Diaspora! Festival

Bristol & the South West

Celebrating Cultural Diversity Through the Arts

DIASPORA! is an arts festival for Bristol and the South West, which aims to showcase and better reflect the variety of talent within the region’s cultural communities.

Developed, produced, and presented by the Diverse Artists Network (DAN), and taking place this year for the very first time, the festival will platform artists from underrepresented cultural backgrounds. Meaning people from, largely, the diasporas of countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Central and South America. (Please note this is not a definitive list of underrepresented cultures or diasporas.)

Working in collaboration with a host of iconic venues, community initiatives, and well-loved institutions, DIASPORA! is set to be a vibrant celebration of people, music, film, poetry, dance, storytelling, and more!

16% of the South West population is made up of people from the global majority (as reported by Rising Arts Agency and Bristol City Council), but the region’s cultural output doesn’t reflect that. Building on six years of DAN’s artistic community development, DIASPORA! seeks to better reflect the region’s cultural diversity by showcasing and platforming artists from marginalised communities.

The ultimate aim of the festival is to create a more connected region through cultural exchanges, new artistic works, job opportunities and talent retention. In this way, DIASPORA! will help to redress the London-centric bent of the creative industries, and contribute to cultural capital by generating tourism. It will also support venues affected by Covid and the Cost of Living Crisis.

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