Seasons of Change
Special Guests:
Tahmina Ali, Leila d’Aronville, Chantal Herbert
and Lizzie Klotz
Tahmina Ali
Tahmina Ali is a British Bangladeshi, Newcastle-upon-Tyne based spoken word poet, creative freelancer and young mother. Poetry has been a significant tool in Tahmina's life, it gave her a voice at a time where she felt voiceless. Now through her workshops Tahmina aims to pass on those very tools to others.
Tahmina has performed at various events, poetry nights across the country and selected for the prestigious BBC Words First programme. Also presented her poetry radio show on Fast FM for two years running, hosts her own Open Mic poetry night called Strictly Spoken and has been awarded the ‘ABC Arts and Culture Award’ for 2018 and 2019. Tahmina uses her poetry as a means to encourage positive change, her writing is generally influenced by identity, culture, social events and life as a young mother.
Leila d’Aronville
Leila d’Aronville is the Founder of the North East Cultural Freelancers Network, Managing Director of Northern Roots and Jumpin' Hot Club, a Freelance Cultural Education Manager, and a busy mam. As a highly experienced creative manager and producer, with over 20 years' in the cultural sector, Leila is a highly networked and experienced connector of people and projects. Leila states:
“I am a freelance connector, enabler, lead maker, facilitator, professional network developer, producer, drama facilitator and creative problem solver, who is passionate about people and building community.”
Chantal Herbert
I am an audio producer, community organiser, DJ, Director, public speaker and a Black rights feminist whose work centres around social inclusion and change.
Since childhood, injustice has always been at the forefront of my being. I never shied away from highlighting and addressing social injustice, and my work is no different. Although my career path has been eventful, since 2018, my main focus has been giving back to my community and addressing issues for social inclusion and growth issues.
I am the founder and director of ‘Sister Shack CIC’ and run an audio production company called ‘Sister Sounds’. Community and event organising is something that gives me immense joy and fulfilment.
Lizzie Klotz
I am an independent dance maker, performer, facilitator and producer whose work is based in and around Newcastle.
My work is shapeshifting. It is rooted in dance, spanning performance for theatre, outdoor, site specific, and film, often sitting alongside a practice of embodied writing. For me, this means using the embodied experience as a place to write from - to generate scores for improvisation / document the process of making / create standalone text based work.
I have a strong desire to be involved in the creation of work that prioritises care and a sense of joy for all those who make and encounter it.