What brought us here.
The experiences, relationships and places that shape how people see the world. Told in their own voice, without needing to turn a life into a neat success story.
Changemaker Lens · Film, art and stories
Another way
of seeing.
Stories can help us notice something we had missed, understand another person’s experience or imagine a different way forward.
Lens is the creative and storytelling strand of Cugoano. It brings together film, art, writing and conversation, from the Fellowship and from a wider community of contributors. The exhibition is part of that story, not its limit.
From New York · September 2026
New conversations.
New possibilities.
The Cugoano lunch
Film · 8 minutes
In September 2026, Ladajah Wilson and Toreh O’Garro travelled to New York with Youth Advisory Board member Moiz Siddiqi to share their journeys and introduce Cugoano to new friends and supporters. It meant a great deal to have their experiences, ideas and hopes at the centre of the conversation.
This film offers a glimpse of our lunch together: a chance to listen, make connections and imagine what those relationships might make possible. Our thanks to the American Friends of St James’s Piccadilly and Vinson & Elkins for helping bring people together.
About the visit and the filmThe Changemaker Lens exhibition
Look again.
And again.
Painting, poetry, comics, photography, installation and film. Twenty-three contributors bring different experiences and ways of seeing into conversation.
The exhibition’s contributors and the fifteen-person Fellowship are connected, but not identical communities. Contributing to Lens does not mean someone is part of the Fellowship cohort.
Explore the exhibition
Across the programme
More than an exhibition.
Lens makes room for stories as the work unfolds, not only when there is a finished piece to show. You do not have to be an artist to have something worth sharing.
What we are noticing.
Reflections, conversations and creative responses from the Fellowship. Room to ask a question, share an unfinished idea or explain a change of mind.
Where a story can lead.
Films, encounters and work shared with others, like the visit to New York. Ways to build understanding and relationships beyond the people already in the room.
Shared with care.
People choose what they share and how they are represented. Contributors retain ownership of their work. Storytelling is an invitation, not an obligation to disclose personal experiences or perform gratitude.
Our purpose and responsibilities