Hello, I’m just getting in touch from Cambridge City Council to ask if it’s possible to publicise something on the Akashi website about Heart Of The World, the city’s world music and culture Festival, including the city’s first ever Asian mela.
The website is www.heartoftheworld.co.uk <http://www.heartoftheworld.co.uk>
It’s a fantastic 2 week event involving many different venues and agencies throughout the city.
Best wishes
Christina
Arts & Entertainments
Cambridge City Council
June 16, 2010
The second Akashi Project festival, “Many Voices One World” took place on Mar 21st 2010 at Hills Rd 6th Form College, with around 500 people attending and 150 involved in putting the festival on. As the photos show, it was a brilliant afternoon, full of colour and vibrancy and community spirit, celebrating faith and community involvement in action on climate change. A huge thank you to all who gave their time and talents to make it happen.
The festival brings the current phase of the Akashi Project to an end. But if you’d like to get involved in other Cambridge Carbon Footprint projects, then do contact us via our website, www.cambridgecarbonfootprint.org.
March 21, 2010
Doors open at 1.30 pm
A fantastic afternoon is taking shape, thanks to the hard work of our dedicated team of volunteers. Highlights include:
- Keynote speech by Ashok Sinha, Director of the Stop Climate Chaos coalition
- Dance performances from African and Indian communities
- Sacred song, dance and poetry from Mem and friends of the Sufi tradition
- Singing workshop led by Arthasiddhi of Cambridge Buddhist Centre
- Bollywood dance workshop, led by Shilpa Shah, Co-founder of the Akashi Project
- Faiths Panel in discussion about faiths and climate change, chaired by Jenny Kartupelis, Director of the East of England Faiths Council
- Workshop on greening your church or faith meeting place, led by David Chandler and Hilary Marlow of A Rocha.
- For the sceptics (!), Climate Change: is it really happening? talk by Dr Stephen Peake of the Judge Business School
- Children’s activities
- Hula hooping
- Henna painting
- Films: Hanging Gardens of Arabia, and Sisters on the Planet
- Delicious food on sale
- Freebies
- Lots of engaging activities on how to go low carbon!
Take a look at the programme to see how it all fits together here.
Festival Poster as pdf file
Getting to Festival
The college is on the local bus route and is in walking distance from the railway station. Cambridge citi 1 buses run every 15 minutes and citi 7 buses run every 30 minutes both stopping at Hills Road Sixth Form College from the city centre and Cambridge train station.
The Babraham Road Park & Ride service stops directly outside the College and operates on Sundays.
Please contact www.stagecoachbus.com or traveline (0870 608 2608) if you require further details of local bus services.
The College is subject to parking restrictions on site. You are therefore encouraged to arrive on foot, bicycle or bus.
If driving, festival visitors are encouraged to use the multi-storey car park, conveniently located on Clifton Road. The car park is a short walking distance from the College.
Purbeck Road is a private, non-through road. This road is the access route for fire appliances and other emergency vehicles supporting the College, local businesses and residents. A company operates a wheel clamping service along this road to ensure that the double yellow lines are adhered to. A non-refundable £90 release charge applies if a vehicle is clamped.
January 22, 2010
Anil Soni giving a reading from the Hindu faith
People of different faiths came together on Saturday, at the end of the first national Inter Faith week, to discuss climate change and how faith gives strength to deal with the challenges it presents.
The gathering, organised by the Akashi Project, was in the Community Room at Abbey Meadows Primary School. It was attended by around 50 people from at least six different faiths. The programme included readings and statements from Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism, and short talks on Climate Change from Prafulla Soni, and on the Role of Faith Groups from Ellis Weinburger, Co-chair of the East of England Faiths Council, followed by discussion in small mixed faith groups.
Participants at the faiths event
Afterwards, everyone enjoyed refreshments kindly prepared by volunteers from different faith groups. The mood was very positive and enthusiastic, with one participant commenting, “Something very special and magical seems to happen in this sort of gathering.”
The meeting was part of the lead up to the Many Voices, One World Festival, which will be held in Hills Road Sixth Form College on 21st March 2010.
November 25, 2009
Talking about what we can do to help
Members of Cambridge’s Hindu community got together recently to discuss climate change and action which groups and individuals can take which make a difference.
Organiser of the meeting, Tina Shah, said, “I want my grandchildren to enjoy a stable climate, much as I have been able to. Climate change threatens that, and it’s up to us all to do what we can to tackle it.”
November 5, 2009
Shilpa
Shilpa Shah, the first co-ordinator and originator of the Akashi Project, has won the Sheila McKechnie Foundation Environment Award, which highlights campaigners working to provide sustainable solutions to the environmental problems we face locally and globally.
In an interview after receiving the award, Shilpa said, “Climate change is affecting, and is going to affect absolutely everyone, and at the moment, the voices that are being heard in the environmental movement are from a narrow sector of the community. We need to be more inclusive, and more accessible and make sure everyone’s voices are heard.”
The award includes a development package to equip award winners with the skills they need to make a greater impact and achieve real change. More information about the award, including a video clip of Shilpa, can be accessed here.
October 25, 2009
Playing the Food Game on the Carbon Conversations course
Carbon Conversations courses are being run in three faith-based groups in Cambridge this autumn. Each course consists of six friendly practical meetings to help participants halve their carbon footprints, and includes games, discussions and practical information.
Around 40 of these courses have been run in and around Cambridge over the past three years, helping around 350 people reduce their contribution to climate change.
The course includes discussion of ‘why we bother’ acting on climate change, and the faith based groups are building on this element by including discussion of faith teachings on the environment. St Marks church, Newnham, Castle St Methodist church and the Buddhist Centre are all hosting courses this autumn.
If you are part of a faith group, and are interested in running a Carbon Conversations course, then do get in touch.
September 21, 2009
Celebrating ideas and actions on climate change from all faiths and cultures
We are delighted to announce that the Many Voices One World Festival, organised by Akashi, will be on Sunday 21st March at the Hills Road Sixth Form College, Cambridge CB2 8HE.
The festival will be an inspiring showcase of ideas and action in response to climate change from faith and cultural groups in Cambridge. There will be family-friendly activities, art, drama, workshops and presentations.
We need people to get involved. Call Siobhan or Tina on 01223 971353 if you would like to be part of this exciting event.
September 21, 2009
People of different faiths talking about climate change at the Akashi Festival
The Interfaith Carbon Conversations course which has been running at Ross St Community Centre in Cambridge has come to an end. Ten participants, including Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Muslims, have been discussing how our faith beliefs can help motivate us to reduce the impact of our activities and purchases on the environment.
The Carbon Conversations course has been developed by Cambridge Carbon Footprint, and has now been attended by over 360 people. Over the course of six sessions, the course leads participants to consider both the practical issues of how to reduce our carbon footprint, and also how we can motivate ourselves to keep at it.
June 30, 2009
Akashi have been awarded funding from government body, Faiths in Action, for an exciting new project bringing together individuals and groups from different faith backgrounds around the issue of climate change.
What’s faith got to do with it?
About 70,000 people in Cambridge say they belong to a faith.
All the major faiths care about our planet and about ensuring the survival of life on earth.
The project consists of a series of workshops within faith communities, leading to two interfaith gatherings, and culminating in an Akashi Faiths and Culture Festival in March 2010.
The aim is to:
- explore beliefs about the environment and climate change
- strengthen connections between different groups and create a sense of common purpose around tackling climate change.
- Share existing good practice and develop practical work on reducing carbon emissions.
June 30, 2009
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