Merry Christmas

Each year when I look back at the previous 12 months, I get a sense of awe at the achievements of our small (but mighty) team, and the wonderful artists, communities, volunteers and organisations GemArts has worked with. It’s also a time for me to consider how generous our donors, funders and audiences are, so thank you for supporting our work in so many ways.

Throughout 2017 we continued to do what we do best, showcasing the best and brightest artistic talent from the UK and abroad, championing creativity and diversity, and always ensuring artists received the support and profile they deserve. GemArts’ audiences were given access to unique cultural experiences, with people of all ages and backgrounds joining us in making exceptional music, dance and art, while developing new skills and building confidence along the way. Communities continue to face inequalities and challenges, but through our arts projects we have seen the people of the North East come together, to inspire and support each other, and celebrate diversity.

This year we strengthened relationships and developed new partnerships, increasing the reach and impact of GemArts work, for which we were recognised with awards and accolades. We’ve picked a few of our highlights from 2017, click on the red text to find out more about each, and I’m sure you will have your own favourites.

In February I will travel to London to collect my MBE for services to Arts and Culture – a huge honour and privilege! I personally feel this achievement recognises the collective efforts of everyone who has supported GemArts over the years. I am eternally grateful to you all.

On behalf of everyone at GemArts and GVEMSG, I would like to  thank you for your continued support, and wish you a very merry Christmas, and all the best for a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year.

Best wishes and see you in 2018.

Vikas Kumar, MBE
Director, GemArts

Masala Festival – Following a Journal Culture Arts Council Award win, our week-long festival returned in July. Thousands of people joined us for a mix and blend of the very finest South Asian arts and culture, enjoying live music, exhibitions, cooking demos, special festival menus, family fun days, workshops, poetry readings, theatre, film screenings and lots more. The festival returns on the 16th July 2018 packed with even more exceptional art!

GemArts Riverside Ragas – Presented the best of raag based music, accompanying concerts with informative pre concert talks, masterclasses and demonstrations. 2017’s Riverside Ragas featured; Guiliano Modarelli (Routes), Kobini Ananth and Yarlinie Thanabalasingham (An Inner Voice), Baluji Shrivastav, Roopa Panesar and Bhupinder Chaggar, Debasmita Bhattacharya and Gurdain Rayatt, and we’ve an incredible line up for Spring Summer 2018.

God and Mortals – Our first collaboration with Sunderland Stages was a stunning performance by an ensemble of the country’s finest Odissi dancers and musicians, staged within the breath-taking setting of Sunderland Minster.

Health and Wellbeing – To help tackle social isolation we worked with Gateshead Carers BME groups to create “arrival and survival” a showcase of art work representing Identity and Isolation. Members of GVEMSG’s Feel Good Group were also extremely busy creating unique glass, sharing skills, developing support networks and using new creative and enterprise skills to raise more than £358 for their project, meaning more women will benefit from the support and activities on offer. Read the Feel Good Group’s blog here.

East by North East – Our Youth Music funded project offered music making opportunities to over 190 young people each week throughout 2017. Watching young participants grow in their musical skills and confidence has been a real highlight of this project, and this would not have been possible without the strong team of committed, talented and awe inspiring music leaders and partners we have on board. Here’s to another two years!

Dispersed Belongings – From Syria to Gateshead explored belonging among refugee-background Syrian young people living in Gateshead, in partnership with Durham University and Gateshead Council. Young people participated in workshops with professional visual artists and musicians, and produced works that reflected their ideas and experiences. The project culminated in an event at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, and a week-long exhibition in the Shipley Lounge as part of the national Platforma Festival.

GemArts Mini Melas – Between February and October we packed in a whopping FOUR Mini Melas, bringing free family arts activity to Gateshead, Newcastle, South Shields and Durham. In total over 1500 children and their families visited us at a Mini Mela in 2017, joining in arts activity from around the world, and some even completed Arts Award in a day (an incredible 101 young people achieved Arts Award through GemArts in 2017). Thanks to all the partners who provided a venue for or supported one of our Mini Melas this year.

