Dash Arts Podcast

How can the arts help us to encounter others? In December 2024, we were part of a fantastic live discussion at the RSA (Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) discussing how the arts can unlock unheard voices. This podcast brings you some highlights from the event with some extra insights and updates from our Dash Arts Artistic Director Josephine Burton. Hosted by Tom Stratton (Chief of Staff at RSA), our Artistic Director and Chief Executive Josephine Burton was joined on stage by Alan Finlayson (Professor of Political & Social Theory, University of East Anglia), Alecky Blythe (Playwright), and Dawid Konotey-Ahulu (co-founder of Redington, Mallowstreet, and 10,000 Interns). Sue Agyakwa whom we met in a speech-making workshop in Newham earlier in 2024, also, kindly, shared her speech live. Josephine and Alan shared what they've learnt from their 18 month long speech making workshop programme across the country that will culminate in Dash Arts’ 'state of the nation' theatre production, Our Public House, in 2026. Our Public House is funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Arts Council England, The Thistle Trust, Three Monkies Trust, and individual giving. You can watch the full event by visiting the RSA’s website [https://www.thersa.org/events/2024/12/unlocking-civic-voice#:~:text=Unlocking%20civic%20voice,-Public%20talks&text=Join%20us%20in%20the%20Great,and%20shape%20their%20shared%20future.] or their YouTube Channel [https://youtu.be/uTjjWbPSuNg]. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

“All good art is an attempt to wrestle with truth” In the fourth episode on the journey towards our production, The Reckoning [https://www.dasharts.org.uk/thereckoning], Dash’s Artistic Director, Josephine Burton is in conversation with Author and Playwright Gillian Slovo discussing the power of theatre and the responsibilities involved in bringing real people’s stories to the stage. As Dash Arts prepares to produce a theatre production rooted in the testimonies of survivors of the war in Ukraine, Josephine searches for insights into how to create powerful drama whilst doing justice to the people who have lent their stories. Gillian shares her experiences of listening to the survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 and looking after their words as she crafted the verbatim drama, Grenfell: In the Words of Survivors for the National Theatre.  Support this year’s Big Give: Help Bring The Reckoning to Life and Double Your Impact! Help Dash Arts bring Reckoning to life, a powerful documentary-style production based on Ukrainian testimonies. Premiering in 2025 and marking three years of war, Reckoning will spark vital conversations on the impact of war and possibility of restorative justice. Your donation will be doubled during the Big Give Christmas Challenge which is live from Tuesday 3 to Tuesday 10 December. Please help us reach our £5,000 goal! Follow this link for more information and to donate from 3 December Reckoning - a new, groundbreaking work of theatre [https://donate.biggive.org/campaign/a056900002TPWT8AAP?c=76677] If you haven’t already, you can hear the other episodes of this podcast mini-series on The Reckoning where we explore our process towards production, speaking to author and journalist Peter Pomerantsev on why he shared the testimonies with Dash as well as hear from Rory Finnin, Professor of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Cambridge. In the podcast, we hear from: Josephine Burton - Artistic Director, Dash Arts  Gillian Slovo - Author and Playwright Our intro music is Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi Thank you to Jonathan Levy and Gabrielle Rifkind for hosting our live conversation. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

In the third episode on the journey towards our production, The Reckoning [https://www.dasharts.org.uk/thereckoning], Dash’s Artistic Director, Josephine Burton is in conversation with Rory Finnin, Professor of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Cambridge. Interspersed by some short performances from the developing script, the two discuss the creative process behind the making of the production, rooted in testimonies taken from survivors from the Russian war in Ukraine.  Support this year’s Big Give: Help Bring Reckoning to Life and Double Your Impact! Help Dash Arts bring The Reckoning to life, a powerful documentary-style production based on Ukrainian testimonies. Premiering in 2025 and marking three years of war, The Reckoning will spark vital conversations on the impact of war and possibility of restorative justice. Your donation will be doubled during the Big Give Christmas Challenge which is live from Tuesday 3 to Tuesday 10 December. Please help us reach our £5,000 goal! Follow this link for more information and to donate from 3 December The Reckoning - a new, groundbreaking work of theatre [https://donate.biggive.org/campaign/a056900002TPWT8AAP?c=76677] If you haven’t already, you can hear episodes one and two from this podcast mini-series on The Reckoning where we explore the beginnings of the piece and later speak to author and journalist Peter Pomerantsev on why he shared the testimonies with Dash. Thank you to our partners and funders Cambridge Festival, Cambridge Junction, the Ukrainian Studies Department at the University of Cambridge, Open Society Foundations, the Fritt Ord Foundation, Goethe-Institut in Exile, Goethe-Institut in London and individual giving. In the podcast, we hear from: Josephine Burton - Artistic Director, Dash Arts  Rory Finnin - Professor of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Cambridge Sam Kyslyi - Performer Mark Quartley - Performer Underscore and sound design by Anton Baibakov Our intro music is Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

