Annual Report 2010 - 2011 Northern Ireland’s Leading Ethnic Arts Organisation

www.artsekta.org.uk

Investors in ArtsEkta 2010 - 2011 PRINCIPAL Funders

Project Funders

sponsors

Equality Commission FOR NORTHERN IRELAND

Front Cover: Parade of Cultures at Belfast Mela 2011

Our Team & Partners Staff Team

Board of Directors

Nisha Tandon - Director Patricia Murray - Administration & Finance Manager Krishan Tandon - Events & Marketing Manager Caroline Healy (to April 2011) Programme Manager, South Asian Dance Academy Niamh Flanagan - Programme Manager, Cultural Coach Mariead Quinn (from Sep 2011) - Programme Assistant Paula Guzzanti (to Aug 2011) - Programme Manager, Peace III

Mukesh Sharma - Chairperson Julianne McCormick - Vice Chairperson Dr. Satayir Singhal - Secretary Mark Burns (to April 2011) - Treasurer Heather Floyd (to May 2011) – Director Claire Doran (from June 2011) – Director Pamela Ballantine - Director Eva Grosman - Director

Core Artists & Facilitators

Key Partners

Aiden Milligan Alison Parks Amita Ravikirana Andrea de Silva Assia El-Zarruk Avril McCabe Bahia Ma’ani-Hessari Caroline Healy Conor Maguire Cony Ortiz Emma Copeland Garima Singhal Helena Bork Henry Siu Wai Lo Ito Sumi Jemma Logan Jenny Haslett Kalashree Wakhare Karishma Kusurkar Katarzyna Kochanska Kathy Marsh Konrad Pawlaszek

Adam Mackiewz Institute ASCONI Ballymena Inter-Ethnic Forum Belfast City Council Festivals Forum Belfast Islamic Centre Belfast Metropolitan College Bryson Intercultural Charter NI Chinese Welfare Association Community Arts Forum (now Community Arts Partnership) Creative Scotland Cuman Culúrtha Mhic Reachtain Equality Commission Foundation for Indian Performing Arts Foyle Multi-Cultural Forum Health & Social Care NI Housing Executive Island Arts Centre Lower Ormeau Residents Action Group Moving on Music National Museums Northern Ireland Northern Visions Oriental Arts Police Service of Northern Ireland Polish Cultural Week Queens University SEEDS Smallworld Music Ltd South Tyrone Empowerment Programme Stronger Together Terra Nova Productions The Nehru Centre Unite Against Hate University of Ulster Work West Enterprise Agency

Kousalyaa Somasundram Marina Furey Maytee Segura Nikoaly Ivonova Paddy Anderson Paula Guzzanti Rini Matthews Ruth Parks Sarah Campell Seamus O’Labhrada Sean Mullan Stella Tsang Stephen Huo Sumathy Thulasiraman Tina Lendrum Trisha McNally Vaishaili Kokate Vanessa Franchetti Velselka Ivanova Veronika Dygrynova Wilson Magwere

support services Sonia McCourt - Graphic Design & Brand Development Press Eye, RM Studios, & Jake Samuels - Photography Curran Media - Videography Fresh Made Media - Web Design Alison Knox PR – Public Relations Management

ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11 3

Contents What We Do

Page 5

Our Vision

Page 5

Our Mission

Page 5

Chairperson’s Statement

Page 6

Director’s Report

Page 7

2010-11: At a Glance

Page 8

Cultural Coach

Page 10

South Asian Dance Academy

Page 12

Peace III Programmes

Page 14

Festivals

Page 16

Support for Artistic Development

Page 22

Strategy & Sectoral Development

Page 24

Diversification & Enterprise

Page 27

Financial Summary 2010-11

Page 30

4 ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11

What We Do Champions of good intercultural arts practice

Japanese community gearing up for ‘One World’ Lord Mayor’s Parade

ArtsEkta (Ekta means bonding/uniting in the Indian language) is a multi-award winning social enterprise that works to enhance the practice, understanding and appreciation of ethnic arts within an artistic, social and educational context. Based in Belfast, with a regional focus, we are dedicated to strengthening relationships between different cultural and communities through a series of inspiring arts-based programmes and large-scale event productions.

Our Vision To help shape an inclusive society which is respectful, embracing and reflective of the multiple cultural identities living in Northern Ireland.

