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!
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:
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
We’re now well into the process of recording our stories and songs from the East project for our online video archive. Today we had a look at all the videos we have so far. Bangla, Jewish and Somali songs, folk tales from Bangladesh and Korea, personal stories from the UK, Bangladesh and Sweden…With plenty more still to come. It’s extremely rewarding to see our work being documented and we’re looking forward to sharing it with the world.
One of the highlights of this process was a get-together a couple of weeks ago, where we shared food, stories and songs. Several pieces from that session will be in the archive. Here are some photos from the event taken by members of the group.
The East storytelling project is a co-production between Bishwo Shahitto Kendro (BSK) and Daedalus Theatre Company. It’s managed by Daedalus and funded by Arts Council England and crowdfunding, with in kind support from Rich Mix and Tower Hamlets Arts & Events.
Left to right: Farah Naz, Shamim Azad, Paul Burgess and Sef Townend. Photo credit: Indigo
East‘s behind-the-scenes organisational team met at Rich Mix to plan the next stages of the project. What started as a simple, short-term community storytelling project (led by Daedalus and Bishwo Shahitto Kendro, and supported by Rich Mix, the Arts Council and Apples and Snakes) has grown. With further support from the Arts Council plus some crowd-funding, we’re now making an online archive of our stories (and some songs) and working out how to support our storytelling group’s desire to do something longer-term, while also dealing with several offshoots of the project, including our work on radical history (which will probably now be treated as a separate project) and possible work with local schools and community centres. Oh and the events we’re planning as an offshoot of A Season of Bangla Drama. They’ll be in April. Watch this space…
All of which explains why the meeting was about three and a half hours long. We got through a lot of tea, but were very restrained and shared just one piece of cake between us.
DRPRG.8 – Postcapitalism: A Guide to our Future by Paul Mason
Date: Wednesday 21 October
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Studio 180, 180 Lambeth Road, London (if you can’t make it in person you are very welcome to join us by Skype – drop us a message here with your skype name and we’ll call you when the group starts)
Members of the East storytelling group got together for an informal gathering yesterday, to catch up on on news, share food, discuss our plans for the future and – inevitably – tell some stories. (To those members who couldn’t make it – you were missed and we look forward to seeing you next time!) We’re currently between formal projects and waiting for the results of a funding application, but thanks to BSK, our main partner for East, we could meet in a local community space to keep the momentum going. All being well we have a creative few months ahead, including making a video archive of the stories we’ve told so far. Fingers crossed for funding. More information to follow as it happens…
Oh and it’s never too late for new people to get involved! Drop us a line.
Here are some photos.
Rich Mix, which made possible our East community storytelling project, is under threat of closure by London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Your help is needed to tell Tower Hamlets just how important this venue is to the local community, audiences and artists alike.
For more information and to sign the petition, click here: http://chn.ge/1F0tOQU
In the afternoon before last week’s public performance, we shared East with Year 6 of Stebon Primary. It was a very interactive session and it was great to hear the children’s thoughts and opinions, as well as have a good old singalong and share some stories. Thank you, Stebon!
Photo credit: Eeshita Azad
Various people involved in A Season of Bangla Drama were on ATN Bangla TV channel last night, to be interviewed about their shows. Sef and Paul were there to talk about East. And on Wednesday evening, Shamim and Paul will be on Betar Bangla radio. Massive thanks to the A Season of Bangla Drama team for giving us these opportunities.
For more info about East, including how to book tickets, please see our project page.
We’re very excited to be part of this. Details to follow, but in the meantime, here’s the festival trailer: