Arts La’Olam announce an inspirational cultural programme in the time of social distancing

#betweenspaces

Arts La’Olam are excited to announce the start of a programme of free events, commissions and participatory online workshops that bring families and people of all ages together in a spirit of creative celebration, addressing social isolation and creating legacy artworks that commemorate these curious and crucial times.

Thanks to a generous grant from Arts Council England the Arts La’Olam mission to bring global arts and music into community settings is repositioning to the digital environment. Eight dedicated projects with artists, working in new and innovative ways, are bringing the life-enhancing energy of the arts into our homes.

#betweenspaces seeks to close the gaps we may be feeling acutely right now and honour the potential for creativity in our reduced surroundings.

Helen McDonald’s Telephone Jazz Singalong

Acclaimed singer, storyteller and leading vocalist with the riotous Hi-life ensemble Yaaba Funk, Helen McDonald draws from the American Songbook to sing jazz standards and classic torch songs that inspire memories and nostalgia which our elders can access by phone at any time. Helen is making her number available to those at home or in care homes who yearn for a rendition of the rugged sensuality of Lady Day’s God Bless the Child or the vocal acrobatics of Ella Fitzgerald’s epic scat strewn How High the Moon, taking requests and singing along with participants. Promoted in partnership with veteran senior citizen entertainers Duckie’s Posh Club the Telephone Jazz Singalong offers a joyous interlude from the daily void that social distancing can bring.

Details: 22nd June to 11th September 2020, call 01473 561 027 Mondays to Thursdays 2pm-5pm

Hannah Aria’s Everyday Household Art Workshops

Hannah Aria is a neuro-divergent artist with a strong ethical grounding, dedicated to encouraging those living with disabilities to tap into their unique creative superpowers. Artist in residence at Quay Place, Ipswich where she delivers well-being art classes for Suffolk Mind, Hannah has devised a series of 30 minute interactive online workshops to be delivered on Friday afternoons at 1.30pm to support mental health service users and those struggling with lockdown. Workshops are designed to be fun and inclusive, inspiring people to make art using simple objects around the home. Ultimately, the ambition is to display the artworks in an exhibition at Quay Place, Ipswich in March 2021, where participants stories and lived experiences of lockdown can unfold. No artistic talent or experience is required, this is great chance to have fun, create and connect.

Details: 12th June 2020 Online Art Workshops

Mind Festival presented in partnership with Suffolk Pride

The Mind Festival, in it’s first year, is an online festival with a formidable line-up of 35 artists, DJ’s and therapists referencing highly personal stories of addiction, recovery and achieving mindfulness through talks, counselling sessions and the release of hip-hop, garage, funk, soul and reggae sets. Raising funds for a number of regional mental health and substance misuse charities, the Mind Festival celebrates the LGBTQ+ community empowering conversations around identity, diversity, equality and social change. Curated by DJ Samira Elhenaway and featuring sets from Jay Funk, live streams from Shutdown FM, fitness sessions with Warrior Woman, this is a festival switching up conventional perceptions of what recreational fun looks like, connecting with others, and encouraging an alcohol and drug free lifestyle.

Details: 3rd & 4th July here

Video link music workshops with Fiston Lusambo

Guitarist, arranger, producer and founder of Congolese dance band, The Zong Zing All Stars, Fiston Lusambo is a technically gifted musician with years of experience that has seen him perform with the amazing Afriquoi and alongside Grace Jones, Sting and Mose Fan Fan. A master of Cavacha, the Central African high adrenaline dance music characterised by intricate guitar picking, driving percussion and tight three part harmonies calling out dance steps, Fiston embodies the evolving traditions of Congolese rumba alongside the likes of Kanda Bongo Man and Papa Wemba. As the parent of a grown-up son living with a learning disability, Fiston possesses a unique understanding of highly accessible teaching techniques appropriate to communicating methodologies and mastering chord progressions. This series of workshops to be delivered online through video conferencing platform will encourage people of all ages living with disabilities to develop their musical skills and confidence both individually and with their families.

