A brand new festival is coming to Kirklees this summer to celebrate everything about the South Asian community. Communities Together, a Huddersfield based social enterprise, secured funding for the event from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants to run from 18th July to 17th of August.
The Sangam Festival: A Celebration of South Asian Heritage will include heritage, arts and cultural events including talks and tails detailing the rich history of mill workers in the area. It will include family histories, art, photography exhibitions, film screenings, dance and musical performance as well as classical Qawalli inspired by Sufi poetry.
Communities Together’s sister festival ‘Radio Sangam’, will promote the event. Broadcasting 24 hours a day in Urdu, Punjabi, Sylheti, Arabic, Gujarati and English, it’s the largest south Asian community station in the country.
Organisers see this as an opportunity to bring the local community together for a host of activities providing a platform for artists and arts organisations. Events will follow strict government guidelines, with Covid safety as the number one priority, and some activities will be held online.
“We are delighted to have been awarded this funding to support the delivery of Sangam Festival, thanks to National Lottery players, and we’re grateful to the Heritage Fund and Arts Council England for the support,” said Qaisar Mahmood, CEO of Communities Together and Radio Sangam. “We have an exciting programme planned and look forward to engaging with people across the whole of Kirklees to celebrate all that is positive about South Asian heritage, arts and culture.”
To find out more about the work of Communities Together, visit www.communitiestogether.co.uk
