We had a great session yesterday working in collaboration with The Black Smock Band and Rhiannon Kelly on our new project exploring England’s history of protest, radicalism and dissent.
Exciting things to come. Watch this space…!
Paul, our artistic director and also one of the organisers of East, wrote a piece about the evolution of the East project for the Apples and Snakes Blog. You can read it here.
As you will see from the blogpost, Apples and Snakes helped get the project off the ground in the first place. So it’s great to have its continued support!
The three arts professionals who initially got East off the ground, Sef, Shamim and Paul, also ran an East storytelling tent at Tower Hamlets council’s flagship event for families; The Great Day Out, which takes place in Victoria Park every summer. A lot of fun was had by all. Here’s a photo of the ‘East Three’ (in E3) by Simon Daw.
Shamim Azad, Sef Townsend and Paul Burgess from East will be sharing stories, poems, songs and some instrumental music in the East storytelling tent at the Great Day Out event in Victoria Park tomorrow. It’s mainly aimed at families with kids 5+ but everyone’s welcome to come by.
Details from the Tower Hamlets Council’s website are here. It’d be lovely to see you!
The photos above come from the last time the “East Three” performed together, which was at Boi-Lit 2016 Children’s Day,at Rich Mix. They’re by Shoayeeb Chamak from BSK.
The East Archive is an ongoing project and we’ve just added two new pieces by the celebrated local poet, novelist and storyteller Shamim Azad. Shamim’s also one of the key figures in our partner organisation for the project, BSK.
We have also re-organised the Archive so you can search by genre, teller/singer etc (using categories and tags).
Take a look, and please share it too!
A selection of some of the wonderful photos taken by visiting Thai photographer Tan Nidhivir of our Woodland Walk tryout the other week in Butcher’s Wood, Hassocks. Led by Dan Cox, the walk links natural history, folklore and mental health and is a collaboration with The Brightwood Project. We were very pleased with how it went and got some great feedback from our invited audience.
More about this rather exciting project as it develops…
Woodland Walk pilot – Photo: Tan Nidhivir
Woodland Walk pilot – Photo: Tan Nidhivir
Woodland Walk pilot – Photo: Tan Nidhivir
Woodland Walk pilot – Photo: Tan Nidhivir
Woodland Walk pilot – Photo: Tan Nidhivir
Woodland Walk pilot – Photo: Tan Nidhivir
Woodland Walk pilot – Photo: Tan Nidhivir
Woodland Walk pilot – Photo: Tan Nidhivir
Woodland Walk pilot – Photo: Tan Nidhivir
Woodland Walk pilot – Photo: Tan Nidhivir
Woodland Walk pilot – Photo: Tan Nidhivir
Woodland Walk pilot – Photo: Tan Nidhivir
Woodland Walk pilot – Photo: Tan Nidhivir
Woodland Walk pilot – Photo: Tan Nidhivir
Woodland Walk pilot – Photo: Tan Nidhivir
Woodland Walk pilot – Photo: Tan Nidhivir
Woodland Walk pilot – Photo: Tan Nidhivir
Woodland Walk pilot – Photo: Tan Nidhivir
We were honoured to be invited, as partners in the East project, to participate in BSK’s Boi-Lit Festival, the annual Bangla Literature Festival at Rich Mix. It’s a wonderful event, which combines creativity and intellect.
On Day 1, Families Day, Sef Townsend, Shamim Azad, Farah Naz and Paul Burgess presented an interactive programme of stories and songs. On Day 2, which focussed on the Bangla Renaissance, Paul presented a segment on the Illiad, as part of a section directed by Khadijah Rahman that explored the links between Valmiki’s Ramayan and Homer’s epic.
BSK’s official photographer, Shoayeeb Chamak took lots of great photos: here are a selection.
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
East at Boi-Lit 16 – photo by Shoayeeb Chamak for BSK
We had a really delightful launch for the East Archive at Rich Mix. Here are some photos from Farah Naz. And don’t forget to take a look at the archive itself: www.eastarchive.com!
East Archive Launch at Rich Mix – Photo by Farah Naz
East Archive Launch at Rich Mix – Photo by Farah Naz
East Archive Launch at Rich Mix – Photo by Farah Naz
East Archive Launch at Rich Mix – Photo by Farah Naz
East Archive Launch at Rich Mix – Photo by Farah Naz
East Archive Launch at Rich Mix – Photo by Farah Naz
East Archive Launch at Rich Mix – Photo by Farah Naz
East Archive Launch at Rich Mix – Photo by Farah Naz
East Archive Launch at Rich Mix – Photo by Farah Naz
East Archive Launch at Rich Mix – Photo by Farah Naz
East Archive Launch at Rich Mix – Photo by Farah Naz
It’s here. We had a lovely launch event at Rich Mix last night (photos to follow) and the East Archive, featuring videos of stories and songs from our East storytelling project, is now live. You can find it at www.eastarchive.com.
It’s all very new, so please let us know if you spot any teething problems.
It’s an ongoing project too, so if you have any stories that are linked to East London, and you’re interested in sharing them, drop us a line.
We’re pretty excited about it all! Big thanks to the Arts Council, Rich Mix, Tower Hamlets, Apples and Snakes, and our generous crowd-funders. And congratulations to all our contributors!
We had such a great time with our Easter holiday storytelling workshops, led by Sef Townsend, Shamim Azad and Paul Burgess: very keen and creative kids, supportive parents, and a lovely visit from the young cast of Rapture to support their younger colleagues. Big thanks to everyone involved!
Here are some pictures from Farah:
An East Storytelling holiday workshop
An East Storytelling holiday workshop
These workshops were part of the East storytelling project, a partnership between Daedalus Theatre Company and Bishwo Shahitto Kendro. They were funded by Arts Council England and crowdfunding, with support from Tower Hamlets Arts & Events and Rich Mix. For further information please email contact@daedalustheatre.co.uk
Two amazing international storytellers, Shamim Azad and Sef Townsend, and acclaimed theatre-maker/musician Paul Burgess, will be running workshops for children aged 6-9. Come along to hear some tales and sing some songs before creating a storytelling performance! A fun and fascinating session that will bring out your creativity.
Booking: Tickets for either of the two sessions can be booked at: www.ticketsource.co.uk/daedalus
Children should be accompanied by a parent or guardian. The rest of the family (and friends too) can come and watch at the end.
Date: April 2nd 2016
Time: take your pick: either 10:45am-1:15pm (with a showing at 12:45pm) or 2:00pm-4:30pm (with a showing at 4:00pm)
Venue: Brady Arts and Community Centre, 192-196 Hanbury Street, London, E1 5HU
The project is part of the East storytelling project, a partnership between Daedalus Theatre Company, an artists’ development collective, and Bishwo Shahitto Kendro, a community arts group, that brings together Tower Hamlets community members to share their stories and songs. Find us on Facebook by searching EastStorytelling or go to www.daedalustheatre.co.uk/wp/projects/east/. The East storytelling project was initially developed with support from Apples and Snakes, Rich Mix, Arts Council England and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
These workshops are funded by Arts Council England and crowdfunding, with support from Tower Hamlets Arts & Events and Rich Mix. For further information please email contact@daedalustheatre.co.uk
And make sure you sign up to our mailing list to be kept up-to-date about future events; it’s just over on the right-hand side of this page!