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Preston City Mela fundraising to help South Asian young people develop performance and art skills

Posted on - 24th April, 2024 - 6:00pm | Author - | Posted in - Arts & Culture, Campaigns, Music, Preston News
Mela event 2022
A Mela event in 2022 Pic: Michael Porter Photography

Preston City Mela has created a campaign to help young South Asian people in the city develop high level art and performance skills.

Through the Spacehive crowdfunder, the Mela is seeking to deliver a range of creative equipment, learning materials and an online membership facility for young people to seek opportunities.

Spanning across at least four different venues, the Mela will provide 320 hours of creative workshops from large group taster sessions to one-to-one work at a professional level.

There will also be a showcase performance and exhibitions to demonstrate the creative skills being acquired.

So far the Mela has raised just under £20,000 of the £42,777 target, with the training due to start in May and the showcase being in November 2024.

Read more: BBC Radio 2 In The Park confirmed as Preston’s mystery music festival

Jazzy J, a director of Preston City Mela, said: “We want to provide young people with free access to high quality material and allow them to get learning materials for online paper-based skills to create a talent ensemble.”

Pic: Preston City Mela

Preston City Mela is a festival that celebrates South Asian culture, arts, music, dance and heritage.

The word ‘mela’ is defined as the Indian festival or gathering of dance, music and art. It is used to bring together people of different backgrounds and showcase the South Asian culture.

J added: “The history behind this has always been to provide a platform for developing artists to come and showcase South Asian culture.

“It’s the best place to have all people from different backgrounds to come together.”

Read more: Festivals of all sizes for people in Preston to have in the calendar this summer

The Mela festival includes food, henna stalls, music and dancing. This year’s event will take place on Saturday 6 July 6 from 11am to 5pm at

J said: “Even if you’re new to this kind of music, new to this kind of dance form and art and culture, it’s the best place for you to go and get inspired or if you want to do something different, it’s the best place to do it.”

Read more: See more of what’s on in Preston

Read more: See the latest Preston news and headlines

This story was made possible by support from you, our readers and a host of organisations in the city, through our Crowdfund Lancashire appeal, which unlocked support from the Lancashire Culture and Sport Fund provided by Lancashire County Council. You can see all our coverage and, if you know of an event or arts project in the city we should be covering, send details to contactus@blogpreston.co.uk.

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