17 projects and over 100 creative individuals featured.
Transforming Narratives has released, today, a short film showcasing and celebrating the projects, artists and organisations commissioned through the Digital Collaborations Programme. The film takes viewers into studios, villages and outdoor spaces as far afield as Lahore, Dhaka and Birmingham.
The Digital Collaborations Programme was developed in order to allow the Transforming Narratives programme to continue to support artists throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. £75,000 was allocated to initiate new online collaborations which saw seventeen projects connecting more than 100 individuals and groups in Birmingham, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
The projects include film, music, dance, spoken word, crafts, visual arts, podcasts, photography and debates and the showcase film brings together all these projects. The film celebrates the creative work and connections that were developed and maintained in spite of the restrictions and limitations brought about through the pandemic.
Sophina Jagot, Transforming Narratives Project Director said: “The pandemic brought huge challenges and we were very aware that it was a really difficult time for artists and creatives in Birmingham, Bangladesh and Pakistan and we really wanted to spread a bit of hope and provide a space for expression.
“These projects resulted in such incredible work, we wanted to create something long-lasting with this film – something which shows what can be done. I hope these digital projects are the beginning of new collaborations which can be realised in a much bigger way going forwards.”
Birmingham-based Amrit Singh has created the film which features each of the seventeen projects, including his own project CollaborArtists which was commissioned as part of the Digital Collaborations programme and brought together artists from Birmingham, Bangladesh and Pakistan to create a single artwork.
Talking about the film Amrit Singh said: “You can’t tell the entire story of each project but it’s highlighting each one so the viewer can see who was involved and what they were doing and they can then go and view them in more detail on the Transforming Narratives website.”
Amrit went on to highlight how as an artist, his commission through the Transforming Narratives Digital Collaborations programme was a new direction, he said: “I’ve always wanted to do a collaborative project and the idea of working with artists across the world was a real opportunity, I have never done it before. It was a real learning curve and a massive experimentation to see what would happen.
“For me, the two words which sum up this project are opportunity and triumph. The biggest thing I have learnt is that the world is very small now, there is no reason we can’t commission artists from around the world. I think before this we always thought it would be too difficult to do that.”
