We’re pleased to confirm the line up for our pending Arts and Islam intervention at the National Arts Festival 2010 in Grahamstown, South Africa. The programme features a unique mix of seminars, panel discussions, workshops and performances featuring artists, academics and policy makers from both the UK and South Africa.
To whom this may concern:
Dear Islam and the Arts
I’m a writer for Cue newspaper; the official coverage of the Grahamstown National Arts Festival. I was exceedingly lucky to notice your company name printed on a free bag handed out to media staff and was curious about your production. No information in the programme and booking kit in the main, fringe or arena I contacted Ismail Mohammed, Director of the festival, who informed me that your application to join the festival was finalized after production of the booking kit . I am very excited about some of your productions, especially the Poetic Pilgrimage. Could you please send me a press release with more details about this show so I can start writing previews. This is a huge festival and right now no one is aware of the Islam and the Arts productions. I would also like to arrange interviews with Muneera Rashida and Sukina Abdul Noor on arrival in Grahamstown.
My phone number is : 0780923161
Email: joelondon_@hotmail.com
Please reply to me ASAP with the press release and arrival dates. Below is a story I wrote in today’s paper about your productions:
Arts and Islam
Exploring the relationship between artistic practice and religious beliefs in contemporary
By Yusuf Omar
Cue reporter
You won’t find Arts and Islam posters plastered around Grahamstown. You won’t read anything about it in the Festival Booking Kit. If you’ve got a very keen eye (or a magnifying glass), you may have spotted the logo on the bottom of the back of the white fabric bag that the Festival Booking Kit is packaged in. The complete lack of publicity for Arts and Islam does not trouble Festival Director Ismail Mohamed though. He expects audiences to find out about the seminars, panel discussions, workshops and performances by “word of mouthâ€.
According to Mohamed, Arts and Islam was included in the programme for the National Arts Festival 2010 after the Booking Kit had already been produced. Members of the United Kingdom Art Council approached Mohamed during his recent visit to Manchester, having been inspired by Spiritfest at the Festival last year. “When enthusiastic people come to us with a need for a platform, we say yes,†said Mohamed. But he believes it is not up to Festival organisers to generate publicity for events at the Festival. “Self-promotion is the answer,†Mahomed said. It is, however, difficult to imagine Arts and Islam self-promoting for this festival successfully when they are 5 700 miles away in the UK.
Using informed debate and creative interventions, Arts and Islam explores the relationship between artistic practice, policy and religious beliefs within the context of contemporary society. At the heart of the Arts and Islam vision is the need to promote and develop high-quality arts practice and to stimulate meaningful discourse and dialogue. The programme was launched in 2006 and has since delivered seminars, symposiums, arts workshops and film screenings in festivals across the UK, North America and Europe. The relationship between Islam and the arts is explored from an artistic perspective but also through a theological context.
The line-up they will bring to Grahamstown features a unique mix of seminars, panel discussions, workshops and performances by artists, academics and policy-makers from both the UK and South Africa. Poetic Pilgrimage is one such production breaking boundaries. Muneera Rashida and Sukina Abdul Noor are the unlikely members of an all-female Muslim hip-hop group, performing a genre of music that is growing in popularity internationally. Their fusion of African and Caribbean roots with inspiration from their musical tastes, such as jazz, afrobeat and soul, promises to drive home their message of peace, unity and freedom.
Reverend Andrew Hunter of the Grahamstown Cathedral is also due to deliver a talk about religious architecture in major cities as part of the programme, following the debates in Europe over minarets in major cities. For Mohamed, Hunter’s presence emphasises that it is not exclusively a Muslim event. “Using the Festival as a platform for conversation, Arts and Islam is about shared knowledge, experiences and challenging stereotypesâ€.
Arts and Islam starts at the Oatlands School Hall from Thursday June 24 at 12pm