The government’s Central Office of Information (COI) has unveiled a roster of ethnic agencies that will be preferred suppliers in order to target British Asians through ad campaigns.

The COI spends approximately £3 million a year in trying to communicate government campaigns to Britain’s ethnic minorities.

It aims to increase effectiveness of government campaigns, tailoring communications taking account of citizens’ cultural nuances.

The list of preferred suppliers was established in 2004 following COI’s Common Good Research into communicating with ethnic minorities.
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Young actor Sagar Radia will feature in two episodes of BBC’s award-winning series Waking the Dead next week, 5th and 6th May.

Seen most recently in a supporting role in the Channel 4 drama Britz (pictured), he began acting at the age of 17 while training at the Harris Drama School in Wembley. His first role came as a patient on Casualty in 2005 and since then he has done commercial work for Tesco (2005) and the Cricket World Cup (2006). He eventually graduated from City University with a degree in Media & Sociology.

Theatre company Rifco Arts are holding open auditions to find new singing talent. After the success of previous touring shows such as: There’s Something about Simmy, Meri Christmas and The Deranged Marriage, they are embarking on new projects and keen to find an older generation of talent.
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An exhibition to commemorate the partition of of British India, opens at Dominion Arts Education Centre in Southall this week.

Titled [PART][TION] it explores events of 1947 through the personal memories of survivors living in the UK today. The exhibition of images and oral collections hav been assembled by the Slough-based social cohesion group Aik Saath.

The exhibition is free and will run from Wednesday 30th April to Sunday 8th June 2008.
112 the Green
Southall UB2 4BQ
www.1947partition.com

The Britz team of Manjinder Virk and Rizwan Ahmed shocked the establishment by scooping the Bafta Award for the Best Drama on Sunday night, beating the highly acclaimed BBC drama Cranford.

In the summer of 2007 a farmer in southern India found a two-day old baby girl who had been buried alive. Rushed to the local hospital, she miraculously survived. But in today’s India, many other baby girls are not so lucky.

India’s Missing Girls tells the story of the thousands of girls who are killed every year - simply because of their gender. Most are aborted as soon as their sex is determined. Some are abandoned at birth, while others are killed, shortly after.
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Writing in the Independent newspaper yesterday, columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown says British Asians don’t appreciate the arts as much as they should. She added:

British Asians today still don’t get the arts, and don’t want to either. Got better things to do. They push their young people into real jobs that bring in big bucks, or at least good brides from families with big bucks. A painter, novelist, playwright, actor, cannot be admitted into respectable or wealthy dynasties – unless, of course, there is evidence of stardom.
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Jatinder Verma, founder of Tara Arts, the British Asian theatre company, observes some stirrings of interest, but largely superficial. “Over the last two decades, people have become more comfortable, and a small number from this emerging middle class are coming in. But too few are passionate about theatre or dance. There is no understanding that the arts have intrinsic value, that they tell us who we are as a society, our relationships. We have not looked to critiquing ourselves, what our place is in this country, this world. We are not yet in love with ideas.”
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“Asian kitsch has cachet now,” says one composer who wishes to remain anonymous. “The young would rather go to fashion shows than exhibitions, listen to Britney rather than Nitin Sawhney. There are, of course, brilliant individuals who will always rise, but with no blood links, cultural pathways to and from their people. We British Asian artists are lost before we were found, and I am very depressed about the future.”

Is there a hint of truth to these accusations? Are British Asians too in love with simple entertainment and not experimental enough with the arts?

Channel 4 has announced potentially far-reaching changes to its policy on diversity and tackling inequality within the corporation.

In an announcement last week it said it wanted to “extend our ability to reflect all kinds of social diversity including ethnicity, disability, nationality, regionality, age, gender and beyond”.

As part of its new strategy, the public service broadcaster will recruit a head of diversity at senior executive level. The person will lead its diversity strategy across all the organisations activities.
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Nearly 18 months after Poorna Shetty left the building for thelondonpaper, Asiana magazine has finally appointed a new editor, it told AIM Magazine this week.

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A new weekend schedule at Asian Network will launch from 17th May, the radio station announced this week, with the creation of two new shows.
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A new five-part series coming to BBC 2 next month will offer a highly individual insight into the world of Muslim women around the world.

