This year’s Festival programme sets out to express London’s creative connections with India through new collaborations and pioneering outdoor commissions from London based and Indian companies.

Follow the links below for full programme details:

* Week 1, Thursday 2 to Sunday 5 August
* Week 2, Thursday 9 to Sunday 12 August
* Week 3, Thursday 16 to Sunday 19 August

Highlights of the festival include:

• 'Dreaming Now', an entrancing dance extravaganza combining ballet with Bharat Natyam from Akademi South Asian Dance UK;
• 'Shiva Dance', a poetic and newly commissioned aerial dance piece directed by Vena Ramphal evoking the sacred Chola bronze sculptures of Southern India;
• a stunning collaboration between leading installation artist Naresh Kapuria, working with London-based Kathak dancers and the Belgian Theater Tol featuring hundreds of Indian bells and entrancing performers suspended from a crane
• a new outdoor performance from Tara Arts, who will create a powerful theatrical ritual celebrating the relationship between London and Delhi;
• a major new commission from the Bangalore-based Attakkalari Centre evoking the sights and sounds of Indian streets.

Thursday 20th September 2007, 2.00 – 4.00pm (please drop-in at any time)
Della Clyne House, 40 St Johns Way, London N19 3RR

This will be another opportunity for staff and volunteers from Refugee Community Organisations, as well as other professionals working with refugees, to visit the Centre. You can learn more about our work and the services we are providing, and have your questions answered about how to refer clients.

There will also be a chance to get involved with the Refugee Community Representatives Steering Committee, which advises the Centre’s work.

If you would like more information about this event, please contact Miriam Philip on 020 7272 2565 or at miriam@refugeetherapy.org.uk

Starting in July and September, 15 hours per week
Pott Street, Bethnal Green, London E2 0EF (nearest tube station Bethnal Green, Central Line)

Who is eligible?

• Refugees and EU Accession Country Migrants are given priority.
• You must be eligible to work in this country.
• The course is suitable for adults whose first language is not English.
• You must be able to read, write, understand and speak English at Entry Level 3 or Level 1 (intermediate level).
• We cannot accept beginners in English on this course.
• You must live in the Greater London area.

  Aims of the course:
  • Complete Skills for Life ESOL qualifications in all 4 skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing
  • Improve your spoken and written English language skills
  • Be more aware of the employment opportunities in the care sector
  • Be more confident to apply for jobs and /or further training

  How will you learn on the course?

  • Listening, speaking, reading, writing, grammar and pronunciation exercises
  • Role plays
  • Tutor presentation and practice
  • Work orientation projects
  • Presentations
  • Discussions
  • Information technology
  • Tutorials

For more information, Please contact Fabricio at Praxis on 020 7729 7985

Social Enterprise London and City Bridge Trust are running a new support programme for the voluntary sector, to equip managers with the skills to help their organisations excel. ‘London Advance’ will give thirty non-profits from the London boroughs a full diagnostic review in order to produce a development plan, an intensive training programme focused particularly on management and leadership skills, and rich scope for peer networking.

The programme will take place in London between October 07 and April 08. Smaller organisations and those with a specialist focus on the needs of either BAME, disabled, refugee or women's communities are particularly encouraged to apply. Participants must be based in the London boroughs. Travel costs in the Greater London area will be reimbursed. Participants will gain a year’s membership of the London Social Enterprise Network.

For further information and an application form click here.

ONE DAY training in Central London
9:45am – 16:30pm, Friday 28 September 2007
9:45am – 16:30pm, Friday 26 October 2007

ORAMA organises a one day training for voluntary organisation in order to:

• Explore issues that affect your daily life in thousand different ways
• Examine and confront stereotypes, prejudices, racism, discrimination
• Find out ways of promoting diversity in your environment
• Exchange views and experiences with others
• Increase your confidence in dealing with such important issues
• Provide for an inclusive and productive environment in your organisation
• Improve your communication with your diverse clients
  

For more information, please contact Elina on elina.stamou@orama4diversity.org or on 0208 342 9686

Thursday 16th August 2007, 9.30am-4.45pm
School for Social Entrepreneurs, 18 Victoria Park Square, Bethnal Green, London E2 9PF

Are you trying to start or grow an organisation that benefits your community?
Would you like to hear from people who have been there and done it?
Would you benefit from a day of leadership training to learn about social entrepreneurship and social enterprise?
If so, then this training could be for you. The School for Social Entrepreneurs supports individuals - social entrepreneurs - who strive to improve people's lives and affect change in their communities. We are running this event for people to sample SSE's approach and to provide leadership skills training for social and community entrepreneurs.