Our mission To promote and support minority ethnic arts and artists in the community by: • Sharing the value of unique cultural experiences and; • Raising awareness and acceptance of different cultures through an innovative and creative programme of workshops, educational outreach and festivals. Services • Outreach programme – Cultural Coach; • Dance development programme – South Asian Dance Academy; • Festival programme – Belfast Mela, Diwali & Samhain, Festival of Colours; • Support for artistic development; • Training; • Strategic & sectoral development. ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11 5

Chairperson’s Statement Building for the Future Over the last year ArtsEkta has continued to grow, create and innovate, providing access to ethnic arts to thousands of people across the region and beyond. We have positioned the company as a model of best practice, demonstrating leadership and providing holistic services to multiple sectors. I am delighted to present our fifth annual report and accounts. Mukesh Sharma Chairperson ArtsEkta has experienced huge growth across all aspects of the organisation despite development in a challenging economic climate. In light of this growth, the last year has given us the opportunity to re-define the direction of the company and set out our optimal operating environment. What has resulted is the formalisation of a unique organisational model consisting of ArtsEkta becoming single shareholder in newly formed Community Interest Company – Ekta Events – which will launch during 2012. This new structure will allow us to enhance the mixed economy nature of the company, underpinning the sustainability of ArtsEkta and its ability to maximise social impact into the future.

6 ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11

2010 has seen the completion of some inspiring projects including the Heritage Lottery Funded South Asian Dance Academy project, and our North Down Peace III Programme. As a result we say goodbye to two members of our staff team – Caroline Healy and Paula Guzzanti whose contribution to the development of ArtsEkta has been invaluable. We also wish Patricia Murray the best in an exciting new job opportunity, and welcome her replacement Sean Seamus O’Hara, who will now head up the organisation’s administration and finance functions. Alongside this I am delighted to welcome Claire Doran, HR Manager for Power NI to our board of directors, and sadly say farewell to Mark Burns and Heather Floyd, whose services to not only ArtsEkta but the entire arts sector has been truly commendable.

I would like to thank all our staff, artists, facilitators, funders, sponsors and partners for continuing to believe in the vision of ArtsEkta and demonstrating an inspiring commitment to achieving what we set out to do all those years ago. We are excited to continue moving forward with an enterprising attitude to build for the future and further create a streamlined, sustainable model that has the potential to deliver maximum social benefits across the region.

Director’s Report Developing Interculturalism We are confidently leading the way in developing an infrastructure for intercultural arts in Northern Ireland, based on the core principle of delivering high quality, unique and professional artistic and cultural experiences in a myriad of settings. Nisha Tandon Director ArtsEkta has developed organically based on the need of providing a platform for minority ethnic arts and artists in Northern Ireland. This is a need which is very much prevalent today and from our operational experiences requires more attention than ever before as we continue to operate in an environment where service provision is limited and often not prioritised. With core funding from the Office of the First & Deputy First Minister, our diverse and unique programme of work seamlessly links culture and arts to community development, good relations and integration processes, meeting numerous Programme for Government objectives that are strengthening the minority ethnic sector. We will continue to advocate with our strategic partners on this basis to improve and sustain equality of opportunity in our cultural industries for people from diverse backgrounds. The last year has seen ArtsEkta continue to commit time and resources to the professional development of artists within minority ethnic communities. We now directly employ over 50 freelance artists providing an accessible and supportive learning environment where creativity is nurtured. Working with local, national and international partners we have successfully delivered many training programmes in different contexts to help our artists develop, grow and further enhance our high quality programme of work.

Our core outreach programme Cultural Coach principally funded by Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Ulster Gardens Foundation has continued to go from strength to strength. The focus this year was expanding the geographical spread of the programme touring a highly professional intercultural exchange programme to rural areas and developing participatory artistic collaborations with marginalised community groups and those experiencing exclusion due to economic reasons or as a legacy of the conflict. In addition, the programme has also worked with more schools helping to contribute to extended schools and citizenship engagement strategies. Our heritage programme, South Asian Dance Academy, come to an end after an amazing year looking at the art of Kathak storytelling in community and professional settings. This pilot has now evolved into ArtsEkta’s flagship dance development programme providing a regional platform for South Asian dance. In addition we have designed a new three year project entitled Sanskriti (meaning culture) which we are delighted to announce has been awarded development funding by the Heritage Lottery Fund. This new project will launch during 2012 and deliver an exploration of South Asian heritage on a scale that has never before been achieved on the island of Ireland.

Our festival programme which has largely been responsible for the company’s rapid development of audiences and profile attracted c.32,000 visitors and c.1,500 participants providing positive and inclusive cultural experiences whilst generating significant return to the local economy and tourism sector. We continue to work closely with our stakeholders to ensure their strategic development as leading cultural products. In addition, winning contracts to deliver Belfast and Lisburn Mayor’s Parades and a public event as part of Polish Cultural Week evidences how we are continually improving our capacity to design, develop and manage large scale event productions to a high standard with a strong degree of creative authenticity. We are particularly excited to have strengthened our social economy and creative industry model, with the support of Invest Northern Ireland and Work West Enterprise Agency. With a new business plan developed the next year will see much of our exciting plans for new company – Ekta Events – come into action. Throughout our growth we have demonstrated a firm commitment of shifting from reliance on public funding to development on a commercial basis to progress our social aims. As we close another highly successful and productive year we look forward to continuing our journey as Northern Ireland flagship and leading ethnic arts organisation.

ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11 7

2010-11: At a Glance

• Continuing to provide high quality participatory intercultural exchange programmes to schools, community and Section 75 representative groups with principal funding from Arts Council of Northern Ireland; • Delivery of Belfast Mela 2011 attracting 20,000 visitors to Botanic Gardens with principal support from Belfast City Council, Northern Ireland Tourist Board and Office of First & Deputy First Minister; • Delivery of a series of events to celebrate Diwali & Samhain including the critically acclaimed ‘Ragas to Reels’ by Young Steinway Artist Utsav Lal to a sell out audience at The Lyric Theatre; • Completion of Heritage Lottery Funded ‘South Asian Dance Academy’ project, which has now evolved into ArtsEkta’s flagship dance development initiative with training and live performance showcases;

8 ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11

• Completion of Peace III ‘City of Festivals’ project connecting 100s of community participants to ArtsEkta’s festivals in an effort to raise cultural awareness and promote civic participation; • Delivery of ‘Taste of Polska’, an one day event celebrating Polish arts and culture in Saint Anne’s Square in partnership with Polish Cultural Week; • Delivery of the community engagement aspects of the Belfast Lord Mayor’s Parade in partnership with Smallworld Music to a theme of ‘One World, One Vision, One Future’ on behalf of Belfast City Council; • Delivery of an extensive Peace III project entitled ‘Celebrating Cultures’ across the Lisburn and Castlereagh clusters; • Best practice visit to New Delhi in India for project development purposes, leading to the creation of a new three year heritage project entitled ‘Sanskriti’ which has been awarded development funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund;

• Hosting minority ethnic artist consultation session in partnership with Arts Council of Northern Ireland to inform new Intercultural Arts Strategy; • Continued development of Stronger Together initiative positioned to strengthen the views of the racial equality sector via genuine grassroots collaboration; • Development of business plan to progress formation of new community interest company – Ekta Events – underpinning ArtsEkta’s social economy model. • Ongoing good practice within the organisation through better governance, improved financial processes and policy review.

Outreach Programmes

“We have continued to bring high quality participatory intercultural arts experiences to a range of participants across the country in a myriad of settings”

African drumming as part Cultural Coach at Scoil an Droichead

ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11 9

Mural project with Ardtole Community Group

Cultural Coach Connecting PEOPLE through Creativity

Principally funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland ArtsEkta’s flagship outreach programme, Cultural Coach, is an innovative artistic and creative initiative for schools and communities across NI which enables participants to gain an appreciation of minority cultures and their arts. During 2010-11, the programme directly targeted communities who have had little opportunity to explore and experience the arts of other cultures or to work with artists from other countries. Almost 2000 children and young people in fourteen schools from the Maintained, Catholic, Integrated and Irish language sectors in Belfast and across rural Northern Ireland enjoyed an introduction to a broad range of arts and cultural activities delivered by thirty–eight artists through the delivery of One World Days, taster and other programmes. Fifteen extended programmes took place with people from Ardglass, Armagh, Andersonstown, Ballymena, Beleek, Belfast Carrickfergus, Craigavon, Crumlin, Dungannon, Lisburn, Portadown, Portaferry and Newry. The extended projects enabled participants to gain a deeper insight into the culture and arts of a particular community or art form, and enabled both participants and artists to develop creatively and artistically. As a result,

10 ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11

there were many examples of great practice in participatory arts and meaningful community engagement. Projects were delivered in dance, music, ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking and design, crafts and textile and the mural arts. Participants included some of the most excluded and vulnerable communities women and children from the Muslim communities, women on probation and parents of children in prison, youth from the Roma community in Belfast and Ballymena, children in foster care, older people in rural Armagh and Belfast and unemployed teenagers from across Northern Ireland.

Older people’s project with Tearmann Fold group

Visual arts at One World Day

Case Study

ArtsEkta, Consensus & Criminal Justice Agency ArtsEkta designed and delivered a highly successful intercultural arts project with a group of women on probation and women whose children where currently within the prison system. The group’s artwork was showcased at the Belfast Mela and the women were invited as guests to the event. During the project the women examined cultural and individual identity through various artforms. Through a process of reflection they explored the positive journey and growth made by the participants personally and collectively through their involvement with the ArtsEkta & Consensus project. The project encouraged self expression and motivated participants to use their imagination. As the project developed participants took real ownership of the project deciding to focus on just two of the initial arts activities. This enabled the women to complete the felting and transfer print techniques in more depth and to a higher artistic standard. The group produced a wall hanging for the Belfast Mela inspired by Indian art and to celebrate cultural diversity. Influenced by their Bollywood dancing workshop, two dancer silhouette wall hangings were designed and decorated with inspiration taken from the Indian tradition of Mehndi art and paisley patterns. Participants enjoyed the arts as a means of expression, relaxation and development. The sessions provided an opportunity for the group to meet and socialize and provided an informal outlet to discuss family and personal issues in a

safe comfortable environment. Great emphasis was put by the participants on the importance of the outcome of their art pieces. Participants felt they had the freedom to develop their ideas and generally felt a strong sense of ownership of the final products. “It was an excellent programme with far reaching benefits for the women involved. I was very happy with the programme and want to commend the flexibility and understanding of ArtsEkta in setting up this programme”. Aisling Cartmill, Co-ordinator, Consensus project

ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11 11

Lead choreographer of South Asian Dance Academy, Kouslyaa Somasundram

South Asian Dance Academy Promoting Cultural & Historic Dance Forms

During the first half of 2011 ArtsEkta completed it’s highly successful South Asian Dance Academy project principally funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and is now developing an extended three year heritage initiative. The project brought classical forms of Indian dance to people of Northern Ireland. These classical dances, predominately Kathak dancing from South Asia relies heavily on storytelling and movement as a means to showcase aspects of the heritage and culture of the country. Over the year the project continued to bring this unique artform to 1000s of people across the country in outreach and festival settings. As well as showcasing the dance form itself, the programme delivered information sessions on the history and heritage of the dance and the country from which it hails. The professional development of our dance trainees continued to strengthen with choreographic training delivered by our performing arts partners in India, London and Glasgow. This has led to new dance showcases by the academy at ArtsEkta’s

12 ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11

flagship festivals, and subsequent touring around the country. As the project comes to an end the South Asian Dance Academy will continue as ArtsEkta’s dance development programme and continue to provide training to nurture and grow skills in the South Asian dance. We will continue to tour a highly professional outreach and live performance programme. In addition plans are well underway to launch a new three year South Asian heritage project with development funding secured from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

New showcase at Belfast Mela 2011, following residency programme with Priyanka Purohit from Mumbai in India.

“The South Asian Dance Academy project provided a unique insight into this centuries-old heritage, creating opportunities for local people to learn about its history and take part in workshops and performances. The project has raised awareness of our diverse multi-cultural society, helping to create a better understanding of our past and its role in shaping who we are today” Paul Mullan, Chief Executive, Heritage Lottery Fund

ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11 13

Members of Women’s United with Nisha Tandon, Director of ArtsEkta and Deputy Lord Mayor Ruth Patterson at Belfast Mela 2011

Peace III Programmes Building Positive Relations at a Local Level

ArtsEkta has continued to deliver projects under Peace III priorities to deliver targeted interventions in areas across the region that are highly deprived and linked to high levels of racism and sectarianism. Over the last year we have completed three major projects across Northern Ireland. Cultural Coach in North Down, Ards & Down Our extensive programme in the North Down cluster area came to an end which focused on ethnic arts delivery with community groups and schools across North Down, Down and Ards. In total there have been 11 extensive community engagement programmes delivered to over 1,000 participants with an overall legacy of heightened cultural awareness and understanding. ArtsEkta will continue to work within the North Down cluster area where opportunities arise.

14 ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11

city of festivals Following the success of the Belfast Mela and Diwali & Samhain outreach programmes delivered under Belfast City Council’s Developing Shared Cultural Space priority, ArtsEkta completed a further extended programme which fed into our annual Festival of Colours in March 2011. The entire project has engaged with almost 600 participants delivering cultural artistic programmes to a large number of different groups across the city, creating access to arts and cultural activity and building capacity to celebrate and appreciate our

diversity. The programme ended in June 2011 with the production of a publication and accompanying DVD depicting the work over the year. ArtsEkta expects to further continue this programme with the roll out of City of Festivals Phase II.

A ShowcASe of ArtS ektA’S feStivAlS

ArtsEkta Latin American visual artist Cony Ortiz with participants in Lisburn/Castlereagh Peace III Programme

“Festivals provide space for many of the city’s communities to showcase and celebrate their own unique culture, supporting our vision of a peaceful, stable and inclusive society where individuality is respected and diversity celebrated. On behalf of the Good Relations Partnership, I would like to extend my congratulations to ArtsEkta for all that has been achieved through their City of Festivals project” Councillor Maire Hendron

Celebrating Cultures ArtsEkta were successful in securing a contract to deliver peace building activity through the arts in the Lisburn and Castlereagh areas. This project focused on grassroots participation in arts activity as a tool for raising cultural awareness and appreciation. The inter and intra-community relations across the cluster, particularly in the deprived areas has at times be tense and fractious evidenced by racist and sectarian attacks and a reluctance of ethnic minority groupings to participate fully across the community. We worked with over 200 participants delivering intercultural arts workshops, and hosted three shared events at Ballyoran Community Centre, Grove Activity Centre and Laurelhill Youth Centre to an audience of over 1,000 people.

ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11 15

ArtsEkta South Asian Dance Academy trainee Milna Jaison

Festivals

“Attracting tens of thousands of people each year, ArtsEkta deliver the region’s leading intercultural arts festivals developing creative shared spaces and increasing our profile as a must-see visitor destination”

16 ArtsEkta Annual Report 09/10 16 ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11

Celebrating Culture Colour & Creativity Sunday 20th march 2011 St George’s Market different colours lose their identity to become one. The historic significance of the festival is rooted back to Hindu myths and legends, and can be traced as far back as Sanskrit times.

Visitors enjoying the cultural traditions of Holi at St. George’s Market Festival of Colours (commonly referred to as ‘Holi’, which literally translates to ‘Colour’ in the Indian language) is a traditional Indian festival that celebrates the coming of Spring. It is the most vibrant South Asian festival, where distinctions of cast, class, age and gender are set to one side and people overcome their differences to embrace each other. The festival uses the literal throwing of colours to symbolise equality wherein people drenched in

In just three years the festival has developed its audience from 1,000 to 5,000 visitors and has become an increasingly anticipated event in the city’s festival calendar, particularly among the South Asian communities in the North and South of Ireland. The festival features South Asian music and dance, international food, visual arts and crafts, and cultural arts workshops. The main attraction is the colour powder party where visitors get the opportunity to throw coloured powders at one another providing a powerful and visible depiction of equality and acceptance of cultural diversity. It encourages people to come together, talk to each other and celebrate their identity in a fun and creative environment.

“I think this is a fantastic example of how people can work together to reach out to all sections of our society. ArtsEkta have done a fantastic job in bringing together all the different communities particularly the Islamic and Roma communities. The Festival of Colours tells us that everyone is a human being and I think that is a very important message. This is particularly relevant in a city like ours that has had multiple problems over the years. I think we are fast-growing and starting to learn from other cultures.” Councillor Pat Convery, Lord Mayor of Belfast 2010/11 ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11 17

t s e g r a L ’s d n la e Ir n r e North Multi-Cultural Festival

ens

tanic Gard o B , 11 0 2 st u g u A 8 2 y a d Sun

Crowds of 20,000 pack Botanic Gardens for the 5th annual Belfast Mela The Belfast Mela is an iconic highlight in the region’s festival calendar, showcasing music, dance, crafts and food from more than thirty nations around the globe. The festival continues to play an important role in raising the visibility of minority ethnic communities through the arts by reaching such a wide and diverse audience and educating them about the cultural diversity of Northern Ireland. In 2011, the event attracted over 20,000 people and was extended into the evening featuring an unforgettable performance by Canadian based group ‘Delhi 2 Dublin’ who play an energetic mashup of Bhangra, Celtic, Dub Reggae and Electronica with a healthy dose of global rhythms and club beats.

18 ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11

As well as a fantastic line-up of music and dance, the Mela featured seven zones including a world food market incorporating a global cookery theatre, a community showcase area featuring local artistic talent, a global bazaar and shopping area, ethnic circus and street arts shows, a health zone offering alternative therapies and herbal treatments from across the world and Culture Land – an interactive cultural learning experience for young people. Brand new to this year’s festival was the Saheli Tipi, meaning Friendship Tipi, which introduced a fourth stage to the event promoting a range of more intimate cultural performances. Alongside this there was an opportunity to sample Bollywood and Polish film in an outdoor cinema and learn about ‘Kabadi’ – a traditional team contact sport from South Asia.

“The Mela has become a fixed cultural highlight of the year and whilst it remains an expression of ethnicity and identity, it is becoming regarded more and more as a colourful, exciting, vital and vivid day out for everyone. It is a celebration for all - with its own unique identity but with universal appeal, and represents the evolution of the North from being internationally synonymous with the blight of tribal culturalism to today’s diverse, dynamic and dazzling display of unity.” Junior Ministers Jonathan Bell and Martina Anderson

Ireland’s First Indo-Celtic Festival 30 october - 9 november An eclectic mix of workshops, dance showcases, visual arts and stunning musical collaborations made up the 2011 Diwali & Samhain festival. Now in its third year, Diwali, the traditional Hindu ‘Festival of Light’, and Samhain, meaning ‘summer’s end’ in Irish, celebrates the similarities of Indian and Irish cultures, promoting diversity and mutual understanding and is the first festival of its kind in Ireland. A highlight of this year’s celebrations was 19 year old, child prodigy, Ustav Lal who performed an exclusive, one-off gig, ‘Ragas to Reels’,to a sold out audience at The Lyric Theatre on Wednesday,

