SPECIAL EVENTS
Outside of our seasons of work, we often programme events to explore current affairs, movements or ideas with organisations and artists that inspire us.
Keep an eye out on our What’s On page for one-off events, short series or residencies.
ART VS ARTIVISM
11 March | Warwick Arts Centre
When art sets out to make a social or environmental impact – are we ticking boxes or are we changing the world?
In February 2020 we were joined by theatre director and Dash Arts Associate Artist Sophie Austin, Dr Michele Aaron (Screening Rights Film Festival) and Co-founders of Birmingham-based collective MAIA Group, Amahra Spence and Amber Caldwell at Warwick Arts Centre, to delve into the challenges of activism through art, and look at the tension between art for art’s sake and art as a means to an end.
This event was also accompanied by music from Ukrainian singer-songwriter Iryna Muha, who you can listen to here
Listen to the podcast on our media page here
EARTHLY WISDOM
Part of CHANGE Festival
19 October | Warwick Arts Centre
This special Dash Café drew on traditional knowledge of our environment by bringing together a group of Indigenous activists and musicians from around the world. Sharing wisdom from the past, we explored how we can be better caretakers of our world through performance, music, storytelling and even video games.
Featuring Kurukindi, Sam Lee, Naulaq Le Drew, Benny Wenda of The Lani Singers, and José Navarro.
Kurikindi is an indigenous Kichwa Amazonian Shaman. He was born in the rainforests of Ecuador and into an ancient line of Shamanic Families. He has travelled afar and spent time with Shamans from other cultures and nationalities to learn and share knowledge and experiences.
Sam Lee is a Mercury Prize nominated folk singer, song collector, promoter, broadcaster, animateur, and naturalist. Sam traverses many worlds, challenging and pioneering folk music in diverse places and ways. His work expands beyond his two highly decorated albums to foster live music in the UK, where he has been instrumental in the explosion of folk in the last decade.
Naulaq Ledrew is an Inuk artist and elder working in traditional crafts, drumming, throat singing and seal skin sewing. She is also an activist that advocates for Indigenous culture and Inuit well-being.
Benny Wenda leads The Lani Singers, who play traditional West Papuan music. Their freedom songs sing of the deep suffering the West Papuan people endure under illegal Indonesian occupation, described as “Gently haunting [music]” by The Guardian.
José Navarro is a Quechuan artist working with traditional dances, music and puppetry, using shadow and marionette puppets to frame and reflect on current environmental issues. “Five minutes of bliss” (Origins Festival).
Co-curated by Border Crossings' Origins Festival
The Memory Safe
23 June 2019, 12-6pm | Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park E20 3BS - The Great Get Together
Images by UCL and Dash Arts team.
The Memory Safe took place at The Great Get Together, collecting and recording stories of the lost and found. Throughout the day, we had live music, storytelling, clay-making, shelves of objects to explore and roving microphones to record your own memories of things left behind. A playful, creative day for all the family developed with communities and participants from across the Olympic Park’s Five Boroughs and UCL .
‘Step into your new home. You’ll notice it’s not quite empty. There are objects everywhere. Objects that were, until very recently, someone else's entirely.
What did they leave for you?
What story will it tell?
What will you leave for the next to find?
…and will you leave it well’
Dash Café: Voices from the Dark
7 November 2018 | Rich Mix London
Voices From The Dark highlighted the power of arts in activism and brought information about the disappeared in Turkmenistan, and, specifically, the work of Batyr Berdyev, former minister of Foreign Affairs in Turkmenistan, political prisoner and poet to a broader audience. We launched the poetry collection Parting Song, published by Crude Accountability and written by Batyr Berdyev early in his prison term in 2002 and 2003 and smuggled out of prison. Originally written in Russian, the poems convey internal resistance, integrity of the soul, wisdom, love, and loneliness. The Café also featured Parting Song translator James Womack, human rights activist and Turkmenistan specialist Ivar Dale, and activist and film producer Elhum Shakerifar for an evening of poetry, live music, activism and conversation.
Supported by Open Society Foundation.
Freedom on the Tyne
29 October 2017 | Newcastle-Gateshead
Dash Arts is pleased to be an associate of Freedom on the Tyne/Freedom City 2017 - the flagship event of a year-long commeration of the visit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr to Newcastle and Gateshead in 1967. Founding Joint Artistic Director Tim Supple led the city-wide day of reflection, education, performance and celebration as thousands take to the streets in organised performances across the city culminating in a re-creation of Dr. King's historic march across the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma.
View the Gallery
Watch Tim Supple talking about Freedom on the Tyne