March already! 2025 is flying by, and we are months away from our huge rebrand and launch. The office is buzzing with excitement, and we are all counting down the days…

Capital Update

Work continues to pick up speed on site at St Peter’s House. This month we’ve finally been able to walk into Studio 2 – a newly created space that is being designed for dance artists working with digital artforms and projection. Elsewhere, almost all the mechanical plant has been installed throughout the building, and the main theatre space is being prepared for the seating structure to be installed. The builders have been busy working on both new lifts too – it won’t be long until you’re able to take a ride to any floor in the building!

Upcoming Performances

Disco Queen by Ella Tighe

Thursday 10th April | 7:30pm | The Alhambra Studio, Morley Street, Bradford, BD7 1AJ | Pay What You Decide

Join Ella on a journey of high leg kicks, splits, spins, and gravity defying moves as she revisits her days in a hidden world where fake tan, rhinestones, and raw ambition rule. From smoky community halls to the high-stakes competition circuit, Disco Queen unpacks the highs and lows of striving for perfection in a community of strong young women navigating the realities of working-class Britain—all in the hope of becoming a champion, a legend, an icon… a Disco Queen. Tickets are currently sold out, but keep an eye on our socials for the last round of tickets soon.

Past Performances

Arts Iftar

Our team, performers and audience had a fantastic time at our Arts Iftar earlier in March. We had a full house of people all coming together to break their fast and enjoy an evening of Nasheeds, calligraphy, food and community.

‘The organisers, organisation, the Nasheeds and calligrapist, including the food was excellent. My son was hesitant to attend but thoroughly enjoyed it, the staff were very welcoming and kind to all, very respectful and it was an inclusive event, thankyou.’

Audience Feedback

We can’t wait for next years Arts Iftar at Bradford Arts Centre!

Madhavi

On Friday evening, we had Amritha Jayakrishnan with her performance of Madhavi at Mind The Gap. The performance was absolutely incredible, and it was a pleasure to have her perform with us.

“I was mesmerised by the performance. Really thought provoking. Well done, I loved it”

Audience Feedback

The day before the performance, Ami led a dance workshop with 15 students from Mind The Gap to get them excited for the show. They learnt about the different hand and feet movements she was using in her performance, and got to choreograph their own dances to round off the class.

What Have Our Staff Been Up To

On Friday 14^th of March, Fay went to see Sabrina Carpenter at the Coop live in Manchester with some of her friends.  It was Fay’s first visit to Coop Live and it won’t be her last, other than some sore feet from too much dancing, Fay had a great evening and would highly recommend Sabrina as a performer. 

Earlier this month Steve enjoyed a short break in Lisbon – Portugal’s capital. The weather was great, as was the local food. He managed to visit most of the main attractions including riding on the city’s historic trams, he even got to see a traditional Fado performance. He might have overdone it on the Pastel de nata’s (Portuguese custard tarts)!

Jess has had a busy arty March! She and the team behind Thornton Art Trail have been meeting weekly in preparation for their 2 day long trail in summer this year with nearly 45 artists and 13 venues lined up! She is also making plenty of work for a joint exhibition with our Arts and Heritage Officer Lauren in May! Finally, she got to take part in the Government Art Collection’s Q&A panel at Cartwright Hall, representing Bradfords artists as part of their I AM ME exhibition.

This month Claire enjoyed a trip to the Alhambra to see &Juliet and is looking forward to seeing Six! next month too. She also enjoyed a walk with her family around where she grew up and is looking forward to the lighter nights and warmer weather to go walking more.

