A major festival celebrating and promoting the enthralling culture of India comes to Leicester this June.
From 23 – 29 June 2014, the festival will take over Leicester’s Cultural Quarter with its most extensive and varied offering yet, with a programme encompassing film, food, theatre, music, dance, art, comedy, international collaboration, education and enlightenment.
Festival director and co founder Bipin Anand said, "Last year over 8,000 people attended. The vibe was fantastic and everyone said that the festival was so different from anything they had ever experienced in Leicester. This year it’s going to be bigger and better.”
Gurdeep Sian – Creative Director added, “We want An Indian Summer to challenge preconceptions about India, Indian culture and what it means to be Indian in Britain today.
Year on year we see the festival attract new partnerships and develop interesting and meaningful collaborations. Come and engage with AIS2014 and help us build your festival.”
The Festival is delivered by Inspirate, a Leicester based organisation set up to inspire, educate and challenge people through ‘creativity’.
Highlights for An Indian Summer 2014 include:
● Music Concert at Athena
Following last year’s sell out comedy show headlined by Paul Chowdhry, AIS 2014's headline show will be Desi Circus, with an international musical line up, as well as performances from local up and coming UK talent. The show will take place at the festival's grand new venue, Athena in Leicester's Cultural Quarter.
● Tabla with a Difference: Black Ink
The fourth year of Tabla with a Difference introduces the return of Mayur Narveker aka Bandish Projekt and the new addition of Hiren Chate, both from Mumbai. This will be a four way collaboration between AIS Festival, Derby Quad, Nottingham New Arts Exchange and Phoenix Cinema. Mayur and Hiren will be connected via the web on a cinema screen, playing tabla with Robin Sukhadia in Los Angeles. The ninety minute performance will be interspersed with Kathak dancers and on screen interactive animations.
● Mumbai Streets and Bazaar
AIS 2014 will see all the outdoor areas connected for the first time, to recreate the hustle and bustle of the streets of India, with a food bazaar where people can sample a variety of Indian foods and enjoy the multitude of market stalls. The streets will be brought to life by actors of all ages playing roles to transport festival goers straight to the streets of Mumbai.
● Orton Square
This year, Orton Square, outside Curve Theatre, will be hosting a variety of AIS classics as well as many new showcases, such as Open Air Yoga, Punjabi Martial Arts Demonstrations, live music, dance, short plays, laughter yoga, a Holi re-enactment (prepare to get colourful!) and much more.
● Digital Arts of India
Phoenix Digital Art Gallery will host work by leading digital artists from India, this is a part of their National Portfolio Organisation project. Additionally, building on the success of Digital Kite Flying, An Indian Summer is again collaborating with technologists to make a brand new digital toy presenting the history of recorded music. Come, play, listen, sing and dance.
● Series of talks
From a film panel talk with a well known celebrity to controversial subject matters such as the negative impacts of M. K. Gandhi, there will be over eight topics covered during the festival.
An Indian Summer: ‘A Journey to the Heart of India’ takes place from 23-29 June 2014 in the Cultural Quarter, Leicester.
For further information see:
www.indiansummer.org.uk
www.facebook.com/AISfestival
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