Dubbed ‘Women in Black’, the series will offer a different ‘Islamaglamour’ perspective to hidden stories from women across the Middle East.

“Discover the Muslim makeover, sexy underwear and female Formula One racing driver in Dubai; clubbing, cosmetic surgery and surely the world’s only Qur’an inspired TV sex therapist in Egypt,” the programme blurb says.

It will explore stories in Britain, Egypt, Dubai, Yemen and Holland.

The series is authored by British-Yemeni journalist Amani Zain, has worked at the BBC’s Country File and Primary Arabic, and in Yemen as a social counsellor on a project affiliated to the UNHCR. It is produced by Fatima Salaria, who has worked at BBC current affairs for several years as a senior producer.
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The Asian Jewel Awards have signed up free-to-air channel Star TV as its main broadcast partner. The company said this week it would be televising all three regional Jewel Awards on Star Plus.

Now in its seventh year, the event aims to award high-achieving British Asian personalities in various fields. The Northern Jewel Awards will take place on 19th April at the Palace Hotel, Manchester; the Central Jewel Awards on 21st June at NEC Hilton, Birmingham; the Southern Jewel Awards on 4th October at Hilton Park Lane, London.

Former religious radical Shiraz Maher spent his student days campaigning for an Islamic state in which execution for leaving Islam would be written into the constitution. Now Shiraz is calling for moderation and greater Muslim integration into British life, a stance which has meant he himself is now labelled an apostate by some Muslim extremists.

In a Radio 4 documentary to be broadcast on 17th April, he will ask if people can stop being Muslim. He speaks to ex-Muslims about the problems they have faced which include violence, alienation from family and condemnation from their communities.

Shiraz also speaks to experts on Islamic law in an attempt to find out whether the death penalty is really justified by the Qu’ran and the example of the Prophet Muhammad, or whether Muslim attitudes to apostasy are more indicative of the them and us mentality fostered by some religious leaders.
Radio 4 - 17th April at 8pm.
It will be available to listen on the Radio 4 website after broadcast.

The West Midlands saw a new digital radio station launch this week aimed at the region’s British Asian market. AsianFx, sister-station to the popular London based Panjab Radio, will compete directly with BBC Asian Network for an audience.

The station was officially launched last week and will feature former Club Asian presenter Veena V on breakfast. Managing director Surjit Singh Ghuman said: “Most radio stations are language or music specific, the needs of British born Asians seemed to be ignored, so creating a platform for these cultures to unite seemed the right thing to do.”

AsianFx will broadcast on DAB Digital Radio and online www.asianfx.co.uk
Contact: info@asianfx.co.uk / 020 8848 8877
(pictured: Breakfast and Drivetime presenters at launch event)

The Football Association is hosting an Ethnic Minority Media Day at Soho Square on April 18 which will highlight its work in areas such as Asians in Football and recruiting Black coaches. An Asian player is yet to play in the Premier League while there are just two black managers across 92 Football League clubs in England (Paul Ince at MK Dons and Keith Alexander at Macclesfield Town) so both topics are the subject of continuing debate.

The BBC’s Mark Bright will be hosting the event with Sir Trevor Brooking introducing and the likes of Brendon Batson, Hope Powell and Football League referee, Jarnail Singh, debating these issues and discussing how to take them forward for the future. There will also be a series of case studies from Asian and Black football coaches on how they carved out a career in the game, the issues they faced etc.

To attend contact Matt Phillips on: matt.phillips@thefa.com or 0207 745 4671.

A Sussex based composer and an Indian singer have come together to create a vibrant music album with a mixture of sounds from all over the world.

James Asher, an original artist and producer of worldbeat music with a back-catalogue of 20 commercial releases, teamed up with Indian virtuoso singer Mahesh Vinayakram to make Bravado Masala, an album that released on iTunes last month and in India (through Times Music) this week.

They say the album ranges in moods from “rhythmic and danceable to thoughtful, nostalgic and contemplative”. They add: “Mahesh’s musicality and exuberant enthusiasm finds an unusual and satisfying pairing with James’s strongly atmospheric grooves.”

James Asher is also a keyboard-player, drummer and composer. Mahesh Vinayakram comes from a famous Indian musical family. His father Vikku Vinayakram heads a family of master drummers and percussionists. Vikkhu himself is a worldclass percussion maestro, specialising in ghatam, who has played John McLaughlin’s Shakti, and received several grammy nominations.
Contact: starfield@btopenworld.com // Label: Starfield
Music samples and more info on james-asher.co.uk.

