2024
The White Kite Collective
As a full member of the White Kite Collective we act as the organisational partner for live events presented by a collective of artists respoonding to the genocide taking place in Palestine.
“A deeply moving and politically charged evening that confronts global injustices.”
— British Theatre Guide, reviewing “Stand with Palestinians: Messages from Gaza”
Introduction to White Kite Collective
White Kite Collective is a group of artists and culture workers that formed in urgent response to the ongoing Palestinian genocide. We bear witness and galvanise to action through testimony, literature and collective discussion.
White Kite Collective stands in solidarity with all peoples seeking liberation from global systems of oppression.
Focused on raising awareness and fostering solidarity, we curate unique and impactful events featuring a blend of, monologues, poetry, music, verbatim testimony of people on the ground, interviews/panels, visual art and sometimes comedy, that resonate deeply with audiences. Our goal is to amplify the voices of marginalised communities, (particularly the Palestinian people in this present time), provide a space to bear witness and offer safe spaces for healing, reflection, and activism via the arts. Our events consist of 2 halves. The first half which is a curated performance and the second half being a chaired collective post show audience sharing and discussion.
Since our founding, we have organised 20 plus impactful and sold out events since November 2023, with each contributing to causes close to our hearts, such as supporting Palestinian freedom and Sudanese liberation. Our events attract a growing, passionate audience, creating a movement that transcends traditional cultural boundaries and connects people to global issues through art.
Our Recent Events
“Stand with Palestinians: Messages from Gaza” is one of our signature series, which has toured venues like Bush Theatre, Arcola Theatre, Paines Plough at Roundabout, St. John’s Church in Waterloo, Key Theatre, Palestine House, Rich Mix, Tara Theatre, Queercircle, Bloomsbury Baptist Church to name a few. Each iteration of this series is carefully curated by established playwrights and is themed with a section of the 1st half dedicated to said theme. The theme is often based on existing and pressing news, with previous themes including sections dedicated to journalists, ecocide, the Nakba etc. Our events have served as both a fundraiser and a platform to share powerful first-hand testimonies from Palestinians under occupation. The events are deeply immersive and often focus on the experiences of Palestinians who continue living in unimaginable conditions. These events have not only sold out but also stirred audiences to action.
We have featured the writings of Mosab Abu Toha, Fady Joudah, Danez Smith, Rafeef Ziadah, Ghassan Kanafani, Mahmoud Darwish, Freedom Theatre, Ashtar Theatre, June Jordan, Hiba Abu Nada, Refaat Alareer to name but a few. Including first hand verbatim testimonies that artists in our collective are receiving from artists they are connected with on the ground in Gaza, as well as the testimonies of journalists, health care workers and others on the ground in Gaza too.
White Kite Collective have also collaborated with activist groups including Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Black Muslim Collective, London for Sudan, Madaniya, Camden Friends of Palestine as well as other arts based groups such as Make Freedom Ring an International Classical Musicians Collective. Our event together at St. John’s Church, Waterloo, was a collaboration that raised funds for Save Gaza’s Children. This event featured performances from renowned classical musicians such as Jayson Gillham interspersed with testimony and poetry readings by actors, all united together by a shared cause.
We have also hosted “Stand with Sudan: Messages from the People” at Rich Mix, collaborating with Sudanese diaspora groups to raise awareness and funds for the genocide in Sudan. This event highlighted the intersectionality of our mission, using art to amplify voices from oppressed communities.
Sold-Out Venues and Collaborations
White Kite Collective has hosted sold-out events at several prestigious venues across the UK, as mentioned above. Each of these events has drawn in hundreds of attendees, with our combined events reaching over 6,000 people so far.
Artists and Supporters
White Kite Collective has drawn significant support and participation from a wide range of notable artists, musicians, and cultural workers. High-profile figures include; Maxine Peake, Juliet Stevenson, Alfred Enoch, Susan Wokoma, Emma D’arcy, Bessie Carter, Alexei Sayle, Jamael Westman, Aiysha Hart and Khalid Abdalla, all known for their contributions to stage and screen and all of whom can advocate for us. We have a growing list of renowned actors wishing to partake in our events should our dates ever align. The collective has also worked with recent BAFTA-nominated actors Kosar Ali, and Bilal Hasna. Poets like Anthony Anaxagourou, musicians such as Jayson Gillham, the renowned Le Trio Joubran (Palestinian oud players), and Kareem Samara (Palestinian composer) have performed at our events. We have also had contributions from notable activists, doctors and journalists who have participated in our events such as Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta and Andrew Feinstein, academics and writers such as Barnaby Raine and Zena Agha as well as Health Workers for Palestine and the Palestinian Youth Movement, and journalists such as Matt Kennard and Hamza Yusuf from Declassified UK.