 

Kathakali schools performance – 200 local primary school students had the unique opportunity to take part in workshops and watch the world renowned Kala Chethena Kathakali Company, perform in Gateshead. Pupils experienced the entrancing world of ancient Hindu storytelling through this sacred theatre art form with its striking visual imagery, ancient sign language, superb singing and movement.

Anti Hate Crime work – Continuing this award winning work with young people, pupils from Brandling Primary School, Gateshead worked on a creative writing project exploring the theme of “respect”, with artist Laura Degnan. Pupils developed reading and writing skills using creative storytelling techniques and film making. Members of Gateshead Muslim Centre young people’s group (age 6-15), used animation as a creative tool with artist Lesley anne Rose, discussing Hate Crime and how to report it. Learning story boarding and animation techniques, the young people created their very own animation which you can watch here.

Great North Run- Thanks to a grant we were able to purchase places in the GNR 2017. Not only did our runners (Anj, David, Jamie, Stuart and Tom) complete the worlds largest half marathon, they also totally smashed their fundraising targets, donating an impressive £2200 to our charity! All donations help GemArts deliver life enhancing arts projects, you can sign up to Run and Raise or simply contribute to GemArts here.
GemArts Spring Summer 2018 programme launches on Friday 19th January.
Follow this link www.gemarts.org to find out more. 

Images from top: Riverside Ragas Roopa Panesar by Anna Miller, The Gandharva Choir Masala Festival by Anna Miller, Mini Movers Masala Festival  by Anna Miller, Riverside Ragas Debasmita Bhattacharya by Anna Miller, Feel Good Group jewellery stall by Anna Miller,Gods and Mortals Sunderland Stages by Richard Kenworthy, From Syria to Gateshead My country is unforgettable by Mohamad, The Kala Chethena Kathakali Company, Rajasthan Heritage Brass Band Masala Festival by Anna Miller

 

GEMARTS EAST BY NORTH EAST PT 1

East by North East is a Youth Music funded project led by GemArts, providing opportunities for young people from diverse communities to come together and make music.  The project has already enabled over 190 young people to develop and share their compositions and performance skills in a wide range of genres, while addressing issues relevant to their lives, developing life skills and achieving Arts Award.

In addition, GemArts has further diversified the workforce of music practitioners, and East by North East offers training and development to ensure that creativity and diversity is thriving in the North East!

To celebrate the project we’ve asked some of our music leaders to share their thoughts on East by North East, their own development, and the groups they worked with. Read on for our first blog post.

GemArts East by North East Blog by Adam Cogdon, Music Leader

East By North East is a Youth Music funded project that brings together young people, and a staff team, from diverse backgrounds, celebrating different cultures and musical genres.  The music sessions allow us to explore different tastes and develop skills in music and to build confidence together.

Led by GemArts, in partnership with Sage Gateshead and community partners across Newcastle, the project works with a hugely varied and strong team. From the beginning East By North Easy aimed to pair up more experienced music leaders with talented emerging practitioners, to develop and build a diverse resource of delivery staff, spanning creative and cultural diversity as well as musical genres.  From what we learned in the first phase of East by North East, we were able to also expand the project in 2016 to include female groups at many of the centres, this in turn meant we could offer more opportunities to female music leaders to run sessions.

The project partners include:

CHAT Trust (Girls & Boys sessions) – Fenham

North Benwell Youth Project (Girls & Boys sessions) – Benwell

Life Transformational Church (Mixed session) – Fenham

Pottery Bank Pupil Referral Centre (Mixed Session) – Walker

West Walker Family Centre (Mixed Session) – West Walker

Excelsior Academy (Mixed Session) – Scotswood

Success4All (Mixed Group) – Fenham

Recent highlights of the project:

The Mega Boyz group from North Benwell Youth Project were asked to perform at a Holocaust memorial day focusing on the forgotten Czech and Roma people who died.  The young people’s behaviour was excellent and they did a great performance of the Song ‘Mega Boyz Swag’ I was very proud of them.

There was also a great performance from ‘Gipsy Lipstick’ who attend the Girls session at CHAT Trust.  They were quite nervous as it was only their 2^nd or 3^rd time performing, but I thought they did extremely well! The Lads Band also performed playing their instruments and singing some traditional Czech music.  They were very well rehearsed and sounded very professional.  Both groups were also asked to perform at the same venue a few weeks later at a health awareness day.

