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Worcester Mela – ‘The Melting Pot’ Project Funding Success!

 


Worcester Mela has been successful in bidding for Arts Council Funding and has been awarded £48,000 of National Lottery Arts council Funding to deliver their ‘Melting Pot project’.

The Melting Pot’ continues the Worcester Mela journey, where their hugely successful award winning ‘Worcester Voices’ documentary left off.  It will highlight and explore the role of South Asian migrant settlers in the success of the City through an Industrial Heritage Lens.  It aims to bring to life real stories from workplaces of the great industrial factories of Worcester, including Lea and Perrins, Metal Box, Metal Castings & The Royal Porcelain.

The project will span 18 months with a series of interactive workshops aiming to engage the workforce who worked in those factories and their families. A test piece on the Worcester Mela –Stage on August 13th at the Worcester Show at Pitchcroft will whet your appetite. The final multi-disciplinary performance will take place at Worcester Mela’s first annual Festival in September 2024, where the city will be taken on a magical interactive tour of these stories across venues in the city.

The final multi-disciplinary performance will take place at Worcester Mela’s first annual stand-alone Festival in September 2024, where the city will be taken on a magical interactive tour of these stories bringing a feast of colour culture and creativity to unite the city.

Worcester Mela Chair, Jabba Riaz said “We are extremely proud and humbled by the news that the contributions of the Arts council, The Elmley Foundation, The Bransford Trust, Worcester City Council , Worcestershire County Council , The University of Worcester, Worcestershire Ambassadors, have supported our project financially, it gives a huge vote of confidence and acknowledges the great strides we have made as a  small, dedicated team of volunteers.  We’re also grateful to Severn Arts for their support over the last 4 years and are delighted they will continue to support us as we move forward in this project, we look forward to working with the cities communities again to co-create our project!”

Vice Chair Anjali Fowler, who is the lead on the Bid said: 

‘It's very exciting to be able to tell the hidden stories of South Asian migrant communities in Worcester, and work with them to create a performance that I am certain will inspire and delight audiences. The city has a rich and varied history that we can explore further. We have a great team of supporters that surround Mela, that are a huge part of our success.  I am grateful for their passion and enthusiasm and can't wait to see what we uncover as part of this ground-breaking project. "

 


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