Waswasa Filming in XR-Film set
It’s not often we see expressions of Muslim prayer filmed cinematically in an Extended Reality (XR) wrap-around digital screen – the type used in the Mandalorian series. Thanks to Guidhall School of Music & Drama, we have exclusive access to film parts of ‘Waswasa’ with this extraordinary technology. We place our performers in imaginary worlds,…
Waswasa – An Immersive Show (PR)
PRESS RELEASE Unique multi-disciplinary theatrical experience from awarding winning Birmingham artist Mohammed Ali – Waswasa his biggest production to-date Cutting edge and authentic exploration of Islamic Faith Part of Birmingham 2022 Festival of the Commonwealth Games At the Birmingham Hippodrome, 25 August- 03 September 2022 CELEBRATING CREATIVITY IN BIRMINGHAM AS PART OF…
Quiet Rebels – Dervish Productions
Stories of white working-class women who crossed the colour line to marry men of the Windrush generation. Julie McNamara and Hassan Mahamdallie’s extensive research gives voice to the stories of these unsung women, who faced hostility, battled discrimination and showed courage in the face of racism, class and gender prejudice and, who lay the foundations…
The Value of Art – supported by Amal
Soul City Arts delivered the regular Soul Fire Sundays where visual artists were hosted to paint along with food being served. We created this series of films where we ask them all the same question: ‘What is the value of art in their lives and the world today”. Through these films we wish to strip…
A Night of Immigrant Stories: 4 Short Films
An international celebration of the joys and struggles of the immigrant experience. 4 Short Films. 4 Independent Filmmakers. 1 Night Only DREAMER directed by Vergi Rodriguez THE JOURNEY directed by Ben Briand THE POWER OF LEGACY directed by Mohammed Ali A-N-D-R-E-A directed by Armando Valdes-Kennedy Talking about the event Mohammed Ali said, The…
Mateer Tan – “Land is Calling” mural on Brick Lane
The idea of being caught in between two lands and the duality as an immigrant generation is explored in this mural ‘Mateer Tan’ (Land is calling) now complete on Brick Lane. Too often street-art murals fail to engage and resonate with the people that live amongst those walls. It’s always baffled me. This community steeped…
Community Prayer mat events
Soul City Arts is delivering a compelling immersive theatrical show, that explores the Muslim experience of prayer and how it is perceived in British society. The ‘Waswasa’ show is part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival and takes place in August at the Birmingham Hippodrome. We are building towards the show by capturing thoughts and prayers…
The Art of Visual Storytelling: Voices of Faith and Migration
An immersive performance which blends film screening and viewing, ambient sound, live digital art and artist-audience conversation. This immersive, multi-media event, blends film screening and viewing, live digital art and bespoke soundtracks with interactive conversation. Drawing on Mohammed Ali’s projects of recent years, and his collaboration with Warwick’s Dr James Hodkinson, it showcases how this…
Bangladeshi Tales from Kings Cross
Artist Mohammed Ali celebrates the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh at the Bloomsbury Festival, bringing life to the frontages of the Holy Cross church and the British Library, with film projections telling the stories of early Bangladeshi migrants. Speaking of the struggles, the hardships and the joys of making a new home in a foreign land,…
Congregate 3.0 live stream from BMAG
Reconnecting and Reactivating | A post-eid hybrid live stream We’ve had over a year of lockdown amidst the global pandemic. It’s also been a year since Congregate first began responding to that experience. Now, with the holy month of Ramadan just behind us, the Soul City Arts team invited guest artists from the UK and…
Same Boat – an artistic response
‘The Same Boat’ is an artistic response to the life of St Wulfram, inspired by the ‘Stations of the Cross’. Father Stuart has done a series of short films offering a reflection on each of the art installations for ‘The Same Boat’. Father Stuart said: “St Wulfram’s is so proud to be hosting this amazing…
Meet Soul City Arts’ Executive Director – Rajpal Pardesi
Enhancing the foundations of a global arts organisation with Birmingham roots: Soul City Arts hires Executive Director Rajpal Pardesi As an arts organisation, Soul City Arts has a track record of delivering groundbreaking artistic programming on all continents of the world, from festivals in Malaysia to youth conferences in Sweden, a multi-artist led mural with…
Happy New Year 2021 from Soul City Arts
Happy New Year 2021 We at Soul City Arts wish you a happy new year. 2020 was a tough year, a real test for us all. We want to remind our friends and supporters that it is through hardships that we grow stronger… Life will always throw obstacles at us, but it’s down to us…
Live Streaming with Soul City Arts: World Day of Remembrance with WHO
xfcomments A live stream collaboration with the World Health Organization Friday, 13th November saw a multi-faceted live stream come to life as part of a Global Online Commemoration for the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. The event takes place on the third Sunday of every November to remember those lost on the…
Live streaming with Soul City Arts: Genocide Summit
A live stream collaboration on historical injustices Soul City Arts recently collaborated with the Sycamore Foundation and the Srebrenica Memorial Centre. Global Summit: Genocide, We Said, Never Again Supported by the office of President Izetbegović of Bosnia, comes this timely international, digital summit exploring the atrocities of genocide. With a particular focus on the…
Soul City Arts is hiring an Executive Director – do you have what it takes?
