A symposium and performance event, with Artist Protection Fund Fellows Silvanos Mudzvova, Farzane Zamen and Roua Alazzawi.
Hosted by the Artist Protection Fund (US) and the Drama Department, The University of Manchester (UK)
This half-day symposium and performance event will explore urgent issues of art, freedom and protection in times of global political turmoil. It will feature presentations from three artists awarded prestigious Artist Protection Fund (APF) Fellowships and currently being hosted in the UK - Zimbabwean playwright and activist Silvanos Mudzvova, in residence at the University of Manchester, Farzane Zamen, an Iranian musician, producer, singer and songwriter, currently in residency at CCA-Glasgow, and Iraqi filmmaker Roua Alazzawi, who recently completed her APF residence at Leeds Beckett University.
The symposium will bring together artists, arts-activists, students and arts researchers across the city of Manchester, and further afield, interested in issues surrounding art, freedom of expression, political repression and activism. The symposium will provide an opportunity to consider some pressing questions relating to art, activism and international hospitality, such as—How can artists making work in times/places of political tyranny and crisis be protected and nurtured? What practical, ethical and political issues need to be considered when hosting vulnerable artists, and what new approaches developed? How can host organisations, and arts ecosystems in host towns and cities, work with threatened artists so as to ensure their well-being and nurture their artistic practice? What positive contributions might be made by the work of artists living outside their home countries to the resilience of cultures of democracy in those sites?
The Artist Protection Fund (APF) at IIE makes life-saving fellowship grants to threatened artists and places them at host institutions and art centres in safe countries where they can continue their work and plan for their future. Sponsored by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and with the host-participation of arts institutions and organizations from around the world, the APF fills a critical unmet need by providing relief and safe-haven to artists for an extended period. Threatened artists from any field of artistic practice - such as choreographers, composers, filmmakers, interdisciplinary artists, musicians, performance and theater artists, traditional artists, visual artists, writers - may be eligible.
Programme
1.30pm Arrival – tea and coffee (Foyer)
2pm Welcome - Jenny Hughes (UoM) + Alison Russo (APF)
2.15pm Presentation of artistic work of the Fellows, followed by a Q&A. Chair - James Thompson
4pm Break – tea and coffee
4.30pm Panel on Art and Sanctuary. Respondents include Alison Russo (Director, Artist Protection Fund, David Few (Manchester City of Sanctuary), Katherine Rogers (Exodus Creative Producer, Community Arts Northwest) and Ruth Daniel (In Place of War). 5-10 minute presentations, followed by Q&A and responses. Chair - Alison Jeffers
5.30pm Close – with a performance of song
Refreshments
6.15-7.00 - Psychosis
A work-in-progress student showing of Psychosis, a new play by Silvanos Mudzvova, performed by Georgia Carney and Rebecca Hatch, and directed by Emily Oulton and Jessica Wiehler.
Further details
If you would like to attend this event, please email Jenny Hughes (jenny.hughes@manchester.ac.uk) to book your place. Please specify if you would like to stay for the performance.
