Arts Worldwide is an educational charity, founded in 1982 by its Artistic Director, Anne Hunt. Its mission is to promote understanding between people of different cultural backgrounds through the arts and education. It seeks to provide the general public with opportunities to see, hear and appreciate cultural traditions from beyond the Western classical heritage, while offering access and professional management to artists from abroad, many of whom have not performed outside of their homelands before. Its work has five main aspects:
Arts Worldwide Festivals
Arts Worldwide is an independent producer and presents festival programmes in collaboration with venues and institutions such as the South Bank Centre, The British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum and the Barbican.
Its festivals aim to raise the profile of rarely-seen artistic traditions from across the world, and usually focus on countries or cultures which have not been widely represented in the mainstream, despite the often large populations of these groups resident in the UK. Previous festivals have focused on the arts of Pakistan, Armenia, Kurdistan, the Horn of Africa, India's southern cultures, Yemen and, in 1999, Bangladesh.
Community Projects
The hallmark of Arts Worldwide's work is its working partnerships with the UK-based populations of the cultures it presents, who participate as advisors, artists and audiences. Extensive research and development work is carried out in advance of its festival projects, and community programmes are created as part of the main festival activities. For example, in 1999, Arts Worldwide set up a multimedia project 'Off the Streets' with 16-25 year old Bengalis in East London, examining their lives, identities, religion and family-life through photography and video. Community-run events were presented in Birmingham, Cardiff, Sheffield and Liverpool as part of the Yemen Festival.
Educational Projects
Arts Worldwide's artists work in schools and arts centres throughout the UK. Zimbabwean-based a cappella group Black Umfolosi, who have worked with Arts Worldwide for nine years, frequently hold schools residencies. Plans are being developed for schools projects in 2000 in North London as part of the organisation's festival in 2000.
Arts and Regeneration
Arts Worldwide receives funding from the Single Regeneration Budget and European Social Fund to provide business advice, support and capacity building opportunities to Bengali arts organisations in East London. In addition the organisation is employing and training four Bangladeshis from Tower Hamlets as Modern Apprentices in an NVQ Level 3.
As the communities Arts Worldwide works with are often located in areas of poverty and deprivation targeted by Government- and European-funded regeneration programmes, Arts Worldwide's work can often add to improving quality of life in these neighbourhoods. It is currently planning its Millennium Festival 'Feet First' in partnership with the Finsbury Park SRB Round Five bid (to be announced July 1999). The project will involve local communities in a participatory multicultural dance festival and a capacity building and audience development programme for local venues and arts organisations in the area.
Touring
Arts Worldwide's Touring Department has a roster of artists from Africa and Asia that perform in festivals and arts venues all around the world. Since it was founded in 1982, it has presented over 80 groups of artists from 50 countries, many making their European debut.
Funders
The organisation is funded by the London Arts Board and London Borough Grants, and regularly receives funding from the Arts Council of England, Visiting Arts (British Council), the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and many London local authorities.
For more information email artsworldwide@dial.pipex.com or check out the links.
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