Ireland based Setanta Sports will exclusively broadcast the cricket Indian Premier League from this month, the broadcaster announced, on Sky Sports. Running from 18th April 18 to 1st June, the tournament consists of 59 matches and will see some of the biggest names in world cricket come together to form eight multi-national teams.

Some of the cricket teams have big name backing from Bollywood stars, including Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Akshay Kumar, while others have investment from businessmen.

The participants: Bangalore Royal Challengers, Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Daredevils, Deccan Chargers, Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders, Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians - have attracted the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Shahid Afridi, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Younis Khan, Muttiah Muralitharan, Harbhajan Singh and Adam Gilchrist.

The BBC Asian Network has been nominated for three awards at the prestigious Sony Radio Academy awards, it was revealed today.

Also up for nomination was Islamophonic, the Guardian newspaper’s monthly podcast on Muslim issues, produced by its religious affairs correspondent Riazat Butt.

The show initially started as a weekly project but has since been scaled down to a monthly podcast as Riazat took on more responsibilities at the Guardian.

BBC Asian Network has been nominated in the Digital Station of the Year category. Its Asian Nation project has been nominated for a Community Award and its documentary on ‘Britain’s Missing Girls’ is up for a New Feature Award.

The Sony Radio Academy awards will take place on May 12 in central London.

A new festival dedicated to pan-Asian culture will be part of the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year. Dubbed ‘InvAsian’, it is a partnership between production company clubWest and Tartan Silk Public Relations, with events taking place in the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh’s Quincentenary Hall.
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Irfan Hamid, the former head of business and strategic development at Carphone Warehouse, has moved to the technology start-up SpinVox.

SpinVox’s core business revolves around ‘voice to screen messaging’. In other words it turns mobile voicemail messages into texts, among other services.

Hamid initially joined The Carphone Warehouse in 2000, from Prudential Corporation, where he had started off fresh out of University on their Business Management Graduate Scheme, working in various divisions across the globe. In 2002 he was promoted to head of business development for growth markets. In this position he reported directly to the UK CEO and contributed to strategic planning and development as a member of the executive team.
www.spinvox.com

It may be late to the party, following in footsteps already trodded by Maxim, Vogue and a growing list of publishers, but that is always better than never. The men’s magazine GQ has announced it will launch a version for the Indian market.

The Guardian today reports that it will be edited by Sanjiv Bhattacharya, a former features and contributing editor of the British GQ.

“Bhattacharya has worked in America for the past eight years and contributed to the Los Angeles Times, Marie Claire, the Daily Telegraph and the Observer, as well as completing a documentary for Channel 4,” GQ stated in its press release.

The magazine is published by Condé Nast and is launching on the back of “overwhelming success” of Vogue India, also part of its stable, said Condé Nast International chairman Jonathan Newhouse.

by Sabuhi Mir
Freelance journalist

Starting a career in journalism can be a little daunting for anyone, but particularly so if you are an ethnic minority.

Why? Because so few ethnic minorities work across print and online media. Is this just because most Asians brought up in the UK prefer to follow other career paths which are deemed more “traditional” or “safe” in the eyes of they Asian community like law, medicine, accountancy or banking.
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Wrier and former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg was awarded the ‘Published Writer of the Year’ award at the Muslim Writers Awards event last week.
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This July sees the launch of the third annual Britdoc Festival and we want you to be a part of it. With the world’s most influential documentary movers and shakers coming to Keble College, Oxford we are now open for film submissions in both the shorts and feature competitions.

The festival celebrates homegrown talent by screening the 10 best British feature documentaries (over 70 mins) from the past 12 months.

Organisers are looking for films that explore the world we live in and the people we share it with, and say they are always keen to see experimentation. Over the last two years Britdoc has presented award winning films as Nick and Marc Francis’ Black Gold, David Singleton’s In the Shadow of the Moon, Paul Taylor’s We Are Together, Kim Longinotto’s Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go, and Ben Hopkins’ 37 Uses For a Dead Sheep.

Apply here: www.britdoc.org

The Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore was inspired directly by Alice in Wonderland and Western opera when he wrote the dance opera Tasher Desh - a satirical portrayal of a society ruled by strict conventions.
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