The Medway Arts and Homelessness Forum is a community of creative people led by people with lived experience. The forum meets on the last Friday of every month at 2pm-3pm at Pathways, 25 Victoria Street, Rochester, ME1 1XJ and anyone over 18 is welcome to attend.

The forum was formed in November 2023 in collaboration with Ideas Test and Icon Theatre after the art exhibition ‘The Unknown Soldier’ at Rochester Art Gallery by artist David Tovey (2022) inspired Medway Council, organisations working in homelessness, and local arts organisations to create a space where creativity could be explored as a way to support people who are experiencing homelessness, at risk of homelessness, or have lived experience of homelessness. This was supported by Arts and Homelessness International, with whom David had been working closely for some years.

In January 2024, Arts and Homelessness International worked with the forum to run a Legislative Theatre project in partnership with the housing services team at Medway Council. Supported by Katy Rubin, people with lived experience and those working in support of homelessness created a forum theatre piece, which then helped to shape the new Homelessness Prevention Strategy. A scrutiny group was formed to ensure that commitments made by the council are followed through.

In Autumn/Winter 2024, Arts and Homelessness International were awarded UKSPF funding to work with the forum and the local community in supporting people with lived experience of homelessness to build confidence in creative business and creative projects. In Spring/Summer 2025, the forum was handed over to Natasha Steer to facilitate through Creatabot. Natasha continues to work closely with Medway Council and Arts and Homelessness International to support the forum and projects the forum wants to run, such as exhibitions, community awareness, and being part of the Medway Food Partnership. In Summer/Autumn 2025, Arts and Homelessness International was awarded further UKSPF funding to continue working with the forum on helping people run training for cultural spaces and to develop micro-enterprises.

If you would like to know more about the forum, please use the Creatabot contact page.