Audience Feedback and Testimonials
Our events have received glowing reviews, with the British Theatre Guide giving “Stand with Palestinians” five stars. They praised the event as “a deeply moving and politically charged evening that confronts global injustices”
In the words of our audience members:
“White Kite Collective doesn’t just stage events, they create movements. Their work leaves you informed, transformed, and inspired to take action.”
“It’s part protest and part therapy”
By offering a platform for oppressed voices, White Kite Collective continues to push the boundaries of cultural activism, using art as a weapon in the fight for justice.
Moving Forward
White Kite Collective is a not-for-profit organisation composed of dedicated volunteers and cultural workers. As part of our mission, every event we organise serves as a fundraiser for various charities, specifically those supporting grassroots efforts on the ground and providing vital aid to the Palestinian people. So far we have raised approximately £25,000 Beneficiaries include Freedom Theatre, Ashtar Theatre, Thilal (providing psychological support for children through the arts), Playgrounds for Palestine, Al Agha Water Project, Al Zuweida Water Project, Ghassan Abu Sitta Children’s fund, Sudanese Diaspora Network, We Are Not Numbers, Save Gaza’s Children, Anti Racist Movement Lebanon, International Media support to name a few.
As we plan for future events, White Kite Collective aims to continue expanding our reach, building on our growing reputation for creating immersive, impactful cultural experiences. We believe art can affect change. We invite collaboration with venues, artists, and organisations who share our vision for social justice.
2022
January: Working with mezzo soprano Andrea Baker and composer Howard Moody Yard Heads are developing a new performance project inspired by the work of late American composer Serge Hovey.
Yard Heads are working to develop a new digital product with Top Level Studio Leith and the Leith For Ever team supported by Creative Informatics after successfully participating in their Challenge Round Five.
March/ April: Working for the Lyceum’s inaugural Wonder Festival, a festival of work-in-progress as a producer. The event featured workshops and talks at the Lyceum as well as presentations of R&D performances from members of the L20 artists development programme.
May-September: Working for the Lyceum to produce four shows presented as part of their Fringe programme 2022: Tim Crouch: Truth’s A Dog Must to Kennel; Mara Menzies’ Blood and Gold; The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart and, in a co-production with Edinburgh International Book Festival, This is Memorial Device.
September: The Tiger Lillies remounting of The Last Days of Mankind at Wiltons Music Hall.
2021
Oct-Nov: Alexandra joined the Little Amal team as local producer for Good Chance Theatre for two events during COP26, one staged show in George Square involving child and community performers from Glasgow, rehearsed and choreographed by Robbie Graham and Natali McCleary, the other an encounter with grass roots community groups at The Bowling Green in Pollokshields.
August: Alexandra produced the Edinburgh International Book Festival – Lyceum collaboration Playing with Books which featured the outcomes of three R&D processes, script in hand, Sea State by Tabitha Lasley, directed by Pamela Carter, The Long Drop by Denise Mina, directed by Dominic Hill and The Yellow Door by Kathleen Jamie, on her first appearance as the new Makar, directed by David Greig.
May-August: Contacted by global food systems NGO Food Tank we agreed to become the local producer for an innovative interactive musical dance show <<WeCameToDance>> directed by Leith-based dance studio director Ashley Jack from House of Jack for Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2021.
March-Sept: We participated in City of Edinburgh Archive’s ReDrawing Edinburgh initiative which met regularly to shape a city-wide response to the Edinburgh City Boundaries Extension Act centenary. The emerging project was a series of online video presentations made by local historians and broadcast via the library pages followed by a unique creative project to make a new film Cinescapes: Redrawing Edinburgh using archive footage researched by director filmmaker Amanda Rogers of Cinetopia, featuring the changing nature of the City, with an original script by Alistair Rutherford. We collaborated in the fundraising and publicity for the project as well as organising a public screening event in Leith on September 19th.
