Creative Producers appointed for international Transforming Narratives programme

13 July 2021

Photo: Sadia Rahman

• Fahim Qureshi and Sadia Rahman have been appointed as Creative Producers working on the Transforming Narratives programme.
• Birmingham-based and Bangladesh-based, the Creative Producers will develop and deliver the final stages of the Transforming Narrative programme.

Birmingham-based Fahim Qureshi and Bangladesh-based Sadia Rahman have been appointed as Creative Producers for Transforming Narratives.

Each Creative Producer will be involved in all aspects of the Transforming Narratives artistic and creative programme, developing and delivering the final artistic programme working with the international Transforming Narratives Cultural Leadership Programme participants.

Wealth of skills

Sophina Jagot, Project Director Transforming Narratives said: “We are delighted to welcome Sadia and Fahim to the Transforming Narratives team. Both bring a wealth of skills and experience of working with Pakistani and Bangladeshi artists, creatives and communities both in the UK and internationally and I look forward to seeing the final artistic programme for Transforming Narratives take shape. It’s an exciting time for the project.”

Working together with the Transforming Narratives team, Cultural Leadership Programme participants and project partners, the Creative Producers will integrate the existing artistic programme, its legacy and archive, and steer the final stage of commissions, leading towards the Transforming Narratives final festival event in February 2022.

Underused opportunities

Sadia, who holds many leadership roles including Deputy Director of Bengal Foundation is an independent researcher, editor and curator from Dhaka, specifically interested in the underused opportunities and considerable potential of exhibition-making, creative publishing and archives as spaces for discussion, learning, contestation and community solidarity.

She said: “Since 2019, Transforming Narratives has proven itself to be an ambitious, timely and so far unique initiative to foster and support multiple and open-ended connections between artists, arts institutions and audiences in South Asia and communities of South Asian heritage in the city of Birmingham.

“I have been deeply impressed by the programme’s and programme participants’ commitment to the central values of inclusiveness, representation, plurivocality and the importance of engaging actively with the current, lived experience of South Asian arts and culture. I am delighted to have this opportunity to contribute to the closing year of Transforming Narratives as Bangladesh-based Creative Producer”.

Transformational creative programmes

Fahim is an experienced arts leader and creative producer with a successful track record of delivering transformational creative programmes and projects for the cultural sector. Throughout his career, he has advocated for the cultural sector to understand and recognise UK Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities are least likely to engage with the arts or benefit from local or national arts funding because of inequality, disenfranchisement, poverty and racism.

He said: “Like Sadia, I have spent my career campaigning to ensure the cultural sector understands and recognises the lack of engagement with the arts from Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities, here in the UK and internationally.

“I am therefore delighted that through programmes like Transforming Narratives – who are supporting artists and organisations to become part of the cultural conversation - I can join with colleagues to deliver a meaningful artistic programme in Birmingham, Pakistan and Bangladesh.”

Transforming Narratives is a ground-breaking project that supports creative and cultural practitioners and organisations in Birmingham, to engage in exchange with artists and organisations in cities in Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is managed by Culture Central, supported by Arts Council England and delivered in collaboration with The British Council.

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