In March, Cast Theatre in Doncaster approached Hive to see if we’d like to collaborate on an open mic ‘mehfil’ (the name for an Indian gathering of entertainment), during the Alchemy South Asian Arts Festival taking place at the theatre in June. The focus would be South Asian young voices but all would be welcome. What a great opportunity!
In the run up to the event, Hive ran poetry workshops for young people of South Asian heritage including with Doncaster’s Young Muslimahs, a group of young Muslim women (12+) who come together to learn and make a difference in the community. The young women, many of whom hadn’t written a poem since they were very young, surprised themselves writing some beautiful, powerful and heartfelt pieces about everything from family to their hopes for the future.
On Saturday 3rd June, the open Mic Mehfil hosted by Hive at Cast drew a great crowd. Young writers travelled from outside of Doncaster to attend the event, and, as well as local young writers (who had never done anything like this before), parents and family were there in the audience supporting.
The event blew people away and older family members who had come to watch came to say how much they had enjoyed and been moved by the young people and their work.
Here’s to more mehfils in future!