Details: Tuesdays at 5pm on Zoom, 7th July to 29th September, book your places

Kaddish: Ana Silvera song commission feat. Sefo Kanuteh

Arts La’Olam is honoured to invest in the commission of a Covid 19 legacy work inviting International singer songwriter Ana Silvera to draw from her Sephardic Jewish heritage and as a source of inspiration meditate on the Mourner’s Kaddish; creating a song for mourners in our time. Ana’s ethereal brand of alt-folk has seen her perform at countless festivals and major venues including SXSW, the Roundhouse, Iceland Airwaves and Copenhagen Jazz Festival on the back of her two critically acclaimed albums, The Aviary and Oracles. Ana’s sensuous and haunting vocals coupled with a unique lyrical delicacy makes her the perfect custodian of an important project that gives a voice to the bereaved and a space to grieve. Featuring master Kora player, and composer in his own right, Sefo Kanuteh from Gambia, thematically and collaboratively, it is a work that seeks to achieve true global resonance.

Details: Available 4th November, anasilvera.com/kaddish

Anna Mudeka & The African Choir of Norfolk: Moving Online

Zimbabwean Norfolk-based singer, songwriter, dancer, musician and all-round polymath, Anna Mudeka, has been commissioned by Hostry Festival to lead the African Choir of Norfolk. Inviting people of African heritage from across the county to lend their vocal talents and showcase the rich cultural heritage of the 54 nations that make up the continent through a diverse repertoire curated by artistic director, Anna. The African Choir of Norfolk’s inaugural performance has been scheduled at the next Hostry Festival in Norwich Cathedral. Not to be defeated by lockdown, Arts Council England and Arts La'Olam have enabled rehearsals to be transferred online empowering members to unleash their full choral force in perfect harmonisation in time for the festival launch and a follow up performance at the Norfolk Arts Awards.

Details: Saturdays between 6th June and 17th October, The African Choir of Norfolk

Mariachi Las Adelitas: In Solidarity Music Video

Mariachi Las Adelitas are a 7-piece Mariachi band from London. Named after the brave Adelitas who took up arms to support their husbands and sons during the Mexican Revolution, they were formed in 2013 in a spirit of challenging stereotypes about this traditionally male dominated genre. They are the only all-female Mariachi band in Europe, gifted musicians and vocalists who have slain audiences on Univision and Telemundo TV channels as well as appeared alongside Grammy award winning Mariachi Divas at Los Angeles 2018 Women’s Mariachi Festival. In customary style, their songs speak of love, death, revolution and family; rich in parables for our current times and being distanced from our loved ones. With the mission of continuing to play together and reach audiences, Las Adelitas will produce a music video, gigging in the context of their respective homes surrounded by children, pets and the domestic backdrop of lockdown, but of course, dressed in their Mariachi finery.

Details: Available 24th October on Mariachi Las Adelitas, launching at The 7th Annual International Mariachi Women's Festival :

https://www.stellartickets.com/events/mariachi-womens-foundation/mariachi-reyna-de-los-angeles-and-mariachi-divas-de-cindy-shea

Pre-save the single on Spotify : https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/mariachilasadelitasuk/el-toro-relajo

Tim Germain Bench Project

Co-produced with support from the Munnings Art Museum and Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Beauty, designer and craftsman Tim Germain and community arts project facilitator Daisy Lees, will work with East Bergholt Equality and Diversity Committee and Munnings Art Museum Advocates in two art consultation workshops inviting participants to inspire the design of a healing bench as we recover from these unprecedented times. Addressing themes of connectivity to others, self-expression, home and nature, 20 people drawn from local volunteer, parish, children and young people’s groups and the museum’s creative network will feed their thoughts and ideas into creating a palliative artwork. The bench will be made from storm-felled oak from Ipswich parks, and installed in the grounds of the Munnings Art Museum by Spring 2021 to provide a place for contemplation, inspiration and wellbeing for generations to come.

Details: From late June, Bench Project

For more information on the #betweenspaces programme or to get involved email Daisy Lees on daisy@la-olam.com or call 07990802776

For press enquiries please email Elma Glasgow on hello@elmaglasgowconsulting.com or call 07738004670