Growing up in the 1980s and1990s and by virtue ofcoming from an immigrantbackground, I became

increasingly interested in mixing forsurvival; mixing ideas, cultures and artforms to create new hybrids, new ideasand ultimately a new kind of theatre.’Shabnam Shabazi, Project Director,Pan Intercultural Arts

Could we think of the story of theTower of Babel as marking thebeginnings of interculturalism? Whenwe started to speak many languagesas opposed to one. With differentlanguages come different cultures,traditions, etc. … But how do wecelebrate, interact and reconcile thesimilarities and differences under thesame banner of the Union flag?

The notion of interculturalism isabout the meeting place orcrossroads of different cultures. It isabout the ‘meeting point of cultures,and at meeting points, there is alwayssome sort of exchange’ (John Martin,The Intercultural PerformanceHandbook, Routledge).

However, sometimes this sort ofexchange needs to be encouragedand facilitated. Thereforeorganisations like Pan Intercultural

Arts (Pan Arts) fulfil a very necessaryrole. Pan Arts see the arts as the mosteffective tool for building bridges,celebrating and overcomingdifferences as well as seeking outsimilarities so often neglected.

Interculturalism in this instance isabout bringing different artists fromdifferent cultural backgrounds andwalks of life together to work withparticipants from a wide range ofcultures, facilitating self-expressionthrough themes, ideas, and visual andmusical motifs that are relevant totheir ever-morphing identities,influenced by a range of cultures andways other than the ones they areborn with.

We are also a little like sociologists,archaeologists and architects,investigating and constructing newways of working that give the voicelessa voice. We are very aware that inBritain a new generation is emerging. Itis a generation that is born here and isfamiliar with the interplay betweencultures and nationalities.

In the mainstream there have beenreports such as the McPhersonReport, and more recently thegovernment commissioned a reportby Runnymede Trust on the futureof multicultural Britain.

> CASE STUDY

There ain’t no Blackin the Union JackShabnam Shabazi on how intercultural artscan put the black into the Union Jack

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These reports have contributed to thedebates about Britain’s identity andits emerging redefinition as anintercultural society. We now have aBritish Citizenship Test which allimmigrants and children must abideby, triggering questions such as: whatdoes it mean to be British?

It is against the backdrop of thissocial and political climate that Thereain’t no Black in the Union Jack wasborn. This is a two-year project thatPan Arts has been running inassociation with Adfed, facilitating thevoices of young artists and youngpeople to be heard within theframework of this national debate. Itis an interdisciplinary, inter-artformproject that engages the skills ofperformers, digital artists, musiciansand writers to create pieces of workinvestigating notions of Britishness.

There ain’t no Black in the UnionJack at its heart supports culturaldevelopment awareness and throughits inclusive approach seeks toundermine the notion of survival ofthe fittest. The participants will own it,as they will define its content andshape its development frombeginning to end with support fromPan Arts, demystifying the creativeprocess through mentoring andapprenticeships.

The project is aimed at enablingyoung people to develop their skillsthrough a series of collaborativeworkshops while working alongsideexperienced professionals andthrough an inclusive process,eventually producing a film, a

publication and a live event (7–17 July 2008 at the HackneyEmpire Theatre, London).

The artists leading the sessions willbe from a wide range of cultural andartform backgrounds thereforecreating a diverse range of inter-artform and intercultural dialogue.

The main reason for puttingtogether such a diverse range ofartists is to create a ‘mix-up’ andencourage the blurring of artformsand artform boundaries, creating ‘newfusions’ and hybrid forms of theatre,which is what interculturalism offers.As the work created is varied andoften mixing form, this is reflected inthe audience it attracts.

There is even more of a need forintercultural work today. It is a littlelike the chicken-and-egg argument:how can we talk about communitieswithout audiences and vice versa? To nurture intercultural audiences, we have to develop intercultural work, commissioning and producingnew work, which in turn encouragesnew audiences.

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Shabnam ShabaziProject DirectorPan Intercultural Artse info@creativestatesinternational.com

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