For information.
Gurminder

Begin forwarded message:

> 
> Them and Us Through the Looking Glass: Race, Arts and Politics
> 
> Thursday September 18th 2014, 7-9pm
> 
> New Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies @ The Drum, 144 Potters Lane, Birmingham, B6 4UU
> 
>  *   What does it mean to be a BME artist?
>  *   How does the title affect your work and visibility as an artist, practitioner or thinker?
>  *   What does it really mean when wider institutions used 'BME' as a frame of reference?
>  *   What can we do to negotiate it- and other such terms that confine us to single narratives and tick boxes exercises-to ensure the fluidity, nuances and textures of our practices are reflected in these cultural and artistic domains?
>  *   Is the process of abstraction a useful tool in liquidating the racial markers used to define the sociological body when trying to penetrate the cultural and artistic spheres that exclude us?
> 
> Them and Us Through the Looking Glass, aims to investigate these provocations through an exploration of visuals, discussion and participatory exercises to uncover how diaspora artists from Black and Asian backgrounds really feel about inclusion in Birmingham Arts and Cultural institutions and community.
> 
> This seminar is being organised by Janine Francois and Stella Odunlami, creative practitioners from London, who are co-collaborators /creators of Re-Introducing Oshun an interdisciplinary and multi-venue project that explored black women and their bodies through the Yoruba Orisha 'Oshun.' The duo are keen to develop work in Birmingham and would like to use this as an opportunity to emerge themselves in the diaspora creative community. For more on Re-introducing Oshun, see here: http://reintroducingoshun.tumblr.com/
> 
> Admission is free and all are welcome to attend and join in the discussion. For more info visit: http://ncccs.wordpress.com/2014/09/05/them-and-us-through-the-looking-glass-race-arts-and-politics/
> 
> There will also be a Steering Group Meeting at 6pm before the event.
> 
> 
> 
> Dr Kehinde Andrews
> Senior Lecturer in WCYPF & Criminology
> Newman University
> Genners Lane, Bartley Green
> Birmingham B32 3NT
> (+44) 121 476 1181 ext. 2602
> 
> Author of NEW BOOK: Resisting Racism: Race, Inequality and the Black Supplementary School Movement
> http://www.amazon.co.uk/Resisting-Racism-inequality-supplementary-movement/dp/1858565154
>