Who we are and what we stand for
We:
- are an independent arts and education charity established in London in 1987. Our mission builds on years of innovation and excellence in delivering high-quality popular engagement with the world’s cultures.
- aim to help bring about positive social change where inequality, denial of opportunity and other forms of injustice persist, particularly where these are based on racism and religious intolerance.
- have been consistently successful in achieving our objectives by drawing upon the transformative, life-affirming qualities of the arts and heritage.
- are stubborn optimists, convinced of people’s innate goodness and of the power of culture to help us find and build common ground
- believe passionately in the importance of cross-cultural co-operation for: generating self-critical awareness; provoking insights across ethnic and faith divides' building trust; and inspiring humility and compassion.
- continually seek out and test new ways of using the arts and heritage to generate mutual understanding
Prakash Daswani
Founder & Chief Executive
- are ever willing to tackle sensitive, controversial, or emergent inter-cultural issues
- are independent-minded, yet always work in close partnership with others
- use each of our five discrete yet integrated programme strands - Festival Showcase; Artist Network; Education & Training; Dialogue & Debate; and Policy & Consultancy - to achieve our aims.
- have rigorous standards; should we fail to reach them, we persevere until we get things right