The Culture Library
The Local Challenge
As Newcastle’s population becomes more diverse, the city faces challenges in supporting migrants, particularly refugees and asylum seekers, to integrate and thrive. Newcastle Libraries and partners face overwhelming demand for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes, alongside barriers such as digital exclusion, discrimination, and limited access to essential services. Many newcomers experience social isolation and a lack of representation in library resources. Almost 40% of children from ethnic minority backgrounds report not seeing themselves in what they read, while books in other languages remain scarce. These systemic gaps reinforce exclusion and hinder integration.
The Initiative
The Culture Library is a partnership between Newcastle Libraries and West End Refugee Service (WERS), co-created with refugees, asylum seekers, and other migrants to make libraries more inclusive and representative. The project delivers new Practise English sessions in the west end, helping meet high demand for language support while also signposting participants to healthcare, housing, digital access, and asylum services. With WERS and community stakeholders, the library co-creates cultural programmes—book groups, storytimes, art and music sessions—that reflect diverse traditions and reduce isolation. Participants also help curate multilingual collections, ensuring that library shelves represent the histories, lives, and languages of all residents.
What’s Next?
Through the Culture Library, refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, and long-term residents will connect in ways that strengthen community ties. Practise English groups create opportunities not only to improve comprehension, pronunciation, and confidence, but also to build friendships and receive guidance in accessing essential services. Families gain visibility as library collections grow to include books in their languages and events that reflect their cultures. Involving people with lived experience in shaping programmes and curating stock ensures meaningful representation, reduces isolation, and supports wellbeing—positioning libraries as trusted spaces for learning, creativity, and belonging.
Contact theeuropechallenge@culturalfoundation.eu if you have any questions or want to be connected with the team behind the project.