During this training you will hear from social entrepreneur you will learn about the characteristics that make social entrepreneurs successful. You will also learn about social enterprise, and how this relates to other types of social organisations such as charities. SSE works with a diverse range ofindividuals and organisations. They particularly welcome people to this event from black and minority ethnic groups. This training is specifically tailored to individuals working directly for the benefit of their communities rather than second tier organisations.

If you would like to attend this event please e-mail: dorota.luksza@sse.org.uk, or phone on 020 8981 0300

Research conducted by Social Enterprise London (SEL) has revealed that employees of social enterprises are happier on a range of issues than their counterparts in the voluntary, private and public sectors. To celebrate the success of the movement and to encourage further growth, SEL is extending an open invitation throughout August for individuals and organisations to join its network for a year’s free membership.

SEL has just completed an extensive survey of over 160 organisations, examining issues such as employee satisfaction and levels of motivation. The findings reveal that on these key fronts, social enterprises are the clear front-runners. 66% of employees in social enterprises understand the mission and goals of their organisation, compared to the composite rating of only 30% for the other three sectors. 59% feel proud of where they work, as opposed to 27% in other sectors. A strong sign for retention rates is given as 64% of social enterprise employees stated a desire to be working in a social enterprise in 5 years time.

In terms of workplace environment, more employees of social enterprises agree that communication is encouraged within the workplace than in any other sector. A further commonality is that discrimination and harassment are felt to be lower in social enterprises than is the case in other organisations. Looking at the third sector as a whole, 78% of employees (those working in social enterprises and voluntary organisations) agree that employers are supportive of their needs, while employees from the private and public sectors responded with a rating of 68%.

The full report on the findings can be read here

Individuals and organisations interested in a year’s free membership of the London Social Enterprise Network should email Jessica@sel.org.uk.

• Introductory workshops and guidelines on how to assure quality;
• Help to develop an action plan about how you will address quality
• Specialist training and consultancy to help you introduce improvements to your management or service delivery;
• Signposting to the relevant external quality standard agencies

Next deadline: 12 September 2007

Preventing Violent Extremism Community Leadership Fund is a grants programme to build the capacity of Muslim communities to take practical steps to reject violent extremism and feel a welcome part of wider British society. The fund will focus on three strands:

• Leadership Capacity - building the capacity of today and tomorrow’s leaders in the Muslim community, to enable them to help the community to resist the influence of violent extremists and promote a positive and engaged citizenship.
• Organisational Capacity - building the capacity of organisations in the Muslim community to actively resist the influence of violent extremists.
• Capacity of Muslim Women - unlocking the potential of Muslim women in tackling violent extremism, enabling their voices to be heard and empowering them to engage with young Muslims at risk of being targeted by violent extremists.

The grants programme will support projects with a national impact - either a wide geographic impact or, exceptionally, ‘trailblazing’ projects that will provide ideas / information which can form the basis of national best practice. A priority will be to build on good practice and lessons learnt from the wider voluntary and community sector, including activities of individuals/ organisations of other faiths or none.

For further information click here

• The Head of Policy, Partnerships and Communications will develop and manage this new team working with local partnerships and networks so that the third sector is effectively represented and achieving positive change (Salary £35,589 per annum; Hours: 35 per week)
• The Policy and Research Officer will work with third sector organisations to undertake research projects that will inform community representatives to local partnerships (Salary: £29,289 pro rata Hours: 17.5 per week)
• The Islington Compact Co-ordinator will develop the Compact between the third sector and statutory partners. (Salary: £29,289 pro rata Hours: 17.5 per week)
• The Communications Officer will ensure that IVAC communicates effectively with the third sector, making the most effective use of our database and website. (Salary: £28,539 pro rata Hours: 17.5 per week)