International Newcastle has a new cultural partner based in India, called The Creative Arts Academy. We are at the very beginning of exploring links and the potential to collaborate and would very much like to involve cultural, education and youth partners as this develops and help broker links and connections for cultural organisations and the children and young people they work with.
There is an immediate opportunity for creatives and children and young people to get involved in the Dramebaazi International Arts Festival for the Young, including giving presentations or performances, running workshops, speaking in discussion fora and also for young people to get involved in internships or volunteering as part of the Festival.
Opening up opportunities for collaboration
The city of Newcastle has an international relations plan called ‘Our Newcastle Our World‘, led by International Newcastle. Our current priority is to work collaboratively with local, national and international partners to develop opportunities and access for children and young people (0-30) to become confident, global citizens. This involves three interconnected strands of work:
- Connecting Internationally – brokering links to opportunities to connect with other countries
- Newcastle City of Languages – promoting and celebrating languages and language learning
- Internationalism in the City – celebrating and raising awareness of our diverse language and cultural communities
Links with India’s The Creative Arts Academy
Ramanjit Kaur, theatre and film artist and founder of The Creative Arts Academy, reached out to us through our work with British Council, to begin exploring a collaboration to open up opportunities for creative practitioners and organisations and children and young people in Newcastle to engage with partners in India.
The Creative Arts Academy is a 19 year old Arts organisation based in India, working towards Arts awareness, training, in-depth engagement and exploring different forms among Children and Adults. They aim “to improve the proficiency of children, young people and women through skill development, creation of original works, community events, festivals and collaborations with the arts community across the world.”
Their own collaboration within India reaches from Mumbai to Kolkata and across a number of Indian states.
We are delighted to be working with Ramanjit and the incredible team behind The Creative Arts Academy and the Dramebaazi Festival. We hope to build our relationship over time and help facilitate and promote new collaborations and opportunities for cultural and creative practitioners, children and young people from Newcastle and those in India.
Declan Baharini, Director, International Newcastle
Dramebaazi-International Arts Festival for the Young
Dramebaazi conceived in 2018, is one of a kind Children’s Festival focusing on process based work to involve the youth community globally as curators, organisers and leaders to emphasise the prospects of Arts and Arts leadership.
Dramebaazi 2020 was virtual, due to the pandemic. It was well received around the world and involved young people from seven countries, who actively participated in 28 events andworkshops in the festival. It enriched the experience of working as a community, by reaching out to more than 50,000 audience members, all over the world. The Creative Arts Academy collaborated with 20 international organisations, including The British Council in the UK.
Opportunities to get involved in Dramebaazi 2021
The theme for ‘Dramebaazi – International Arts Festival for the Young’ 2021 is ACE – Accept Change Express. The Festival will be held Online on 23rd, 24th and 25th July, 2021.
As connectors of the global arts community, The Creative Arts Academy is inviting children and young people and cultural practitioners and organisations from Newcastle to participate in Festival forums, discussions, events, performances and workshops. There is also an opportunity for them to intern/volunteer for ideating, curating, organising and managing at the Festival. This will open doors for young people to engage and network with young people from other cities and countries and enable them to get hands-on-experience in creating, connecting and sharing ideas as a global citizen in the Arts community.
If you are interested in getting involved: Contact The Creative Arts Academy team at thecreativearts02@gmail.com to discuss all or any of the following opportunities:
- Presentation/Performance – We invite Children and Young people to present or perform at the festival.
Duration: 30-40 mins performance followed by post discussion or max. 1 hr performance.
Age group: Children – 5 years onwards and Youth-18-25 years - Workshops – We invite Arts practitioners from various disciplines, to facilitate workshops for children and/or young adults.
Duration: 1 hour
Age group: 5 years onwards and/or 18-25 years - Virtual Discussion Forum for the Youth – We invite Young Speakers to participate in virtual discussion forums (topics to be confirmed w/c 5 July) along with other young people from India and the rest of the world. The aim is to explore and exchange ideas related to our theme ‘ACE Accept Change Express’.
Duration: 1 hour
Age group: 18 years and above - Internship/Volunteering – We welcome the Young People for internship/volunteering during the Festival for ideating, management and coordination.
Duration: 2 weeks (12th to 25th of July)
Age group: 18 years and above
International Newcastle has shared this information widely across cultural and youth organisations in the City and encourage people to contact Ramanjit and the team directly to find out more.