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 or their YouTube Channel.

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“All good art is an attempt to wrestle with truth”

In the fourth episode on the journey towards our production, The Reckoning, 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

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 for more information.

In the third episode on the journey towards our production, The Reckoning, 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

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

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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.

Levani’s art - https://levanm.com/

More information (in Georgian) on Culture for Democracy: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556194792093

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“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 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.

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.

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

Blog link - https://www.dasharts.org.uk/blog/arvo-prts-inspiration-discovering-the-magic-of-estonias-forests-and-sounds

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On 4th July millions of UK voters will take to the polls. Candidates are vying for our attention through speeches and debates. In this special episode Artistic Director, Josephine Burton, catches up with four former speech-making workshop participants across the country on how they are experiencing the election campaign, and analyses our political candidates and the quality of their speechmaking with Alan Finlayson, Professor of Political and Social Theory at the University of East Anglia, and collaborator on our national workshops.

To find out more about our plans for the theatre production go to www.dasharts.org.uk/our-public-house

Our Public House is funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Arts Council England, National Theatre’s Generate Programme, Three Monkies Trust, The Thistle Trust, and individual giving.

In the podcast we’re grateful to hear from:

Kate, Max, Devika and Jonathan - Workshop Participants

Josephine Burton - Artistic Director, Dash Arts

Professor Alan Finlayson - Professor of Political and Social Theory at the University of East Anglia

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Whilst the country builds up to a general election, we’re in the midst of creating Our Public House, Dash Arts’ state-of-the-nation theatre production.

Hear from Artistic Director Josephine Burton and playwright Barney Norris on how our play weaves together the ideas and speeches of over 150 voices from across England and the ever shifting political landscape. Plus catch us in the rehearsal room at Theatre Royal Stratford East, performing some of the draft script and songs on stage at HOME in Manchester and in a speech-making workshop with Manchester Deaf Centre as we reflect on the long research and development process behind a Dash Arts production.

Our Public House is funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Arts Council England, The Thistle Trust, Three Monkies Trust, and individual giving.

In the podcast we’re grateful to hear from:

Josephine Burton - Artistic Director, Dash Arts

Barney Norris - Writer, Our Public House

Professor Alan Finlayson - Professor of Political and Social Theory at the University of East Anglia

Cristina Catalina - Senior Producer, Dash Arts

Jonathan Walton - composer and musician

Nick Pynn - composer and musician

Mina Anwar - actor & singer

Matt Hill - composer and musician

And the participants from the speech-making workshops around the country.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the still of a spring night, we journey into the woods with musicians Sam Lee and Jack Durtnall to hear the beautiful and increasingly rare song of the nightingale with a concert and conversation around the campfire.

Artistic Director Josephine Burton treads lightly in the footsteps of a historic partnership between the nightingale and humans. The BBC’s first ever live outside broadcast was recorded exactly 100 years ago in May 1924 as cellist Beatrice Harrison played alongside a nightingale. Our episode is the start of a new series of Dash Arts podcasts exploring the relationship between art and nature, and part of Dash's current season, Albion; an investigation of modern Englishness in all its complexity. Join us as we travel across landscape and language, digging deep into folk and written histories, oral traditions, music, storytelling, theatre and performance.

Visit the Singing With Nightingales website to find out more about Sam’s work and to join him on such a magical evening in the woods.

In the podcast we’re grateful to hear from:

Josephine Burton - Artistic Director of Dash Arts

Sam Lee - Musician and Conservationist

Jack Durtnall - Musician

Audience members from Singing with Nightingales

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