Hello friends,
We hope you are keeping well! Thank you so much to all who attended our second Arab British Centre lunchtime hangout with the wonderful Abi Zakarian and myself on 19th February. For those asking, you can find Abi on Instagram and Twitter at @abi_zakarian. In case you missed it, you can now catch up here!
Sharing Conversation and Opportunities
- Our next ABC lunchtime hangout is this Friday 5th March at 1pm. Join our very own Laura Hanna as she will be chatting with one of our fantastic members, Amir El- Masry. Amir is an award winning British-Egyptian actor. Born in Cairo, raised in London, he made his screen debut in Ramadan Mabrouk Abu El Alamein Hamouda where he won Best Young Actor at the Egyptian Oscars. He has more recently been named a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit and earned a Best Actor nomination for his lead performance in the critically acclaimed new feature film, Limbo. Book your free place here!
- One of our wonderful members, Nina Milns' play “DELETE” was longlisted for the Papatango award and has been adapted into an audio play for Wireless Theatre. You can listen HERE, and then listen to Nina being interviewed by Jameela Jamil as they discuss the play and ‘The New Age of Consent’:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bj79fq
- The Royal Society of Literature is seeking recommendations on who should be elected as RSL Fellows. See below:
“Which UK writers would you like to see elected RSL Fellows? We are currently seeking recommendations of excellent writers from communities that have been under-represented in UK literary culture. The RSL believes that literature is at its best when it includes voices from the greatest breadth of backgrounds and experiences, in all literary forms, from across the UK. Recommend a writer on our website. They have to have published two outstanding works of literary merit or equivalent material and be a Citizen of or resident in the UK. You can submit as many recommendations as you wish to for RSL Open by Saturday 1 May.”
Visit the RSL's website here for more information and to recommend a writer.
- Film studio Grey Moth are offering funding of up to £5000 for artists to develop films:
“£5,000 funding is available. You can apply for it in part, or all of it. You can apply to use the funding for development costs, production costs and /or completion costs of your film. We’ll consider any type of film; documentary, drama, fashion, animation, artist film, series pilot... whatever it is you want to make. In addition, we’ll consider applicants that can benefit from our mentorship, labour, resources and equipment as contributions in kind.”
Deadline 15th March. Details: https://grey-moth.com/originals/
- AirDrop is an artist residency designed for lockdown and beyond, designed to support under-represented moving image artists based in England. They are offering free access to residency equipment to be dropped at your door and used for your proposed projects. More info: http://www.satellitefilms.org/air-drop-info
- A callout from Part of the Main Theatre Company:
“Calling all theatre makers! Part of the Main have returned with their sell out online workshop series ‘Part of the Grid’. From dramaturgy to sound design, marketing to tour booking, new musicals to adaptations this is the perfect way to up-skill and refresh your creative energy this March. From just £12, you can SAVE 10% with code EARLYBIRD10 (valid before 5th March). Free spaces available for black artists.
Book now: bit.ly/partofthegrid”
Two of the workshops (Building a Career as a Theatre Director and Exploring Your Cultural Heritage Onstage) are being run by our very own Sepy Baghaei, so be sure to check them out!
“We are very excited to announce our 2021 reACT Programme Online Open Call, supported by Arts Council England. The reACT programme has been established to promote and support emerging and student artists whose work is dedicated to or inspired by the Middle East / Arab World by providing a space for an artistic intervention. Our current Open Call invites UK based & International students and emerging artists 30 and under to apply for an online artist residency. This online residency will provide selected artists with a valuable opportunity to showcase their artwork on our P21 Gallery website for a period of one month as well as to host supplemental events around their online exhibition. Successful applicants will be eligible to receive: a financial artist stipend, curatorial support, marketing support and more!”
Deadline for submissions is 15 March. For more details and to apply: https://p21.gallery/react/open-call-online-react-project
- For early career designers, Kiln Theatre are looking for a Resident Assistant Designer to assist on all Kiln productions and work across their creative engagement programme with communities, young people and schools. Deadline 22nd March. Info: https://kilntheatre.com/our-story/jobs/
- Wac Arts are offering small commissions to support development of creative ideas relating to recovery and/or social distancing. They aim to support creative ideas that celebrate our lives and serve to connect communities through the arts. Up to £2000 available per project. Deadline 16th March. More info here.
And that’s everything! For the new members, mailout is 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
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.
Our position on world events.
Our focus is on bringing artists from the MENA+ region together, celebrating what connects us, spotlighting our achievements, and lobbying for change when it comes to representation in the British live and recorded arts industry. As such, while we fully support each individual’s right to their own political or artistic beliefs, we will not take a position on political events coming out of the MENA+ region.