  CHAT Boys Band performing

We recently launched a new session as part of the project working with West Walker Family centre, they are referred young people who need a bit of extra support and they take them to various activities.  Young people are already taking part in Djing, Music production and Guitar.  GemArts was chosen to pilot a new Arts Award scheme, called ‘Discover Arts Award in a day’, which we are delivering with the new East by North East group to see if it is something we can use across the whole project.

We have been making great progress at Pottery Bank PRU where traditionally we struggled to get young people to engage and perform. One young lad who had never tried Grime style MCing before but was keen to try it, has been supported by East by North East music leaders to write his own lyrics about his area and the things that go on.  Some of the other group members helped to make the backing music and the Song sounds awesome!  It has really inspired a lot of the group to see what is possible when you try, so I am really pleased with this piece of work.

We also started a new session at Life Transformational Church in the West End, which began in Jan 2017. The participants are mixed gender and range from 2 year olds to teenagers.  The participants are spilt into younger and older groups, each focus on developing Band skills and learning how to play different instruments.

  Life Transformational Church

The Project works with many young people from different backgrounds including, Slovak, Roma, Czech and African.  As well as developing and encouraging musical development the project has also had a positive effect on the participants’ English skills both spoken and written

During the last few months the sessions in the project are now gearing up for the Final Celebration event at Sage Gateshead (12^th and 13^th April 2017). This is a two day event that celebrates everything achieved throughout the project and brings all the young people from different areas of the city together to make new friends and share their achievements.  Day one will be a day of fun arts based workshops in a different vain from their regular sessions, including Graffiti Arts, Boom Dang group drumming, rehearsal time and other music sessions.  Day two will be an evening performance in the fantastic Sage 2 Hall.  We hosted a similar event in 2015 at the end of the first phase of the project, and it was amazing! The event was well attended by families, friends, partner organisations and local councillors, who all witnessed an exceptional evening of musical talent, fun and very positive young people performing their material.

I know the whole team are looking forward to creating an even better event than last time and giving these young people the platform that they deserve.

Adam Cogdon, EBNE Music Leader

Watch our East by North East 2017 film here

GemArts East by North East 2017 from GemArts on Vimeo.

If you are interested in the project please contact GemArts on 0191 440 4124 or email info@gemarts.org

Autumn Winter 2017 season

GemArts events offer audiences something different, celebrating art and culture from around the world, bringing world famous acts to the north east, offering events and projects accessible to all.

This season is packed with a diverse range of musicians and musical influences (from Ska and Jazz, to Indian Classical and world fusion, featuring sitar, sarod, tabla and more). Family fun days and Kathakali performances offer something for everyone, and a Khyal exhibition, Diwali celebrations celebrate art, culture and community.

 

GemArts is committed to introducing a diverse and rich cultural offer to as many people as possible, as always keep checking www.gemarts.org for updates and please visit the Support Us page if you are in a position to make a gift.

Find out more about the season here and download our brand new brochure GemArts-aw2017 .

 

Finalist in The Journal Culture Awards

GemArts is a finalist in not one, but two categories of The Journal Culture Awards 2017. This year’s awards received a whopping 1400 nominations, and GemArts Masala Festival has made the final cut for the Arts Council Award, supported by Arts Council England: North, while the organisation is also shortlisted for their work in Trimfest 2016 for Best Event Durham.

     

Both Masala Festival and Trimfest launched their inaugural festivals in 2016, so making the final three in the respective categories of these awards is a fantastic affirmation of the quality and success for everyone who contributed. A common theme for both was the celebration and profiling of diverse arts, something which GemArts and our parent charity have vast experience championing across the North East, and nationally. Our parent charity Gateshead Visible Ethnic Minorities Support Group also celebrates its 25^th anniversary in 2017, and two potential awards would be a great way to mark this milestone.

