Co-Director & Co-Curator Site Gallery, Sheffield 2018
An review of socially engaged arts practise in the UK and beyond.
Over two-days, artists from around the country came together to share their practice, showcase work and explore what it means to be making art through social engagement right now.
Artists, activists, community groups, curators, students, academics, funders and sectors working in the social realm are invited to join the conversation through a series of events at Site Gallery and other venues around the city. Through building a network, showcasing practice and expanding dialogue the Summit will develop agency in the field of art and social practice and test the ground for launching a Social Art Biennale in 2020.
International guests included Black Quantum Futurism and Interference Archive.
Lotos Collective, Ltd. September 2006 to June 2011. Artistic Director
Live Art & Immersive Theatre Company. London, UK
Lotos is a live performance and event company that works towards the creation of hermetic worlds in their scenographic practice, the delivery of a ‘total experience’ by immersing audiences in the themes and aesthetics of a work. Lotos develops projects of time-based performance media, including theatre, live-art, film, video, and spatial design.
Works include the performance-installations, Homebound in a residential site in East London, Prometheus Bound at ActArt4, The Last Ortolan at Nolia’s Gallery; the theatre productions of Tumor Foderato d’Infanzia in Palermo, Drabina Jacuba in Krakow – Poland, El Tiempo Indómito in Santiago de Chile, and Rag and Bone in Salzburg – Austria, as well as the short films Seki Lala and Missing.
Creative Director and producer of over 20 socially engaged productions – responsibility for also programming and commissioning new work and managing budgets and contracting staff and technical team. Raised the profile of the organisation through establishing an effective communication and audience development strategy and marketing campaign
Led on developing and implementing a new Learning and Participation Strategy for the Strategies for Teach Arts in Residency (STAR) programme, including a new national focus and delivery plan. Set objectives and milestones and identified internal and external resources needed to successfully deliver on the new strategy.
Rich Mix is a dynamic arts centre, charity and creative hub in the heart of east London. The programme covers live music, spoken word, theatre, dance, talks and visual art in performance and exhibition spaces as well as a multi-screen cinema showcasing independent films and blockbusters. The creative engagement programmes aim to develop and facilitate the creative potential of young people, families, children and wide-ranging communities from across East London. During this period, Rich Mix underwent a significant period of change that saw the launch of a new building and business plan. I administered the technical development and needs as well as managing the touring exhibition Brick Lane that represented work created by South Asian artists from the area. This was showcased at Lille 3000 Festival of the Arts and helped establish the organisation as a centre of excellence for local arts and culture.
Managed and administered the technical development and needs of a large-scale arts venue based in East London.
Production Managed the touring exhibition Brick Lane, representing work created by South Asian artists from London’s East End at Lille 3000 the festival of the arts as part of the Lille, France city of culture.
Led and supported the organisation through a significant change programme including the launch of a new building and shaping a new business plan to drive income generation from the building and establish ourselves as a centre of excellence for local arts and culture in the East End of London.
Exhibition Design and Install Brick Lane Exhibition Lille 3000, France European City of Culture 2006
A Brick Lane exhibition that celebrated Asian life in London’s East end.
For the Lille3000 Festival, London’s Rich Mix Cultural Centre commissioned Lotos Collective to design and produce a visual arts exhibit entitled Brick Lane. It was created on site at the former warehouse Maison Folie in Lille, France as part of the second Lille3000 Biennale –Bombaysers de Lille.
Representing a selection of South Asian artists, the exhibit was the keystone of one of Europe’s largest arts festivals and was visited by over 33,000 people.
Following its success abroad, Lotos Collective redesigned the exhibition for view at Rich Mix’s London base in the East End.
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The Secret Garden,
Lower East Side, New York City
Between 2001 to 2005, ALAS designed and developed a community green and cultural space through community collaboration in an abandoned lot in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, supported by the NYC Parks Department.
