HARAMBEE PASADIA FESTIVAL 201

Our good friend Harambee Pasadia Festival returns this Bank Holiday weekend with an extraordinary festival of music, dance, workshops, well-being and loads more. Dont miss your chance to be a part of it!

 

 

Harambee Pasadia: Afro Fusion Music, Dance, & Camping Festival

May 26-29 Gates open 5pm

Venue: The Hub, Shaw Bank, Barnard Castle, County Durham, DL12 8TD

Harambee (Swahili) ‘let’s get together’
Pasadia (Spanish) ‘to spend the day’

Harambee Pasadia is the first Afro Fusion Music and Dance festival in the North East of England and aims to celebrate the diverse music, cultures and fusions of the African and Latin Diaspora; to get folks out of the city and into the country; to create a space where musicians, visual artists, dancers, and theatre makers who specialize or have an interest in African, Caribbean, and Latin cultures can network and collaborate; to expose audiences to new music, art and culture; to increase artists outreach and fan base; to create an affordable space that attracts  audiences from marginalised communities; and to create a community and network of artists, thinkers, activists, community leaders, and volunteers that support and inspire one another.

Our friends are offering GemArts blog readers a 20% discount on weekend and day tickets (http://www.harambeepasadia.com/tickets.html) use the following passwords to access this discount.

Adult Weekend Password: HP17AdltWk20%

Adult Friday Password: HP17AdltFri20%

Adult Saturday Password: HP17AdltSat20%

Adult Sunday Password: HP17AdltSun20%

Under 18 Weekend Password: HP17Und18WK20%

Advertisement

ARTIST OPPORTUNITY: LYRIC WORKSHOP WEEK 3RD – 7TH JULY 2017

An opportunity from our friends at Opera North

LYRIC WORKSHOP WEEK – 3 JULY to 7 JULY CALLING ALL BAME ARTISTS

Where: Lyric Hammersmith, London
When: Monday 3 July – Friday 7 July
Who: Writers, Composers, Directors, Theatre-Makers
Cost: Free
Expenses: Travel & Accommodation for participants from outside

Opera is a place where music, theatre and dance meet. The perfect platform for telling diverse stories in diverse ways. We are looking for music-makers, theatre-makers and writers from a BAME background who are interested in exploring new possibilities in this most vibrant and flexible genre.

This is an opportunity to;
 explore how your practice could relate to opera’s history and its potential
 work with singers and musicians to explore the possibilities of the voice
 meet potential collaborators and share experience
 develop your ideas and receive feedback on them
We want to bring together both established and emerging artists to sow seeds for future collaborations.
Join us at the Lyric Hammersmith for a week-long exploration of how you could make the opera that you would want to see.

How to apply:
You can either complete the on-line application form via the following link:
https://www.surveycrest.com/s/590b3799c7553
Or send a scanned copy of the attached short expression of interest form (along with a short CV) to rachel.lerman@roh.org.uk by Friday 26th May. Lyric Workshop Week

If you’d like to know more please contact Rachel Lerman at 020 3772 6443 or rachel.lerman@roh.org.uk.

 

Award win for GemArts Masala Festival

Last night GemArts Masala Festival was named the winner of the Arts Council Award at The Journal Culture Awards. The full team (Vic, Alex, Jade and Sinead) attended the ceremony and were there to collect the beautiful award when Masala Festival was named winner at this year’s spectacular Journal Culture Awards inside Hexham Abbey.

   

This festival compliments and builds upon GemArts yearlong programme, to present a mix and blend of the finest South Asian Arts and Culture across the region over seven days. Speaking of the award Vikas Kumar, GemArts Director said “It’s fantastic for Masala Festival to be named winner of the Arts Council Award at the Culture Awards. This award helps GemArts celebrate the creative talents of artists from the region, across the UK, South Asia and beyond, and recognises the incredible support we receive from our participants, audiences, trustees, volunteers, sponsors, partners and local communities, to whom we are hugely grateful! It was a joy to collaborate, connect and celebrate with thousands of people from across the region at our first Masala Festival, and we can’t wait to do it all again between the 17^th and 23^rd July. We want to thank the Journal Culture Awards and Arts Council North for choosing us for this award, but also for their continued support and commitment to our work, and that of the other great nominees. We will continue to champion creativity and diversity at every level, supporting young and emerging artists, and offer people from all backgrounds and ages, community groups and schools, engaging opportunities to take part in our culturally rich and diverse arts offer.”

Last year Masala Festival offered a truly eclectic programme, spanning traditional and contemporary South Asian arts, including award winning poets, a curated evening of film shinning a light on South Asian LGBT lives, rare Sattriya dance by Monks from Majuli; Indian epics retold for children, Indian classical and Brass Band collaborations, World music jazz fusion bands, exhibitions exploring Turban culture, incredible workshops, talks and demonstrations, culminating with a spectacular family fun day on NewcastleGateshead Quayside.

GemArts is really excited for 2017 as this year’s Masala Festival (17th-23rd July) will be even more ambitious, and building on our award success we’re looking forward to collaborating with venue partners, places and spaces, commissioning new work and presenting internationally significant South Asian artists and art forms. The programme is packed with critically acclaimed award winning poets (Daljit Nagra), specially curated short film programmes (Changes), celebrations of Sikh music tradition and contributions to the First World War (Sacred Sounds), leading choirs from India (Gandharva Choir), innovative new theatre (No Dogs No Indians), Masala Festival takeovers (at Q Fest), Mini Mela family fun days, Indian storytelling for all ages (Henna), extremely talented musicians (Sarathy Korwar), South Asian film screenings, exhibitions, food events, fantastic workshops, talks, demos and lots more. Masala Festival offers a truly eclectic line up, spanning traditional, and contemporary South Asian arts forms from the regiona, across the UK and South Asia!

    

GemArts’ year round programme offers audiences something truly unique, and in the 70^th Year of India and Pakistan’s Independence, GemArts Masala Festival brings to the North East the spirit, spice and vibrancy synonymous with the Indian subcontinent, and now an important part of British culture.

Details of events and full programme coming soon, to find out more and keep up to date visit www.gemarts.org.