People, Place[making] and Culture: A Learning Festival by The Ubele Initiative

For two days from Wednesday, June 17th - Thursday, June 18th, 2026, The Ubele Initiative brings together leaders from across our network to the Wolves Lane Centre in Haringey for our first national Learning Festival.
Under our 2026 theme, Seeds of Innovation, this festival explores how people, place[making], and culture are being mobilised across our ecosystem to address racial, socio-economic, and environmental injustices.
We’re convening leaders who represent and/or support Black, Asian, and racially minoritised communities to:
Strengthen leadership and collaboration across networks, grounded in lived experience, and informed by research and development practices
Reimagine land, social infrastructure, and policy to better serve place-based needs
Harness art, heritage, and storytelling as tools for sense-making and catalysts for systems change
This is not just a space to talk, it’s a space to build.

Experts from across our national ecosystem will join us, including:
Baobab Foundation
Channel One Soundsystem
CIVIC Square
Footwork
Healing Justice London
House of Dread
Hood Futures
Institute of Health Equity
Ourppls
Pathway Fund
PeopleDemCollective
Rooted by Design
Runnymede Trust
Wolves Lane Centre Consortium

• more!
  As the UK prepares to roll out Pride in Place, there is growing attention on how place-based development approaches are understood and implemented.
  Drawing on over 10 years of learning, we know communities must play a central role in shaping local systems that affect them while recognising how history, ecology, and culture shape both the challenges we face and the solutions we build.
  The Learning Festival brings these ideas into practice — building on learning from activities taking place across the year, including our Seed Swap Festival; Mek Wi Chat Art Exhibition, report launch, and workshop series; and the launch of Okun Policy forum.

What to expect
Emerging two-day programme (Subject to Evolve):
Day 1 — Understanding the system
09:30 - 10:30 Arrival, Registration, + Light Breakfast Snacks
10:30 - 12:30 - Plenary unpacking the structural forces driving inequality and injusticeYvonne Field OBE
Dr Shabna Begum - Runnymede Trust
12:30 - 13:30 Lunch and Networking
13:30 - 16:00 Learning exhibition, site tours, & workshops demonstrating innovative work challenging systemsEvery City Needs A Seedbank - Explore seed saving and food justice with Black Rootz and The Wolves Lane Centre Seed Protectors
Insights from Investing in 30 Black and Racially Minoritised Social Enterprises: What Pathway Fund Is Learning About Equity and Investment
16:00 - 17:00 The Art of LearningMichael Hamilton
17:00 - 18:30 Cultural Performance, Networking + Canapes
Day 2 — Collaborating Towards Desired Futures
09:30 - 10:30 Arrival, Registration + Light Breakfast Snacks
10:30 - 12:30 Future oriented plenary mapping community-led models, community wealth, and how neighbourhood scale infrastructure serves place-based needsImmy Kaur - CIVIC Square
Jake Ferguson - Baobab Foundation & Black AI Futures
Amahra Spence - Hood Futures
12:30 - 13:30 Lunch and Networking
13:30 - 16:00 Cultural Horizons and Learning Exhibition
Closing set from the legendary Channel One Sound System

Who this is for
Community leaders, organisers, funders, policymakers, artists, growers, and social entrepreneurs working to build community-led futures across the UK.
The setting
Set within the Wolves Lane Centre - a 3.5-acre food growing and social enterprise hub - the festival takes place inside a living example of community-led innovation.
The land itself will feed us, with meals shaped from produce grown on site, prepared by Rosamund Grant, a celebrated voice in African-Caribbean food culture.
Contribution
To support accessibility, attendees from philanthropy, public institutions, and national infrastructure organisations are asked to contribute £250 per attendee.
This enables participation from grassroots leaders, freelancers, and local VCSE organisations - ensuring the festival remains rooted in community.
If you are unsure about which ticket category applies to you or discuss group discount options, please contact innovation@ubele.org.