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"GRASSROOTS"
– A Carnival of Initiatives uses songs, dance and acting to dramatise
the achievements of black and ethnic trailblazers. As the show opens young
people from various ethnicities are portrayed complaining that
predominately white communities have a disproportionate share of the world’s
resources. The Stranger Who Takes a Long View enters and announces a
secret weapon with which they can work to right this wrong. Carnivals and
art and song are vital when life seems hard and you feel depressed, he
says, so let us have a carnival to celebrate initiatives of black and
ethnic communities down the ages – and follow their examples.
Together they celebrate initiators who include:-
- Former soldiers from the Mozambiquen Civil War who became artists,
cutting guns into fragments and welding them into sculptures such as
The Throne of Weapons and The Tree of Life.
- Ecuadoreans who wanted a water supply and campaigned from their town
council right through to Wall Street, and won.
- Wangaraii Maathai who despite injury and imprisonment led women in
planting 20 million trees through East Africa.
- Equiano, who survived slavery to become a widely published author,
and to campaign widely against slavery.
- Ken Saro-Wiwa who led Nigerians to protest against environmental
damage caused by oil companies, and faced his death saying: "If
we work together we can make this a better world".
- Mary Seacole, who despite being snubbed by Florence Nightingale’s
cohorts brought such comfort and healing to British troops in the
Crimean War that on her return to London there were vast celebrations
organised by soldiers and generals in her honour.
- Desmond Tutu who helped defeat apartheid using peaceful means, then
chaired the Truth Commission.
- Beryl Gilroy, London’s first Black Headteacher, who initiated
reading materials in primary schools suitable for children from ethnic
or working class homes, as distinct from the "Janet and
John" books.
- Lord David Pitt, first Black Chair of the BMA, who fought against
discrimination, and whose surgery at Euston was firebombed.
Musical
Flying Squad are the outreach team of Jellicoe-Neville Performing Arts,
who are assisted by Camden Central Partnership in a project
"Performing Arts for Community Cohesion". Their 2004 production "Travellers’
Tales" - How
the World Came to Camden,
toured twenty schools.
Bookings
AGE RANGE:
Three versions: Lower Primary (lasts 30 minutes), Upper Primary (lasts 40
minutes), Secondary (lasts 40 minutes).
GET IN: 30 minutes before show. GET OUT: 15 minutes after
show.
COST: Negotiable.
TO BOOK: Contact Rob Inglis tel: 020-7387 4942;
Email: artsXchange@btinterbnet.com
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