We hope you are well! We look forward to hopefully seeing some of you at our MENA+ ARTS MIXER this SUNDAY 8th AUGUST at Regent’s park for a chance to connect, meet and celebrate the wealth of MENA+ talent in the UK.

Click the link HERE to register. We look forward to seeing you there!

Sharing Conversations and Opportunities

• Thank you so much to the 12,000+ people who supported our open letter to Joseph the Musical. We are disappointed to share that conversations with producers and the creative team behind the West End production are yet to start in any meaningful way, six weeks after we sent out open letter. Our full update can be found HERE. Please feel free to email me with any thoughts or comments you may have.

• A job opportunity from The Drama Hut:

“We are looking to employ a diverse pool of actor/facilitators to work in primary schools on a freelance basis. We provide onsite and online workshops, facilitated by professional actors, encouraging learning in a creative environment. The sessions are character-led and cover a wide range of curriculum topics – please look at our website to find out more: https://thedramahut.com. Applicants should have experience working with children of primary school age, have an interest in history and share a common passion for learning through drama.

For further information or if you are interested in working with us, please contact info@thedramahut.com with a CV and a brief paragraph outlining relevant experience.”

• Weapons of Mass Hilarity, a comedy show showcasing comedic MENA talent, are back with their next comedy night on 16th August at 7pm.  The show is part of Camden Fringe and is a fundraiser for Medical Aid For Palestinians & Shlama Foundation.

Tickets can be bought here: https://www.tickettext.co.uk/NNM6pDtlma?page=ticketselect

• 'Asylum', a new play by Omar Bashir and produced by Adele Reeves,

Is running on the 21st & 22nd of August at the Hen & Chickens Theatre during the Camden Fringe.

The show explores the refugee experience, and tickets can be bought here: https://camden.ssboxoffice.com/events/asylum/

• A call out from Uri Agnon for a woman/non-binary actor of Arab heritage:

“We are seeking an actor for a reading of a new musical about anti-Semitism, Diasporas and activism. The reading will take place on August 13th.

We are looking for an actor who identifies with the following:
A woman/ non-binary
A history/ family history of forced migration

Arab heritage
Based in Greater London

The project will continue development in the future (for 1-3 weeks of work-shopping) hopefully with the same actors moving forward subject to availability, so availability in November is a plus.

To express interest or receive more information please contact: chalkdramaturgy@gmail.com”

• “Podcast: Voices from Shubbak Festival” is a four-part mini series hosted by DJ Nooriyah featuring artists from this years Shubbak festival in discussion about digital activism, the Arab Hip-hop scene, Arab women writing on love and lust, and the tarab-achieving ecstasy through music.

Check out all four episodes here: https://www.shubbak.co.uk/podcast/

• Applications are now open for The Godber Theatre Foundation. If you are from Hull & East Yorkshire and studying Drama, Acting or a form of Theatre Arts at degree level (including: Tech, Stage Management, Design, Costume & Playwriting) then The Godber Theatre Foundation is for you!

More info here: https://www.thegodbertheatrefoundation.org/apply

•  Multiple Job opportunities to worth on Moulin Rouge! The Musical:

"-Follow Spot Caller

-Administration & Marketing Assistant

-Production & Project Co-ordinator

-COVID Safety Officer*

All roles for the West End debut of Moulin Rouge! The Musical opening at the Piccadilly Theatre in the autumn of 2021.

Moulin Rouge! The Musical is the stage musical version of Baz Luhrmann’s legendary Australian film MOULIN ROUGE!, which is directed by Alex Timbers (Here Lies Love, Rocky, Beetlejuice), has a book by John Logan (Red, Skyfall), musical arrangements and orchestrations by Justin Levine and choreography by Sonya Tayeh.

To apply, please send a CV and a short covering letter (no more than one page) outlining your suitability for the role to ukoffice@global-creatures.com by 5 pm on Friday 20th August 2021. Please note all applicants must have the right to work in the UK.

For more info on roles contact: josh.francis-ralphs@global-creatures.com

*Closing date for the COVID Safety Officer role and Follow Spot Caller is Thursday 12th August.” 

Directory Shoutouts! 

Part of our Directory and have a show/project coming up? Let us know so we can shout about it in the next mailout! In the meantime, check out the following shows featuring our wonderful Directory members:

• Joining our PHILIP ARDITTI and DAVID MUMENI in ITV Studios’ ‘No Return’ are Directory members ELIF KNIGHT and ATILLA AKINCI. Quadruple Directory shoutout- this show will definitely be one to watch!

• Talented SERENA MANTEGHI will be performing in award-winning one-woman play “Build A Rocket” by Chris York for Shedinburgh Festival on 9th August. Proceeds from ticket sales go to support future Edinburgh shows.

Tickets can be booked here: https://shedinburgh.com/build-a-rocket/

• A bit of a personal shoutout! I got to perform the brilliant ABI ZAKARIAN's audio piece ‘Old Dough’, commissioned by Future Theatre’s Podcast series, “Fully Amplified”. The piece was inspired by conversations I had with my mum, sister and grandma, and explores the power of memories, food and resilience in order to preserve culture and heritage in the face of Genocide and denial.

Check out our episode, “When Two Armenians meet” here:

https://www.futurestheatre.co.uk/fully-amplified-episode-3

We will soon be running a #MAUKSPOTLIGHT series on socials where we spotlight a Directory member every two weeks with links to their work/portfolio. Directory members, pleasure ensure your Directory profiles are fully up to date as this is where we will be pulling info from!

And that’s everything! For the new members, mailout is usually sent on a fortnightly basis. Please keep sharing and sending me any of your wonderful work or opportunities you want included in the next mailout to this email. Now more than ever lets keep circulating our brilliant stories; whether its past work, articles, videos, or something you think the membership may find interesting, please do drop me an email! Please continue to sign up to our directory, and share our community with your friends in the industry!

Have a great week,

Jessie x

MENA ARTS UK 

 If you can, please considering support us on our journey. No amount is too small, and please help us by sharing with your networks!  Link to donate: https://www.gofundme.com/f/mena-arts-uk?utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet

Our position on endorsement.

Our main areas of work is to help connect the creative industries with UK MENA+ talent, so we will always share castings, job opportunities, or marketing information. We will track these projects in the hope that they are a great example of how MENA+ talent is used. But by sharing this information, it should not be seen as an endorsement of the project.

We will call out work that is appropriating a MENA+ narrative and does not have MENA+ talent at the heart of the creative process; and we will always champion, front and centre, work that is made for and by MENA+ talent.

MENA ARTS UK