Sangam Festival: A Celebration of South Asian Heritage will take place during South Asian Heritage Month (18 July-17 August) in venues and outdoor sites across Kirklees, supported by online activities. The festival will celebrate South Asian heritage, arts and culture, bringing them to wider audiences and enhancing community cohesion. It will engage with under-represented groups, providing inclusive opportunities to enjoy and celebrate heritage and culture. The festival programme will be a mix of family events, participatory community projects, talks, walks/trails, workshops and exhibitions, supported by arts programming such as Qawwali music, traditional Indian and Bollywood dance, traditional folk drumming, Sufi poetry, Mughal art and talks/workshops with contemporary writers/poets. The funding will contribute towards the structural set up, fencing, stage and PA system, traffic management, toilets and event management plan.

What we'll deliver:

• Activities for children and families
• Guided walks and trails around historic local areas
• Music e.g. Bollywood Brass Band, Classical Qawalli, Drum & Dhol
• Performance poetry from local South Asian poets
• Exhibitions e.g. Mughal miniatures, WWI service personnel from SA
• Talks and discussions e.g. Textiles in Kirklees, Gandhi & Jinnah
• Bollywood dance performance and workshops
• Book-related events, e.g. Crime Fiction panel with SA authors

Why it's a great idea:

Sangam Festival will be an exciting and positive focus for the local community in Huddersfield and across Kirklees after a challenging year. The impact of the Covid outbreak on the local South Asian community has been substantial, from health/wellbeing to the cancellation of important cultural/religious celebrations. This project will: • promote community cohesion • showcase and celebrate the richness of South Asian heritage and culture in the local area and wider region • increase mental wellbeing for participants from engagement with the arts and reduce isolation by providing opportunities for people to come together in shared activity • provide a much-needed boost to the local economy • offer vital new commissions for freelance artists and heritage organisers

Steps to get it done:

• Booking artists/performers/guides etc
• Producing a programme of events and activities
• Holding a launch event at the start of the Festival

Kirklees has a large South Asian population and we believe that Communities Together is ideally placed to deliver excellent artistic content and engage with a traditionally hard-to-reach community. Our sister company Radio Sangam is the most followed South Asian community radio station in the UK, with high-quality cultural programming in Urdu, Punjabi, Sylheti, Arabic, Gujarati as well as English. We are passionate about running this project in order to achieve the aims outlined above. Our organisation has extensive event management experience and strong partnerships with regional arts and cultural organisations that will spread the message to a wider audience.