News

Arts by the Sea is proud to have contributed to the Mela Partnership’s insightful #MelaReport and attended the launch at the UK Parliament on Monday 17th April. 

The meaning of Mela

Mela is the meeting, the coming together, the mix, the blend of unique aspects of our society – creative, resilient, spiritual. It comes from the Sanskrit ‘to meet’, related to ‘milana’ the verb to mix, to tune, to come together and is used to describe a large gathering of people, a fair or a festival.

At a time when understanding of each other, of difference matters so much – particularly with face-to-face opportunities, Mela plays an important role.

The Mela Partnership, led by Nutkhut, is a diverse, national membership network of festivals, volunteers and producers. It develops high quality creative programming, shares learning and builds capacity.

The Partnership supports the commissioning and touring of new and innovative outdoor arts productions, facilitates networking events and seminars and supports the professional development of the next generation of Mela makers. Our strength, impact and growth is a result of our diversity of faith, class and gender.

Mela is often the only publicly-funded arts activity which families attend outside their own family or community events.

Mela Partners

The Mela Partners include:

• Arts by the Sea – Bournemouth
• Bula Festival – Aldershot
• Camden Mela – London
• City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council
• Desi Fest Luton
• Eden Arts – Cumbria
• Hull Indian Mela – Kingston upon Hull
• Leicester City Council
• Luton Mela
• Manchester Mega Mela
• Middlesbrough Mela
• Newcastle Mela
• Peepul Centre – Leicester
• Preston City Mela
• Redcar and Cleveland
• Rushmoor Borough Council
• Southampton Mela – Arts Asia
• Tunbridge Wells Mela – Cohesion Plus

 As one of the Mela Partnership’s members, Arts by the Sea is proud to support the continued growth of Mela across the country #LetsCreate #NPO Read the full 2023 Mela Report here.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66_ZHj-ufgY