Created in Birmingham

sampad turn 20 this year and have just published their brochure with details of how they’ll be celebrating.

The Sampad Story is an exhibition that will open on 1 May at the mac and run through to 30 August. It’ll be accompanied by a book edited by Tasawar Bashir. From the blurb:

Come and find out how from humble beginnings from its home at mac, sampan has transformed an annual festival into a year round programme. From large scale productions to intimate poetry sessions and participatory activities, sampan has been instrumental in developing and showcasing a wealth of south asian arts from the UK and abroad

They’re also doing some performances as part of IDFB – Utopia, Thresh Dance Company: The Absent Lover and a Kathak Duet – showcasing Urban Jungli at The Drum and there’s the sampad Arts Mela on Sunday 25 July.

There’s loads more too, so here’s the brochure:

I saw Mother India: 21st Century Remix in 2008 and it was honestly one of the best things I saw that year. It’s been off on tour since but will be back in Birmingham on Sunday (11 April) to crown Mother India weekend – a bunch of events happening at the Town Hall and Symphony Hall.

This version of Mother India is:

A reinterpretation of the 1957 Indian cinema classic as a 45 minute silent movie with new musical score will be performed live by DJ Tigerstyle, drummer David Shaw and cellist Matt Constantine with Josh Ford as visual editor.

MI21 is a compact, powerful and sensual take on Mehboob Khan’s Hindi masterpiece – a hugely important film in South Asian cinema, known for its iconic imagery and powerful storyline: the common shorthand is to reference it as India’s ‘Gone with the wind’.

Definitely go and see it. Here – here’s the link to get tickets.

Other things happening as part of the weekend:

• Fri 9 April Arun Ghosh Sextet (Symphony Hall foyer bars)
• Fri 9 April – Pandit Shivkumar Sharma (Mother India Weekend) (Town Hall)
• Sat 10 April – Mid-day Mantra – Sanchita Pal (Symphony Hall foyer bars)
• Sat 10 April – Amaan & Ayaan Ali Khan (Mother India Weekend) (Town Hall)

The first is in association with Birmingham Jazz, the others with sampad and, in some cases, The Drum.

The Mid-day Mantra thing sounds quite good – a variant on the Rush Hour Blues series, I guess. That’ll be happening once a month from now on and will be a freebie.

On 1 May 2010, mac will open its doors again and there’s a bunch of stuff going on to mark the occasion.

There’s a celebratory gig featuring Misty’s Big Adventure, Vijay Kishore, and Kevin Dempsey and Joe Broughton, there’s Motionhouse’s outdoor dance spectacular Cascade, The City Sings, featuring the new anthem for the mac by Helen Ottaway, and a host of other things to take part in.

But the fun stuff doesn’t stop there. Once mac is open, there’ll be a steady stream of events and interesting goings on to keep you going back to Cannon Hill Park for more.

On the performance side of things, there’s Motionhouse’s multimedia dance Scattered, comedian Daniel Kitson’s 66a Church Road,  “return” by spoken-word artist Polarbear. In the visual arts and events spectrum there’s a discussion on the invention of the balti, an exhibition charting the history of sampad, and a debate on social media and globalisation.

And don’t forget there’s a programme of events for families, learning opportunities and the cinema.

For full listings and updates, be sure to check the mac website here.

sampad are running Journeys – a writing competition with entries closing on 31 January 2010.

You can write in any style – short story, poetry, reportage – using the theme of Journeys as a starting point. Use your imagination to evoke memories, sensations, your feelings about a journey you have made – in your dreams or in real life – voyage of self discovery, back to your roots.

There are two categories; the best writer aged 8 to 15 will receive £200 and there’s £300 for the best writer in the 16 and over category. Both will be published in a book.

More info and the entry form on sampad’s website.

The mac is slated to re-open in Autumn 2009 when a joint mac/sampad building project will be completed. Artists are being involved in the building work:

we have shortlisted nine artists to produce design proposals for pieces that will reflect the many interests and aspects of our arts programmes and audiences. Works may be integrated into the fabric of the building, stand-alone, functional and interactive

Louisa Davies, the Arts Programmes Manager is looking for feedback on the proposed projects on the dedicated mac Artists website. Comments will be collected regularly and published on the site with responses.