Sampad celebrated South Asian Heritage month in July, delivering exciting events to a wide variety of people. Inspired by the theme, ‘Unity in Diversity,’ we curated a varied programme, spanning public-facing events, community wellbeing, corporate partnership work and learning.
We delivered workshops in a number of health settings, including Moseley Hall Hospital, Midlands Metropolitan University Hospital and Black Country Health Care NHS Trust. From lantern making with Benny Semp to a Bharatanatyam dance workshop with Jaya Khazaei, we engaged with over 150 medical professionals to support their health and wellbeing.
Sampad hosted a number of public facing works, including Chai and Chat: Women in Leadership, where Anita Bhalla OBE, Professor Hanifa Shah OBE Surwat Sohail and Dr Niti Pall discussed the challenges facing women today. Midday Mantra welcomed Tommy Khosla and friends for a Sun Raga. Tommy is redefining the boundaries of global fusion as a contemporary sitarist, composer and leader of multi-disciplinary collective JAWARI and 85 audience members were engrossed by the performance. We also hosted one of our Migration Stories Walking Tours, where participants learned about the migratory heritage of the Stratford Road in Birmingham.
As part of our corporate partnership work, we led a staff talk with Hippo, a digital services partner that ensures technology works intuitively for people and intelligently behind the scenes. This was an engaging and lively discussion which brought diversity in the workplace to the forefront of the organisation.
Sampad Associate Schools worked with King Edward VI Northfield School for Girls on their ArtsFest dance assemblies, leading a number of sessions with 124 students. One student commented “I really liked learning the different styles of Indian dancing, and how the moves can show stories.” That was the last of our learning work as the Sampad Associate Schools team take a well deserved Summer break. They’ll be back in September.
In total, Sampad engaged with over 500 people in July, providing people across the region with accessible, high quality and engaging South Asian arts and Heritage. Although South Asian Heritage Month may be over, Sampad work all year round. Discover what’s coming up here.
