Welcome to the last ever Kala Sangam Blog! Next month we will be going quiet across our socials to prepare for our launch of Bradford Arts Centre. We will be back in August, with our final round of Archive Adventure videos, as well as some exciting announcements.

Make sure to sign up to our mailing list to be the first to see all these exciting changes.

So for the final time, check out what Kala Sangam have been up to this month!

Capital Update

The finishing touches are starting to be applied throughout St Peter’s House, with most of the plastering now complete on the top two floors and painting underway! If you’ve passed the building in the last few weeks you will have seen our brand-new front doors that are now installed – the builders are now hard at work creating the new steps that will lead up to them. Inside, the transformation continues, with a brand-new ceiling installed on the Second Floor and the structure for the theatre tech box now complete. Not long now until we get to show you all around!

Last Kala Sangam Performance

Thursday 17th July | 7:30pm | Loading Bay 1 Duke St, Bradford BD1 3QR | Pay What You Decide

Join Us for the Final Kala Sangam Performance… Come Rest in Chaos

As we look ahead to returning to St Peter’s House, we will officially become Bradford Arts Centre in August… but before then, please join us for one final Kala Sangam performance – Shivaangee Agrawal’s Come Rest In Chaos.

Shivaangee is one of an exciting new generation of South Asian dancers and choreographers working in the UK today – combining Indian Classical dance with contemporary styles to create work that is both modern and firmly rooted in tradition. We are very excited to be bringing her work to Bradford just as we grow into a new organisation that is maintaining and celebrating its South Asian roots. 

You can book your tickets here.

Upcoming Workshop

Monday 14th July | 11:30am – 1:00pm | Kala Sangam, 1 Bank Street, BD1 1RD | Free

For our upcoming performance of Come Rest In Chaos, Shivaangee is running a free workshop!

Shivaangee is a dancer, maker and researcher with an experimental practice that orbits sound-making, collective composition and creative technology. Their choreographic approach foregrounds folk dance influences; Shivaangee is interested in relational and social virtuosity rather than more conventional forms of spectacle.

To sign up or for more information, click here.

Board Recruitment

Could you be our new Chair of the Board of Trustees?

As we prepare to open Bradford Arts Centre to the public this autumn, we are seeking an exceptional individual to Chair our Board of Trustees. Following in the footsteps of Jasbir Athwal DL, who has stepped down after 6 pivotal years as Chair, we are looking for someone brilliant to lead the our Board at one of the most exciting points in the company’s history, as we welcome the world back into our building as part of Bradford’s year as UK City of Culture.

Find out more and download the recruitment pack here.

What Have Our Staff Been Up To

This month Fay has been attending puppy classes with her dog Ted in which he has been learning a lot including waiting at gates and food manners. Fay and Ted have also attended a golden retriever playdate and been on lots of lovely walks.

Jess opened up her solo exhibition ‘Between Mind+Motion’ at Fountain Street Arts Project in Thornton. It was an amazing preview night filled with amazing people, great tunes and even cake! She was joined by artists, friends, family and even some Kala Sangam colleagues. And, after months of planning, it was finally Thornton Art Trail in June, so she spent two days in her pop up studio painting a 5 foot canvas and helping passers by with a community canvas. Over 100 people made their mark on the canvas, which is now on display at her exhibition!

Alex Corwin had a lovely week in Northumberland enjoying lots of walking on empty beaches, going to the pub and eating delicious seafood. She also took a boat trip around the Farne Islands – sadly there was no sign of the orcas and dolphins that have been spotted recently but there were lots of puffins and seals instead.

Claire has had a busy month in June starting off with a long weekend in Scarborough with her family, filled with amazing sunshine and topped off by seeing a pod of dolphins swimming in the bay! She also had a 1940s afternoon tea with her best friend at the National Coal Mining Museum, saw Milwaukee Festival Brass in concert and enjoyed a social evening with her friends from Slaithwaite Band. On top of this she enjoyed seeing and meeting Larry Lamb, Nisha Katona and Grace Dent at Bradford Literature Festival.

Archive Adventures

Can you believe we only have 6 more Archive Adventure videos left! This project has been running since the start of February, and its been great to be able to explore the Kala Sangam archive. So many pieces of history have been found, and we have been able to chat to some of our favourite people. This month, we chatted to Helen Linsell, Artistic Director of Dance United Yorkshire, Zareena Bano, an artist who we have worked with for many years, and we even got chance to sit down and chat to our very own Dr Geetha Upadhyaya about her favourite memory from Kala Sangam, meeting the Queen.

You can find our Archive Adventure videos here.

Arts and Heritage Update

All of the Keighley Arts and Heritage groups have been super busy this month! One In A Million have begun planning for their final piece, an installation replicating their minibus, filled with artwork that tells the story of the young people at One In A Million. We have also begun our new project with Parkwood Primary School and Lisa Holmes from Photo Hub North, called ‘The Secret Life of Parkwood’. 12 pupils from the school went into the woods to explore the green space and start to make their own trail and folklore stories. And the Eid Mini Mela at East Riddlesden Hall was a huge success, welcoming over 1000 visitors on the day! Visitors enjoyed the Arts and Heritage community exhibition with artwork from Highfield Community Association’s groups, and a brilliant workshop led by artist Zareena Bano, making various Eid decors. 

Over at Kala Sangam, WomenZone and u3a are making great progress creating their final artistic pieces for Bradford Arts Centre, reflecting their heritages and the stories which are important to them. WomenZone are working on pieces of calligraphy art with Razwan Ul-Haq and u3a are creating mixed media pieces which reflect Bradford with Nikta Mohamadi and Nicola Storr. Roma Voices have been working on their performance techniques with Zoe Katsilerou, thinking about how they can express themselves through body language and tone, as well as words. They have also been thinking more about their heritage by creating a map focusing on journeys; both those of their ancestors and their own personal journeys to Bradford, and the journeys they would like to make and the places they would like to visit.