From Keighley to Karachi – Bradford Literature Festival programme to help women thrive in the arts

Producers of the Future: From Keighley to Karachi is aimed at tackling an under-representation of South Asian women in the creative sector and particularly within positions of leadership.

The digital talent programme was aimed at giving 10 women producers of Pakistani heritage from across the Bradford district and in Pakistan the tools to develop successful creative careers.

Such schemes are essential in opening up access and opportunities to create a “thriving” sector, festival director Syima Aslam said, with the arts essential to the “richness” of life.

“We do have a wealth of talent in Bradford and across West Yorkshire, ” Ms Aslam said. “What we need is to develop that talent pipeline so people are coming through. It’s about making sure that people are aware of the opportunities. It’s about creating these opportunities so this talent can actually flourish.”

Ms Aslam, director of the festival since its 2014 launch, has been hailed a ‘glass-ceiling-smashing’ female leader alongside partner director of the Adab Festival in Karachi, Ameena Saiyid.

The collaboration between the two festivals over the past six months has seen the 10 women provided with tools for success, from workshops to seminars and mentorship, resulting in a digital project to produce a series of online conversations and events.

Catalyst was an earlier project, dubbed Takeover and funded by grants from the Esmee Fairbairn foundation, which invited Year 12 students to pitch and run events.

This new scheme, funded by the British Council Digital Collaboration Fund, saw the 10 women curate and produce a digital literature festival programme centred around topics such as grief and loss, memory of place, and breaking musical boundaries.

Talent

Now, with the result published through five new short films, the ambition is not just to equip future leaders with skills but to focus on emerging talent.

Ms Aslam said: “To me, there are two types of success. There’s the end event – which is brilliant. Then there’s the learning, that journey and participation.

“Bringing these women together was so enriching for both sides. What’s lovely, at the end of it, is when someone says ‘I can do this’.

“When the festival started it was about ensuring that emerging artists that might not get a platform, got a platform. I was really struck by how much we need a talent pipeline.”

Women of Pakistani heritage are “vastly” under-represented in creative industries both in Britain and in Pakistan, particularly in leadership, curatorial and managerial roles.

Creativity

Key to addressing this is awareness of potential paths, from producers to writers, stage managers to accountants, with the festival aimed at “demystifying” the creative sector.

“If someone had ever said to me I would one day run a literature festival I would have asked what that was,” said Ms Aslam.

“To have a really brilliant creative sector we need representation from everybody – it’s that rich mix that creates a vibrant creative sector which brings such value to our county’s economy.

“We need to be nurturing that from an early age.”

Click here to watch the series of films now. ________________________________________________________________________

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