November 9. Joined on stage by Irish flautist Sam Comerford and India-based Tabla player Kousic Sen, they explored the haunting sounds of Indian Ragas and the pounding energy of Irish reels – going beyond all geographical, cultural and language barriers. This unique collaboration was supported by the Bunscoil Phobal Feirste Choir and funded by Belfast City Council and Foras na Gailege. With a career spanning over a decade, Lal was officially recognised as a “Young Steinway Artist” in February 2010. Among the other highlights of this year’s celebrations was Belfast City Council’s Halloween Metro Monster Mash which included a mix of

“The Commission was pleased to have the opportunity to work with ArtsEkta in promoting such an engaging and worthwhile programme. These celebrations and artistic events highlight the benefits of living in a culturally rich and diverse society. While most people welcome that, there are still some who do not fully appreciate its value, and discriminate against those they perceive as different to themselves. There is no place for such negative attitudes in our society and we will continue to challenge them and to provide advice and assistance to anyone who encounters harassment and discrimination.”

Indo-Irish performances by ArtsEkta and on November 5, ArtsEkta once again transformed the Ulster Museum into an exciting celebration of Indian and Celtic cultures with children’s workshops running all day. The full Diwali & Samhain festival will return in 2012 with an extended programme of lectures, seminars, workshops, film screenings and events over two weeks.

Fire Dancing by Fire Poise

Bob Collins, Chief Commissioner, Equality Commission NI ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11 19

1 1 0 2 y a M st a h f t l 7 e y b a , d e r r a u q Satu ss ’ e n n a t n ai

s

Taste of Polska was a one day event concept held in Saint Anne’s Square on 7th May 2011 and featured Polish music, dance, food and arts. Organised in partnership with the fifth Polish Cultural Week and The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, this was the first major public event co-ordinated as part of a wider series of events including theatre performances, exhibitions and lectures. With over 2,000 people in attendance the square came alive with the sounds, sights and smells of Polish and other cultures and featured a show-stopping, jampacked schedule of music and dance. Headlining the event was ethno-electro group ‘GOORAL’ from Poland who blend electro, dub-step and drum ‘n’ bass with traditional

20 ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11

Polish Saturday School showcase at Taste of Polska, part of the fifth Polish Cultural Week Polish songs for a truly unique sound experience. Local artists from Indian, Chinese, African and Irish backgrounds also took to the stage. In addition there was special interactive craft, music and dance workshops for all ages.

BELFAST LORD MAYOR’S PARADE ArtsEkta joined forces with production company Smallworld Music to produce the 2011 Lord Mayor’s Parade on behalf of Belfast City Council on 18th June. This is a flagship civic event held by Belfast City Council to officially introduce the new Lord Mayor to the citizens of Belfast. This project involved the co-ordination of an extensive citywide outreach programme prior to the main parade and event. With a theme of ‘One World, One Vision, One Future’ ArtsEkta delivered the community engagement aspects of the parade which resulted in almost 1000 participants from across the city taking part.

ArtsEkta dance artists Kouslyaa Somasundram & Manvi Singhal with Lord Mayor Councillor Niall O’Donnaghaile ahead of his inaugural parade

LISBURN MAYOR’S PARADE ArtsEkta joined forces with Streetwise Community Circus to produce the 2011 Mayor’s Parade on behalf of Lisburn City Council on 9th April. With a theme of ‘Lisburn – A City for Everyone’, ArtsEkta delivered African, Chinese and Indian parade workshops with community participants and school children resulting in almost 800 people taking part in the parade. Sizzling samba and rhythmic marching bands got spectators feet moving to a lively carnival beat. While an infectious surge of salsa, samba, Bollywood and Chinese Lion dancers added their high octane energy and vibrancy to the celebrations.

Lisburn Mayor’s Parade

ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11 21

ArtsEkta African music artist Wilson Magwere

Support for Artistic Development

“We are committed to enhancing the creative opportunities for artists from minority ethnic communities”

20 ArtsEkta Annual Report 09/10 22 ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11

Providing a Platform for Ethnic Artistic Development ArtsEkta provides regular training opportunities for freelance artists, particularly within the minority ethnic sector. These are master classes, practical sessions or information days and updates that are crucial to the career development of artists. ArtsEkta is committed to supporting the development of artists particularly from local minority ethnic communities. We aim to empower our artists to determine their own futures and support them at all levels from community amateurs to seasoned professionals. Our work is developed through conversations with artists and includes: employment; needs appraisal; artistic development through empowerment, training and capacity building; project support and networking opportunities. Over the year we have continued to recruit and train new and existing artists currently reflected in our core pool of 52 skilled artists who come from 12 different cultures and are experienced in the areas of music, dance, drama and visual arts.

