'Me. You. Them. Everybody' was an art project conceived by Adi Lerer and developed collaboratively with the British Red Cross Merseyside. A five-week art project that includes art classes and visits to the Tate Liverpool OP collection, the Keith Haring exhibition, the Walker Art Gallery and the central library in Liverpool. The focus of this project was to develop a method in which a marginalised group - asylum seekers and refugees who currently live in Liverpool – can engage and benefit from the cultural institutions in Liverpool, minimise isolation, elevate wellbeing and enable the group to connect to the wider public, introduce the city and its people through the arts, and give a sense of dignity. This project builds on my research on participatory art in socially engaged practice and the relationship between curator, artists, museums and constituents. In this project I investigated the role of the curator to enable engagement between public, artist and an art institution, looking at methods of engaging the public in art as an enabler and empowerment tool through proactive participation.

The art project culminated in a sharing event of the art project with the public, art professionals and local charities. This is to test the projects’ utility as a platform for sharing cumulative knowledge, building support networks for future collaborations, and artistic expression as an empowerment and integration tool. The format of the sharing event included an open art class for all.