to the future.
Location: Cast Theatre, Waterdale
Date: 14 April 2026
walk in the woods with doncaster college
A group from Doncaster College visited Sandall Beat Wood for an Ark conversation in the wild.
Location: Sandall Beat Wood
Date: 15 April 2026
your voice in the ark - with ark doncaster
Participants took part in relaxed recorded conversations exploring the Ark questions. Their words became part of a live soundscape presented at Cast on 22 April, with recording sessions delivered in association with our media partner Sine FM.
Location: Higher Rhythm, Nether Hall Rd
Date: 15 April 2026
the ark of belonging - with fun filled days
Participants made ‘arks’ in the form of care packages for members of the community who may be sleeping rough, living in temporary accommodation, or seeking asylum. Decorated by service users at Fun Filled Days, the packages included essential items such as hygiene products, non-perishable food and drink, books, and warm clothing. Alongside the making, the group discussed what the flood looks like for others in the community and heard from people with direct experience of these situations. The care packages were later donated to Changing Lives for distribution.
Location: Balby
Date: 15 April 2026
emotions flooded by colour - with hidden treasures
Participants were invited to explore the emotion flooding them through colour, choosing shades that reflected what they were feeling and where that feeling sat in the body. Through this shared creative process, the group expressed emotion in visual form and reflected on how feeling moves through the heart, head, and body.
Location: Scawthorpe Community Centre
Date: 15 April 2026
dissolving negativity - with alan morgan
We discussed as a group what the flood means and the forms it can take, then used those reflections to decorate two sheets of paper. Under guidance, participants folded them into origami boats, their arks. One was dissolved in water to represent what would be left behind, while the other was taken home.
Location: 18 Priory Pl
Date: 15 April 2026
life after loss with found my niche
Found My Niche’s ‘Life After Loss’ grief cafés provide a supportive environment for members of the community who have experienced loss. Through Ark Doncaster, the group discussed the flood grief creates and how an ark might be built collectively in response.
Location: Castle Close Community Centre, Tickhill
Date: 15 April 2026
lunch at the library with SCCCC
SCCCC’s mission is to help prevent isolation among older people in Doncaster and Sheffield. Through Ark Doncaster, volunteers and service users came together for lunch and conversation, reflecting on the flood of loneliness and the ways community, care, and kindness can form an ark.
Location: DGLAM, Waterdale
Date: 16 April 2026
the incredible house on the hill - with phil sheppard
Participants were invited to explore the emotion flooding them through colour, choosing shades that reflected what they were feeling and where that feeling sat in the body. Through this shared creative process, the group expressed emotion in visual form and reflected on how feeling moves through the heart, head, and body.
Location: Town Field Primary School, Thorne Rd
Date: 17 April 2026
emotions flooded by colour - with hidden treasures
Participants were invited to explore the emotion flooding them through colour, choosing shades that reflected what they were feeling and where that feeling sat in the body. Through this shared creative process, the group expressed emotion in visual form and reflected on how feeling moves through the heart, head, and body.
Location: Scawthorpe Community Centre
Date: 17 April 2026
men's meal at changing lives
Changing Lives provides vital support to members of the community facing homelessness, as well as asylum seekers and refugees. Through Ark Doncaster, it hosted open discussions about the challenges people face and how we might move forward together.
Location: 2-5 Prince's Street
Date: 24 April 2026
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.
BSL interpreted.
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 Doncaster.
Supported by media partner Sine FM.
The programme forms part of a wider environmental vision supporting Doncaster’s UNESCO Biosphere proposal.
Sheffield Hallam University’s support includes the College of Social Sciences and Arts and the Sheffield Creative Industries Institute, with Quality-Related Research (QR) funding administered by Research England as part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). City of Doncaster Council’s support includes National Lottery Heritage Funding.
Ark Doncaster team
Project leads: Dr Tom Payne (Sheffield Hallam University), Alex Powell (City of Doncaster Council)
Core project team: Dr Lizzie Freeman and Amy Carter Gordon (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, Chrissy Moog and Mat Handley (SINE FM); Jane Kelsall (BSL Interpreter)