More than half the world's population is voting in elections this year. Dash Arts dives into one of those elections, speaking to artists in Georgia about how they are responding to the political turmoil in their country. The ruling party, Georgian Dream, is fighting for an unprecedented fourth term at the end of October 2024 and continues to be accused of silencing free speech, taking control of arts and culture and using fear to intimidate any criticism. As part of Dash Arts’ exploration into protest and the public voice, Josephine Burton speaks to three Georgian artist activists who are uniting artists from across the sector, shouting for democracy and pushing for change. In this episode you will hear from: Josephine Burton - Artistic Director, Dash Arts Thomas De Waal - Journalist, author & specialist in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus region Ana Riaboshenko - Artist & one of the Initiators of Culture for Democracy Paata Tsikolia - Theatre Director and Playwright Levan Mindiashvilii - Artist Thanks to Mariam Uberi and musician Aleksandre Kharanauli. Hear his work on Spotify. To hear more podcasts on protest, art and activism by visiting the Dash website [https://www.dasharts.org.uk/podcast-1/protest-songs-the-internationale]. Levani’s art - https://levanm.com/ [https://levanm.com/]  More information (in Georgian) on Culture for Democracy: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556194792093 [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556194792093]  ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

“I’ve long nurtured a dream to get out and finally explore what it was about the forests and seas of Laulasmaa, ‘the land of song’, in Estonia that inspired Arvo Pärt and so many musicians.” Join Dash’s Artistic Director, Josephine Burton as she travels to the Arvo Pärt Centre [https://www.arvopart.ee/en/] in Laulasmaa, Estonia to investigate the mystical musical relationship between nature and the people of Estonia From the Arvo Pärt Centre Josephine wanders the forest, swims in the sea and explores Helikula, ‘the village of sound’, where musicians from the Union of Composers were given summer houses during Soviet Times. We started collaborating in October 2020 during the pandemic with a widely celebrated online event with the Arvo Pärt Centre combining a pre-recorded concert and a conversation with musicians Andres Kaljuste, Sophia Rahman and Arvo’s son Michael Pärt. You can hear this previous episode here [https://open.spotify.com/episode/7pN6oLyNmgxVEqjNjZW8Dg?si=6b55f44d33964353]. For more on the trip you can read Josephine’s blog and see more photographs of the incredible Estonian landscape on the Dash Arts website [https://www.dasharts.org.uk/blog/arvo-prts-inspiration-discovering-the-magic-of-estonias-forests-and-sounds]. In the podcast, we hear from: Josephine Burton - Artistic Director, Dash Arts  Michael Pärt - Music Editor and Chairman of the Arvo Pärt Centre Sophia Rahman - Pianist Andres Kaljuste - Violinist Rein Lang - Former Minister of Culture of Estonia Liisa Hirsch - Composer  Kristina Norman - Artist Title music by Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi Compositions by Arvo Pärt played by Sophia Rahman and Andres Kaljuste: Fratres  Für Alina Spiegel im Spiegel With thanks to the Estonian Ministry of Culture and Estonian Cultural Counsellor in London for enabling Josephine’s trip.  Artwork: A PHOTO JOSEPHINE’S TRIP Reference to the previous episode (Jan 2021) - https://open.spotify.com/episode/7pN6oLyNmgxVEqjNjZW8Dg?si=34666bcd1c984ba6 [https://open.spotify.com/episode/7pN6oLyNmgxVEqjNjZW8Dg?si=34666bcd1c984ba6]  Blog link - https://www.dasharts.org.uk/blog/arvo-prts-inspiration-discovering-the-magic-of-estonias-forests-and-sounds [https://www.dasharts.org.uk/blog/arvo-prts-inspiration-discovering-the-magic-of-estonias-forests-and-sounds] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.