We have just launched posts for Executive Director as well as board positions, including a new chair. Get in touch with us!
Live streaming with Soul City Arts: Eid-in-Place
A live stream collaboration with the Zakat Foundation of America As the world evolves through an unprecedented time, in a global pandemic, we started to feel the void as we considered what Eid 2020 would look like. Knowing we had to serve our communities with love, inspiration and humor, we strategized with close friends and…
White Pariah: Quiet Rebels
White Pariahs: Quiet Rebels brings to our stages stories of the white working-class women who crossed the colour line to marry the men of the Windrush generation who emigrated to Britain after WWII. Th development of this show took place during the lockdown period, so all rehearsals and performances had to be delivered online. Soul…
From the archives: 2014 – True to Life at Birmingham Museum with Mark Gonzales
Soul City Arts were asked to curate a performance in response to the True To Life photographic exhibition at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. Artists Mark Gonzales, Amerah Salah and Andy Mason responded to the exhibition on display and performed in the gallery space. Mohammed Ali curated the final performance.
From the archives: 2018 – Barber on the Streets.
Soul City Arts curates live-art performances: Three Artists respond to masterpieces from the collection at Barber Institute of Fine Arts. Barber on the Streets was first showcased during Birmingham Weekender 2017 festival. Artist & Curator Mohammed Ali MBE and co-curator Matt Reeves work together to design and construct a compelling street-structure for each artist to…
From the archives: 2001 – White Table Dinner, Foreign & Commonwealth Office, London
Mohammed Ali along with Tshaka Campbell and hang percussionist Daniel Waples is invited by the White Table Dinner to deliver at the Foreign Commonwealth Office in Westminster, London back in 2011. Tshaka Campbell is a highly accomplished performer, a Hollywood Slam Champion in 2007, with appearances from the legendary Apollo Theatre to the poetry Cafe…
Soul City Arts celebrates Elevate Grant with immersive Zoom session
Soul City Arts celebrates Elevate Grant with immersive Zoom session Just before COVID-19 hit the world, we at Soul City Arts had shared the news of our ‘Elevate’ award from the Arts Council England. Elevate focuses on organisational development and resilience and as recipients, will see Soul City Arts grow its oraganizational capacities. We were…
Prayer Project – Why do we pray?
We are excited to share our new concept which explores the concept of prayer through visual-art, installation, performance and discussion. Over the coming 2 years we are developing this program which will dissect, demystify and decode the muslim prayer. We are supported by the University of Warwick and are currently exploring new partners to join…
Our latest Congregate Live Show
Born in the dark days of lockdown, Congregate has evolved into a layered, immersive broadcast that reaches beyond conventional live streaming. It translates both the characteristic social engagement and the artistic feel of many of Soul City Arts other projects. We weave live and pre-recorded contributions from artists, musicians, academics and activists from around the…
From the Archives: Community tours
Bus tours from the past10 years ago Soul City Arts was regularly delivering street-art tours in the Sparbbrook and Small Heath area. A range of people such as Interfaith leaders, school groups and professional leadership groups were taken on our unique guided tours on a bus. These groups wanted to learn about the actual people…