Jan-Feb: We worked on a film for one of the songs of the Band of Holy Joy for their Notes from a Gallery series of livestream sessions presenting a mix of performance, film, art and music. Our commission was to respond to This is the Festival Scene, a comment on consumerism and waste, the film can be viewed online at Band of Holy Joy’s YouTube channel https://youtu.be/u3GHEeXDDlk
2020
December: Alexandra heard that her submission to join the Lyceum’s L20 Artist Development programme was successful, a one-year bursary-supported programme of engagement with professional teams and peers in creative and producing aspects of theatre in Edinburgh.
November: Alexandra produced the US Election Cabaret, a one-off livestream event, for the Royal Lyceum Edinburgh on the evening of the US Election. This was the Lyceum’s first ever livestream live performance event ann experimented with remotely controlled cameras to ensure social-distancing and the innovative ticketing/ streaming platform Ticketco, which tech-savvy audiences can use as an app on their usual service.
June-November: Fundraising and development of the creative community project for Leith’s amalgamation into the city of Edinburgh progressed with National Lottery Awards for All allowing the recruitment of three part-time co-producers.
In November on the centenary date we launched Leith For Ever a platform for exhibition of 100 Days of Leith, a concept suggested by local creative Duncan Bremner, supported by the Leith Trust Culture and Heritage Group, in which 100 ‘things’ about Leith, celebrating People, Places and Events over 100 days.
May: Pivoting seems to be the word of the moment. As our plans to bring Ryan Cunningham to Edinburgh clearly could not go ahead we pivoted towards the development of a creative community project in the context of the amalgamation of the burgh of Leith into the city of Edinburgh – a piece of civic history that still stings some Leithers’ memories. We joined Leith Civic Trust as members in order to manage funding applications and meetings in support of the project.
April: Together we completed the final part of the certificated NFTS course Producing Your First Feature led by film producer Carole Sheridan, providing a useful foundation for understanding the roles, finance structuring and processes involved in feature film production. Fascinating to learn about the way that Video On Demand, subscription Video On Demand models are disrupting the sector’s financing, revenue and rights norms.
March: Locked down as everyone was for the first wave of the covid pandemic in Scotland.
Feb: Working with artist Ryan Cunningham in Toronto, Canada with British Council Momentum programme. We outlined plans for a June 2020 exchange in which Ryan would present work-in-progress on his project featuring Pegahmagabow, a Canadian First Nations soldier, politician and activist, who fought in World War I and on return to Canada campaigned for the rights of First Nations people.
We were awarded support from Culture Service Project Fund (Promoting Access) in partnership with The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo 19/20 in order to develop our Leith project in the context of the amalgamation of Leith into Edinburgh 100 years ago.
Jan: We met with William Haddow, local author, who wrote the novel ‘Leithers‘ tracing a Leith family through the centuries and optioned the material for adaptation.
We secured the use of facilities at Leith’s Ex-servicemens’ Club on a weekly basis for rehearsal and meeting space for project development.
2019
Feb-April: Working with Pearlfisher, Philip Howard and Caitlin Skinner’s company on early stages of funding and planning for a touring project.
Feb-October: Programming WOW What Now? Perth 2019 with Horsecross Arts, taking place on Saturday 5th October. A day of action and conversation about gender equality, building on the work of Women of the World, WOW Foundation – founder Jude Kelly OBE.
April- August: Working with Lauren Booth’s Fringe show Accidentally Muslim as associate producers for the world premiere of her self-produced autobiographical show charting her life and the experiences that led her to follow Islam.
June-October: Working with Lubna Kerr, Scottish Pakistani comedian and actor, producing her work-in-progress project Tickbox, funded by Creative Scotland’s Create Inclusion Fund
June-December: Working on Leith Theatre-Yard Heads workshop and script development project, collaborating with Citizen Curator to investigate the potential for North Edinburgh Performing Arts Informal Network and the sort of work that could emerge from it.
March-ongoing: Working with musician Joseph Malik and his new ensemble ‘Out of the Ordinary’ filming and recording their progress, including live performances, working with film-maker Glenda Rome who filmed this performance of the singe Take a Left at the Voodoo Rooms, directed by John Paul McGroarty.
2018
Produced and directed major European Cultural Co-operation project production of The Last Days of Mankind by Karl Kraus with co-director Yuri Birte Anderson, a full-scale production featuring the Tiger Lillies and 27 performers from seven European countries at Leith Theatre, on the centenary of the Armistice of World War One.
yardheads.com 