Associate Artists

East on BBC London

Sef just did a fantastic interview on Jeanette Kwakye’s BBC London Radio show. You need to listen! It includes a clip from Michele Chowrimooto’s story, and some really brilliant observations from Sef about the role of storytelling, the importance of sharing stories across cultures, how the East Voices project works, and how to approach sharing your personal story for the first time.

Jeanette’s shows are great, but if you want to jump straight to Sef’s interview you can start at 01:36:38.

Go to East Archive for Michele’s story and many others.

You’re invited! East Voices Digital Series Online Launch Event

Stories and songs from London’s East End communities and beyond. This online event celebrates the launch of East Voices Digital Series.

Since June, Daedalus Theatre Company, in partnership with Numbi Arts, Bishwo Shahitto Kendro and Rua Arts, has hosted workshops and collaborated with East Londoners and a host of guest artists, to gather stories and music. We’re excited to now launch a series of storytelling videos hosted on the East Archive.

Intro to Storytelling – BSL workshop

We’re really excited to be teaming up with Sign for All for this workshop led by two amazing storytellers. Here are the details:

Date: Sat 9 October

Time: 10.30am – 12 noon

Location: Online via Zoom

What is it? A fun introduction to storytelling, exploring how we tell stories physically, with words and using BSL. This session will be BSL interpreted & facilitated by professional storyteller Sef Townsend and Deepa Shastri who is a Deaf theatre access consultant, BSL performer and presenter.

How to book: Contact info@signforallcommunity.co.uk to book your place and get the Zoom link.

Associate Artist update: Sef Townsend’s London Folk Tales for Children

Sef Townsend is an extraordinary storyteller who we’re very lucky to have as a Daedalus associate artist. He’s been a lead artist on our East project since the start as well as advising on other projects.

His book London Folk Tales for Children, written with Anne Johnson, is a fantastic collection of stories old and new, reflecting the fascinating history and diverse make-up of the city. Get hold of a copy and have a read!

Associate Artist update: Shamim Azad and A Drop of Hope

One of our associate artists, and a lead artist in the East storytelling project, is Shamim Azad. Shamim is an amazing creative force; a bilingual author and poet, and a key figure in UK-Bengali literary culture. A new poem by her is currently on display outside the Francis Crick Institute in London as part of A Drop of Hope. This is a project made in collaboration with Poet in the City, in which twelve poets were invited to write poems that reflect on the vaccination programme and the pandemic, partly in response to the words of people vaccinated at the institute, the volunteers working there and the surrounding communities.

You can find out more here: https://www.crick.ac.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/a-drop-of-hope