Work Experience Students

This month, we had 2 work experience students working with us! They both had a fab time, and got super stuck in with the team and everything we have been up to. Check out what they both got up to here:

‘My work experience at Kala Sangam was really good. I helped to do set ups and I was at the door when people came in. I also had a look at original building that is under construction. Ifty looked after me everyday and all the other staff were nice to me.’ – Uwais

‘Coming here has been an amazing week because there was a lot on and it was incredible to get the things I wanted to do in the near future. There is many highlights to doing a placement here and one of them is being able to do something around photography and production. Also you all were very nice as I am the only student from my school, which is scary. When I stepped foot in this building, I thought it was going to be hard but it was easier than I had thought. Also thank you for taking me to Mind the Gap, its probably the best part of the experience. Being able to see lots of production and photography throughout the week.’ – Roxy

Archive Adventures

Our Archive Adventure videos are flying out on our socials every week. We are already on episode 8, and we are loving getting stuck in to all the amazing stories, people, photos, videos and more! This month, we have spoken to our Creative Director Alex Croft about our Back To The Studio Scheme, Jaivant Patel about our collaborations with his company, Tony O’Connell, who produced the first ever exhibition at Kala Sangam at St Peter’s House, and u3a about our Arts and Heritage Project. You can find the videos on our Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Youtube and now TikTok!

Who Has Been Using Our Space

Lydia Murray been taking advantage of the free studio space at Kala Sangam to work on her next show that’s been funded by a Develop Your Creative Practice Grant from the Arts Council England. She’s taking the year to explore incorporating comedic practices within more dramatic themes and looking at how this can be used to generate material for her new show: working title ‘A Glutton For Punishment?’. The first iteration of which was presented to a live audience for feedback at BOLD! scratch night this month at The Underground in Bradford. Whilst in the space, Lydia has been working with a number of creatives based in West Yorkshire specialising in dramaturgy and directing. 

Lydia will be touring her show ‘Closure?’ in May/June this year, so make sure you look out for it at a venue near you. ‘Closure?’ stands as an autobiographical tour de force, a captivating and interactive one-woman comedy performance lecture, that delves into the personal journey of seeking closure, after a particularly dysfunctional relationship and a series of others that fell short. Analysing past relationships by sending ex partners a questionnaire, at its core, the show ingeniously merges storytelling, multimedia, comedic flair, and interpretive dance to dissect the complexity of her past romantic entanglements.

You can book tickets for Lydia’s performance here

Arts and Heritage Update

Gemma at South Square

Our ESOL learners group at Lower Grange Community Centre have started an exciting new project with textile artist Claire Wellesley-Smith exploring their connections with each other and with Bradford. In March, the group will be planting flowers at the community centre which will be used to naturally dye fabrics. The Soul Girls have been busy creating more artworks for their art trail (which will be launched this July!) including building a Soul Girls family of sculptures using recycled materials and planting a living willow sculpture which will continue to grow for many years to come!

Grace and Ellie at Bloomin’ Buds

The Bloomin’ Buds team have been working this month to welcome their groups into their new homes across the BD10 area. To celebrate their time at The Rockwell Centre, Bloomin’ Buds hosted a final goodbye party where over 200 people visited to celebrate the memories, the community and the creativity that was established in the Centre over the 3 years that Rockwell was their home.

Bollywood and Kathak Classes

Our Bollywood dance classes are back this May!

Join us for a FREE Bollywood Taster Class on Saturday the 26th of April 11am – 12pm

No experience needed, just bring your energy! More information here

We also have our weekly Kathak Classes with RHYTHMOSAIC! Sign up here

Volunteer Call Out

Looking for volunteering opportunities to put on your CV? Or wanting to work with local arts organisations, community groups and professional artists? We have the perfect opportunity for you! 

Kala Sangam, South Square Centre, Keighley Creative and Bloomin Buds Theatre Company are looking for volunteers to help with our Arts and Heritage project! More information here

Booking Spaces

We are still taking room bookings for Kala Sangam at Bank House as we gear up to move back into St Peter’s House later this year. So, if you’re looking for a meeting room, training space or conference hall in the heart of the city centre, please email steveoconnell@kalasangam.org  Our building is accessible and all rooms have a projector, flipchart and fast Wi-Fi. Don’t forget, we also have in-house catering offering refreshments and food throughout your session.