We’re back in Victoria Park again this Sat…
Specifically, we’re proud to present, in conjunction with BSK, storytelling this Sat, with two amazing tellers: Sef Townsend and Alia Alzougbi. It’s part of LBTH’s A Great Day Out, and of the East Storytelling project. Look out for the storytelling tent. It’s all happening near the bandstand in the East part of the park.
Come along!
We’re absolutely delighted to be part of this year’s Eid-al-Fitr celebrations in Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets. As part of our East storytelling project, organised in collaboration with Bishwo Shahitto Kendro, we’ll be running a storytelling tent with amazing tale-spinners Shamim Azad and Sef Townsend, supported by musician Paul Burgess. Info on the flyer below. It’s this Sunday. See you there!
We’ve been talking to the inspiring Kinsi Abdulleh about adding some Somali storytelling to the East Archive, and she invited us to the launch event of this year’s Numbi Festival. Numbi is “a platform for collaborative cross-cultural exchange for artists working in theatre, visual arts/photography, music/dance, and film, that draws from the experience of Somali communities around the world.” And, like us, it’s based in Tower Hamlets. We have great neighbours!
Last night’s event focused on a discussion of Hadrawi’s Baladweyn. Sef (one of East‘s professional storytellers) and Paul (our artistic director) went along. It was a really inspiring evening, and eye-opening for those who didn’t know a great deal about Somali literature. There are two more days of the festival to go. Details are here.
Thanks to Sef for the photo.
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!
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.
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!
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:
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