Public events are vital in creating a strong and inclusive sense of place. They can provide a space for communities to come together organically – be it around Remembrance Sunday, Eid or the success of a local football team. They are an opportunity to build bridges, strengthen community resilience and find common cause.

But cohesion and resilience-focused events are also hard to get right, requiring courage and judgement. To fulfill their goals they need to be genuinely inclusive, bringing together different groups in a way which is not tokenistic or forced, but which would not otherwise happen. They need to reach into different parts of the community, beyond traditional inter-faith networks or highly engaged community figures.

'How to run inclusive events' is a new set of guidance, put together by HOPE not hate Charitable Trust and led by insights from experts and practitioners. It looks at simple steps which can help public celebrations to succeed in bringing people together and building resilience. And it asks how the local authority can support and cultivate ideas which do this.

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