The next FAN Conversation event will be held at 10am on Monday 7th February and will focus on the work arts venues and cinema have done to back up their anti-racism pledges following the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.
Join BFI FAN in its continuing series of discussions designed to create and respond to the need for exchange amongst film exhibitors across the UK.
Referring to the Dismantling Structural Inequality in Your Cinema guide as a framework, FAN Conversations will dig into some of the stickier questions around anti-racist practice since many statements and policies were published following the resurgence of Black Lives Matter in 2020.
Of those organisations willing to inhabit change, where has their journey taken them and is there tangible progress? Of those looking to change, what is holding them back and how are they overcoming those challenges? As systemic barriers continue to inflict oppression, how will we radically alter these broken models to accelerate change?
The session will be chaired by:
Umulkhayr Mohamed
Umulkhayr Mohamed (Artist, writer, curator, and consultant)
A Welsh Somali artist, writer, curator, and consultant, Umullkahayr has in the past few years been designing and facilitating training connected to dismantling systemic oppression, with a specific focus on racial inequity, and addressing the impacts of this inequity in the arts and cultural sectors across the United Kingdom. Umulkhayr holds/has held several positions where she consults on a strategic level regarding widening engagement through addressing structural inequalities. These positions include being an Arts Associate at Arts Council Wales, as well as a part of BFI FAN’s D&I Advisory Group and BFI FAN’s Young Consultants Group. She also has been a facilitator for Black Abolitionist UK, a UK based reading group that helps introduce Black people to concepts of Police and Prisons abolition as well as processes that seek to replace punitive justice systems within a UK context.
Panelists will include:
Isra Al Kassi (T A P E Collective Co-Founder)
Isra Al Kassi
Isra is the co-founder of T A P E Collective and currently works on a freelance basis with Shasha Movies, Habibi Collective and BIFA. Isra has a background in community spaces and event programming and through her work with T A P E works with alternative spaces and independent cinemas on festivals and touring programmes.
Tony Bhajam (Inclusion Producer, Watershed)
Tony Bhajam
Tony is an Inclusion Producer at Watershed, working on the Bristol+Bath Creative R+D programme to support more inclusive practices across the region’s creative sector. Tony has worked in community engagement for almost ten years, particularly advocating for young people through arts and technology. He has also worked within creative research, building spaces for conversation and the sharing of ideas through play. Through this work, he has built projects which ask big questions about the purpose of our civic institutions.
Róise Goan
Róise Goan (Artistic Director, Artsadmin, London)
Prior to her appointment in late 2019 Róise worked as Guest Dramaturg at Vooruit in Belgium, and as a freelance arts programmer in Ireland. Under the banner of The Local Group, she created performance projects with artists and communities of place and interest in off-the-grid locations.
Artsadmin creates conditions for art to explore the spaces in-between. Their work and projects explore the areas between social and environmental justice, the hyper-local and international.
Róise studied Drama and Theatre Studies at Trinity College Dublin graduating in 2004. In 2008, she was appointed as Director of Dublin Fringe Festival, which she led for 5 years, and where she established Fringe Lab, a year-round studio and artist-support programme. Highlights of her freelance career include working with Prime Cut in Belfast on artist development, and two ECOC bids including Three Sisters 2020. Alongside her work in the performing arts, she has written for television, most notably the TG4 series Aifric.
Seonaid Daly
Seonaid Daly
Currently Executive Director at Glasgow Film with a variety of responsibilities including driving forward the development of a new Anti-Racism and Equalities Strategy. Seonaid previously held the role of Festival Producer at Glasgow Film Festival from 2008 – 2013 before leaving to become the Director of SCAN (Scottish Contemporary Art Network) and then spending 18 months as Head of Partnerships at The Prince’s Trust Scotland.
Join us for a discussion leading to action.
Following the webinar, there will be a workshop for those who wish to carry on the conversation and tackle some of these questions together.
Sign up for the next FAN Conversation here
Watch the previous FAN Conversations here.