As part of the Cultural Coach programme last year we delivered training in designing and planning cultural diversity arts workshops to twenty-two artists. As a result of feedback from this training ArtsEkta will continue to deliver training throughout the programme to freelance artists working with us and other organisations. This development of training has become a partnership between ArtsEkta and New Lodge Arts to create a resource pack and training for their freelance artists. In addition the South Asian Dance Academy has continued to develop professional dance showcases with choreographic development delivered by Mumbai-based choreographer Priyanka Purohit.

Bulgarian traditional music artist Vessie Ivonova

Case Study

Reviving Cultural Roots “I do Danish and Scandinavian paper arts and crafts with children in their schools and communities, and tell them about Danish culture. My father was Danish and although I was born in England I have always felt to be ‘Danish’. Being creative comes naturally to me and I have found that working with ArtsEkta has given me the opportunity to showcase my natural skills, talents and cultural identity. Over the years I have continued to develop with ArtsEkta and enjoy my time with partcipants in their programmes aswell as wider involvements in the fantastic festivals. I have found that local communities are very eager to learn what we show them, and I get a lot of pleasure out of sharing what I know of my culture with them”. Helena Bork – Danish Arts & Culture Facilitator

ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11 23

Lead choreographer of South Asian Dance Academy, Kouslyaa Somasundram

STRATEGY & SECTORAL DEVELOPMENT

“We work with our partners to ensure an integrated community development approach to tackling racism and promoting good relations through the arts” 24 ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11

Zimbabwean dance collect

ive at Belfast

Mela

To helpfor Strategy Sustainability shape an inclusive soci ety which is resp 2010-2013 ec embracing an tful, Our Vision

d reflective of th e multiple cu This year represented phase ltura II of the delivery of our three year identities livin l strategy which was createdg in consultation with our stakeholders Northern Irel andto report that the strategy is currently in early 2010. We are happy exceeding targets in relation to programming, artistic development and organisational development. Over the next year we will begin work on our new three year strategy and business plan which will launch during 2013. This strategy will continue to place a key focus on strengthening intercultural arts provision regionally to meet a wide range of policy objectives. Published October

2010

ArtsEkta Philip House 127 - 137 York Street Belfast, BT15 1AB

Strategy for Sustainability: 2010-2013 Executive Sum

mary

Northern Irelan

d’s Leading Ethni

www.artsekta

.org.uk

c Arts Organisat

ion

Tel: +44 (0)28 9023 1381 [email protected] www.artsekta.org.uk

Follow us on

ArtsEkta is a register ed and company limited charity (XR96726) by guarantee (NI0603 89)

Stronger Together Stronger Together was developed with the view of creating a strong supportive network, supporting an integrated community development approach to tackling racism, promoting good relations, sharing & exchanging information, experience and knowledge towards achieving rights based interdependent integration. The consortium consists of a partnership between ArtsEkta, South Tyrone Empowerment Programme, Chinese Welfare Association, Foyle Multi-Cultural Forum, Centre for Global Education and Ballymena Inter-Ethnic Forum. Over the year Stronger Together held its second conference for those working the field of racial equality. The theme of the conference centred on strength in rights and influence, strength in diversity and strength in unity. Keynote speaker Naz Koser, Director of Ulfah Arts, a Birmingham based social enterprise that works to achieve social empowerment in disadvantaged communities spoke about the importance of a shared vision and

“Stronger Together is an energetic, fresh idea initiated by six women to share their experiences on the issues of race and ethnicity and an inspiring example of coming together to reflect upon common goals” Key Note Speaker Naz Koser, Ulfah Arts, Birmingham

Organising consortium with Ken Fraser, OFMDFM; Naz Koser, Ulfah Arts and Deirdre MacBride, Community Relations Council. collaborative work, and the powerful journey it can take you on. Shared and collaborative work is an excellent way for ideas and activities to be improved and for duplication to be avoided, making

more resources available. It is hoped that the Stronger Together group can become the primary platform for networking, shared work and linkage to existing resources in areas of Race, Ethnicity, Migrant Support and Diversity. ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11 25

Minority Ethnic Arts Forum MEAF was developed by ArtsEkta in 2007 as part of our original business planning, with subsequent development in partnership with the then Community Arts Forum. As a result of the merger between Community Arts Forum and New Belfast Arts Initiative during the year, work on MEAF has been limited, however ArtsEkta has continued to play a strong advocacy and training role for minority ethnic arts and arts through its own programme of work and the Stronger Together initiative. It is hoped that work on the development of MEAF will resume during 2011/12 as the new Intercultural Arts Strategy launches.