Masala Festival, is a weeklong celebration of the very finest mix and blend of South Asian arts. It compliments and builds upon GemArts exemplar year round work, providing an exciting new arts festival for audiences in the north east, bringing South Asian arts to their doorstep. The long term vision of GemArts Director, Vikas Kumar, we were all blown away by the public reaction to the first Masala Festival in July 2016.  “We’re thrilled to be nominated by the Journal Culture Awards as this year we also celebrate the 25th anniversary of our charity, a major milestone.  GemArts has continuously championed the vibrant diverse arts scene, artists and communities within the North East, while bringing the very best national and international artists to the region. The success of Masala Festival, and making the final 3 in the Arts Council Award, is fantastic acknowledgment of the quality and breadth of South Asian arts and culture GemArts has produced and presented over the years, and we are hugely thankful to all our artists, partners, audiences, participants and volunteers for their exceptional support!”

 

The 2016 Masala Festival programme included films screenings which explored South Asian LGBT lives, world music jazz fusion bands, big brass band and Indian music collaborations, award winning poets, photography exhibitions exploring Turban culture, rare and sacred Sattriya dance performances, workshops and masterclasses, the very popular GemArts Mini Mela family fun day and lots more, presenting traditional and contemporary South Asian identities. Working with a number of partners GemArts brought the Masala Festival programme to venues and spaces in Newcastle, Gateshead and out to the coast, and the plans for 2017 look even bigger and better.

Trimdon Parish Council wanted to present multicultural events and activities for the local community during October half-term, to bring people together to experience and learn about art and culture across the world, while celebrating Trimdon and the local area too.  GemArts was invited to help programme Trimfest 2016, sharing expertise working with communities and presenting the best diverse arts to North East audiences.

 

Catering for all ages, Trimfest featured an eclectic mix of music from Brass Bands to The Baghdaddies and Hannabiell&Midnight Blue, a diverse art family fun day, Indian storytelling, Bavarian beer night, the brilliant Home Fires production community and school workshops and lots more. Creating a brand new festival to celebrate art, music and culture from across the world, in a rural area of East Durham, was an ambitious and exciting undertaking for the Trimdon Parish Council. Everyone involved is thrilled that the efforts and high quality of the programme, both events and workshops, delivered over the 10 day festival, have been recognised in this prestigious nomination for Best Event Durham.

“Trimdon Parish Council is very pleased to be shortlisted for such a prestigious award, especially as this was the first time the Parish Council has been involved in such an ambitious festival. It is a great achievement to be finalists for Best Event Durham, and is wonderful recognition of the hard work undertaken by all of the partners, volunteers, residents and artists who made Trimfest 2016 such a memorable event, not to mention a great celebration of our collaboration with GemArts. This nomination will give everyone involved tremendous encouragement as we start our preparations to host Trimfest 2017 later this year”. Anne Delandre, Trimdon Parish Council Clerk.

GemArts is finalising plans for Masala Festival 2017, and in discussions with Trimdon Parish Council to continue work on Trimfest 2017. To keep up to date and find out more visit www.gemarts.org , if you can help support this years festival please consider making a donation here.

October 2014, Happy Diwali, Lifetime achievement awards, and whats to come

Happy Diwali from GemArts

So far this season we have already welcomed the Sikh Fortress Turban to Sunderland Museum&Winter Gardens as part of a Spotlight Programme Loan from the British Museum, brought Penned in the Margins two man miniature epic The Shroud to Caedmon Hall, presented two awe inspiring classical Indian concerts with Debashish Bhattacharya and Jyoti Hegde at Sage Gateshead, and worked with Seven Stories to create their Diverse Voices exhibition.

Now October is here we look forward to Amina Khayyam Dance Company’s (AKDC) kathak interpretation of Yerma on 25th. With the original set in rural patriarchal and religiously repressive Spain, AKDC have re-imagined this work as an Indian classical dance for an inner city community.

Diwali is also now upon us, as always we are enjoying celebrating the festival of lights with friends and families. Once the family celebrations die down we will host our annual celebration at the Civic Centre, with performances, DJs, food and plenty of fun for all the family on 1st Nov.

A special mention must go to our Founder and Trustee Mr Bahal, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Gateshead Awards 2014. Mr Bahal was invited to a special ceremony last week, where he celebrated with guests from across the borough.

This November will be a busy month for GemArts, with Grammy award winners, local talent and work crossing science and dance, but more on that soon!

For more information on GemArts programme visit http://www.gemarts.org/whatson/

 

Post by Sinead