Inclusion Boost
Routes to Roots
A South Asian Heritage project
Scroll down to view our 1960s Croydon documentary, which launched on the 1st August 2024. Alternatively, you can use the link – HERE
We were delighted to share the work developed in our creative arts workshops 2024 in a series of events:
19 June : 3PM – Migration Matters Festival, Sheffield
27 June : 6PM – Womenzone, Bradford ( women only event)
30 June: 4pm Stanley Arts, Croydon
11 July: King Ecbert School, Sheffield.
Our Routes to Roots exhibition has now closed at Stanley Arts.
Introduction to the project
Bringing together Heritage, Community and Arts partners, local participants and artist/facilitators, ROUTES TO ROOTS is working with South Asian communities in Bradford, Sheffield and Croydon over 3 years.
We use a multi-arts approach to capture, archive and preserve authentic stories that reveal the diversity of UK South Asian Heritage and challenge assumptions and stereotypes surrounding these communities in the UK.
The project involves a series of creative arts workshops led by local artists/practitioners through which participants explore their heritage. The workshops culminate in a presentation at Migration Matters Festival where all three groups come together for a workshop and to perform their work. This is followed by performance events in their home cities. The work created by the community groups will then form an exhibition that will take place in one city per year.
ROUTES TO ROOTS is inspired by and uses Maya’s new musical in development, Benny and the Greycats, and its themes, as stimulus. “Benny” tells the story of a family of Anglo-Indian railway workers who swap playing in a swing band in South India, for a new life in 1960s Sheffield.
See our videos
Click on the play buttons to view each video
See our videos
Click on the play buttons to view each video
Womenzone
Performance
In association with Womenzone and Kala Sangam, and led by Aamta Waheed and Sharena Lee Satti, the group presented DEAR GIRL, which showcased visual art, embroidery and poetry, inspired by the themes of Mothers and Daughters.
Routes to Roots: 1960s Croydon Documentary
Handsworth
Grange Performance
In association with Handsworth Grange Community Sports College and led by Nisha Lall and Ethel Maqeda, a group of students aged 11-15 presented WHAT MAKES ME, a selection of monologues, films and visual art collages.
Croydon
Group Performance
In association with Stanley Arts, led by Janet Steel, and Rez Kabir, with filming by Natalie Sloan. Members of the South Asian and Anglo-Indian community in Croydon presented 60s BINGO NIGHT, a collection of stories, memories and monologues.
Routes to Roots: 1960s Croydon Documentary
Launching 1st August at 9:00 am.
An Anglo-Indian Journey
Watch our new video, the An Anglo-Indian Journey
Oral History:
Members of the Anglo-Indian and South Asian communities in Croydon, Bradford and Sheffield were interviewed as part of our project. These oral histories have been transformed into podcasts.
Partners and Participants
Bradford: Womenzone, Kala Sangam, West Yorkshire Archives Services, Bradford.
Participants: 15-20 South Asian women attending Womenzone
Sheffield: Handsworth Grange School, Migration Matters Festival and Dig Where You Stand ( a partnership between Sheffield City Archives and the University of Sheffield’s Centre for Equity & Inclusion).
Participants: 15+ students aged 11-14 from South Asian and Global Majority backgrounds
2024 partner – King Ecgberts School
Croydon: Stanley Arts, Museum of Croydon and Croydon Archives
Participants: 15-20 members of Anglo-Indian and South Asian Community aged 60-87+
The Project Aims to:-
- Increase access to heritage for South Asian and global majority groups traditionally underrepresented, as producers and consumers of heritage.
- Create a safe space to reflect on themes of migration, cultural identity, heritage, home, family, colonialism and its impact.
- Develop participant’s creative and archive skills (e.g. storytelling, performance, poetry, collage, painting and embroidery) to produce their own heritage products.
- Support mental health and wellbeing through delivering activities that combat social isolation and promote inclusion.
- Amplify stories of migration/South Asian heritage for South Asian and wider public audiences, through performances and exhibitions of the creative and heritage material.
- Leave a digital legacy (film, audio, photographic) of the histories of South Asian people in Britain for the next generation in local archives, contributing to placemaking in Croydon, Bradford and Sheffield.
Tuesday 20th June
Migration Matters Festival sharing event for all groups
Thursday 22nd June
Sharing event at Kala Sangam for Bradford group
Tuesday 27th June
Sharing event at Handsworth Grange Community College for Sheffield group
Sunday 16th July
Sharing event at Stanley Arts for Croydon group
Tuesday 8th August
Sharing event at WomenZone for Bradford group
August 2023
Launch of Routes to Roots webpage, to celebrate South Asian Heritage Month
March 2024
Exhibition at Museum of Croydon
Routes to Roots is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we will be able to address key Heritage Lottery outcomes:
- A wider range of people will be involved in heritage
- Heritage will be identified and better explained
- People will have learned about heritage leading to change in ideas and actions
- People will have greater wellbeing
- People will have developed skills
Photographers/Videographers:
Gemma Thorpe
Keyhan Modaress
Hector David Rodríguez Manchego
Filmmaker:
Natalie Sloan – Little Red Hen Films