ArtsEkta artists at Arts Council SIAP Information Session

Policy & Strategy Response

L-R: Judith Gillespie, Deputy Chief Constable, PSNI; Dr. Singhal, Director, ArtsEkta, Junior Minister Jonathan Bell; Junior Minister Martina Anderson; Nisha Tandon, Executive Director, ArtsEkta; Eva Grosman, ArtsEkta; Deputy Lord Mayor Ruth Patterson; Director, Mukesh Sharma, Chair, ArtsEkta; Clare Doran, Director, ArtsEkta; Alan Clarke, Chief Executive, Northern Ireland Tourist Board, at Belfast Mela 2011 official opening As a key player in the minority ethnic sector ArtsEkta has continued to provide policy and strategy responses in areas that affect our service delivery and beneficiaries. These responses include: • Programme for Government (PfG) • British Council Strategy Programme • DCAL Creative Innovation Strategy

26 ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11

• • • •

Arts Council NI Intercultural Arts Strategy Belfast City Council Festivals Forum Community Arts Strategy Equality Coalition (EQIA response for PfG)

In the summer we hosted an informal consultation session for minority ethnic artists on behalf of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland to help feed the views of these artists into the Intercultural Arts Strategy.

National Partner, Foundation of Indian Performing Arts at Belfast Mela 2011

Diversification & Enterprise

“Developing a diversified income portfolio and selfsustainability is at the core of our fundraising strategy”

ArtsEkta Annual Report 09/10 25 ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11 27

ArtsEkta help British Midland International launch new route to Amritsar as part of Belfast Mela 2011

Private Sponsorship ArtsEkta continues to highlight the creative potential of the arts in meeting corporate objectives. Over the year we have continued to build great working relationships with a portfolio of private sector businesses, sustaining old partnerships and creating new ones. Among key new sponsorship created with support from Arts & Business included McNeill & Thriftway Travel who supported the Belfast Mela’s Parade of Culture and Culture Land attractions.

In addition we have continued mutually beneficial partnerships with UTV, Indian Tourist Board, Belfast Harbour, The Merchant Hotel, British Midland and Stena Line. We are particularly excited to begin working with Zen, the flagship restaurant by culinary mastermind Eddie Fung, for what we hope will be a growing partnership.

Trusts/Foundations Since ArtsEkta’s inception, our fundraising strategy has always been weighted towards securing long term core support through trusts and foundations. We continue to be successful in achieving this with our Administration & Finance post currently supported through the Esmee Fairburn Foundation and our Cultural Coach programme being part funded by Ulster Garden Villages. In addition we have formed a close relationship with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Poland and been successful in securing various elements of project funding from the Community Foundation, Souter Trust, Lloyds TSB Foundation, The Coca-Cola Foundation, David Irvine Foundation and Irish Youth Foundation.

28 ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11

Police Service of Northern promote community safety at Belfast Mela 2011

South Asian Dance Academy

Social Enterprise Over the last year and with the support of Work West Enterprise Agency and Invest Northern Ireland, ArtsEkta has been re-structured to operate more independently on a social economy model through the development of a new cultural and tourism based enterprise based on strong market conditions locally and nationally for our services and significant socio-economic benefits contributing to our overall cultural capital. • ‘Ekta Events’ – delivery of the company’s flagship festivals on a commercial basis alongside offering a complete cultural event and arts management solution to a variety of clients across the public, corporate and wedding sectors; • ‘Just Dance’ – a programme of dance and fitness classes operated from our ground floor dance studio in North Belfast; • ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’ – cultural awareness and anti-racism training and consultancy services; • Retail Experiences – capitalising on the existing trend of pop up shops and a key gap in the market, ArtsEkta will soon be launching unique Asian shopping and retail experiences across Northern Ireland. A key development area is Ekta Events offering bespoke and innovative artistic and cultural event management services to clients unrivalled in the island of Ireland. Services range from combined artform workshops to live music promotion to large scale events productions. Capitalising on our existing position as the country’s flagship intercultural arts organisation, this innovative

agency offers a dynamic range of creative services to multiple sectors through the provision of unique and quality ethnic arts services. During 2012/13 we will launch a new sister company that will incorporate these services. ArtsEkta will become single shareholder in this company providing sustained investment in our charitable activity.

“Work West works supports new and growing social enterprises through the Invest NI Social Entrepreneurship Programme. I was delighted to work with ArtsEkta as an innovative and creative social enterprise striving to become a more sustainable organisation by developing a number of enterprising initiatives. From the excellent festivals of Mela and Diwali the organisation has developed an excellent cultural events and arts management social enterprise” Stephen McGarry, Business Advisor, Workwest Enterprise Agency

ArtsEkta Annual Report 10/11 29

Canadian Indo-Celtic group Delhi 2 Dublin headline Belfast Mela 2011

Published March 2012

ArtsEkta Philip House 127 - 137 York Street Belfast, BT15 1AB Tel: +44 (0)28 9023 1381 [email protected] www.artsekta.org.uk www.belfastmela.org.uk Follow us on

See us on

ArtsEkta is a registered charity (XR96726) and company limited by guarantee (NI060389)