For Heritage Open Day 2023, Milton Keynes Arts Centre welcomes everybody to a day celebrating the rich cultural heritage of Afghanistan and its people.
After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, over 24,000 Afghan men, women and children came to the UK seeking refuge. By March 2023, almost 9,000 remained in temporary hotel accommodation, including in Milton Keynes.
In January 2023, volunteers at the Mead Centre in Newport Pagnell invited Milton Keynes Arts Centre to meet a group of Afghan women who joined them there each week. There, the women cooked and shared their own food – a simple act not ordinarily available to them. As a thank you, the Arts Centre invited the women to Great Linford in April when they worked with artist Sarah Hunt in creating cyanotypes – an early form of photography using natural sunlight.
In April 2023 also, the UK Government began a process to stop all bridging accommodation. Around 250 Afghan people had been welcomed in Newport Pagnell in 2021; those remaining were now given just a few months to find new homes. Yet, however difficult their situation, the greatest concern of the women we met was for friends and relatives left behind in Afghanistan – in particular for women and girls.
For Heritage Open Day 2023, Milton Keynes Arts Centre celebrates the rich cultural history of Afghanistan and its people. We will be joined by the Afghan artist, Samira Kitman, who will demonstrating the use of traditional Afghan designs and techniques to make greeting cards; and by Ahmadzia Baktyari, with whom we will be making and flying kites. Veronica Doubleday will be singing traditional Herati folk songs and playing daireh, accompanied on the dutar and rubab by John Baily and on the tabla drums by Yama Shah. Traditional Afghan food and drink will also be on sale, provided by the Wolverton restaurant, Khyber Chefs.
EVENTS
Create Afghan-inspired greeting cards with Samira Kitman
90-minute sessions starting at 11am, 1pm and 3pm
FREE
Samira Kitman is an Afghanistan-born calligrapher and miniaturist now living in the UK. Her work has been collected and exhibited internationally, including at the V&A Museum, London and at the Smithsonian, Washington. The artist was voted Afghan businesswoman of the year in 2015 and created Maftah-e Hunar, an arts foundation that trained over 80 young Afghan women artists. Samira Kitman’s profile however brought her to the attention of the Taliban and in 2016 she fled Kabul, applying for asylum in the UK. Milton Keynes Arts Centre is delighted to welcome this remarkable artist to MK who will be demonstrating how to make greeting cards inspired by Afghan designs and using traditional techniques.
There are limited places – booking essential. Suitable for aged 12+.
Kite Making with Ahmadzia Baktyari
2-hour sessions (including flying) starting at 11am and 3pm
FREE
Ahmadzia Baktyari was born in North Afghanistan and flew his first kite at the age of six. Kite flying is a popular hobby in Afghanistan, especially at Nauruz (New Year). The artist led his first kite making workshop in 2008 in Peckham; this was followed by workshops in the Horniman Museum and National Maritime Museum amongst many. He says ‘Kite flying was the happiness of my childhood in the sadness of war’. This is your opportunity to share the artist’s happiness by making your own kite and flying it in Great Linford Manor Park.
There are limited places – booking essential. Suitable for all ages.
Traditional Music of Afghanistan
With John Baily, Veronica Doubleday and Yama Shah
Performances at 12.30 – 1.20pm and 2 – 2.50pm
FREE
Veronica Doubleday is the author of ‘Three Women of Herat: A Memoir of Life, Love and Friendship in Afghanistan’. John Baily is Head of The Afghanistan Music Unit, which was created in 2002 to document the state of music in Afghanistan in the post-Taliban era as well as to offer practical assistance in re-establishing traditional music after a long period of extreme censorship. At Milton Keynes Arts Centre, Veronica Doubleday will be singing traditional Herati folk songs and playing daireh, accompanied on the dutar and rubab by John Baily and by Yama Shah on tabla drums.
The musicians will be seated on ethically sourced handmade Afghan rugs on loan to Milton Keynes Arts Centre by Gooch Luxury Rugs (goochluxuryrugs.com). The art of carpet weaving in Afghanistan, which is largely associated with women, dates back thousands of years. Today, many traditional carpets are made by the Afghan diaspora in countries such as Pakistan.
No booking required.
