Rise Up 2023: Uncomfortable conversations in safe spaces

Exploring how we encourage and foster conversations around diversity, inclusion, equality and more in the creative industries.

Host – Nasim Rebecca Asl
Panellist – Salma Faraji
Panellist – Jim Muotune
Panellist – Elaine Cheng
Panellist – Jideofor Muotune

Nasim Rebecca Asl
Nasim Rebecca Asl is a Glasgow based poet and journalist. Her work has been published widely in magazines and anthologies, including in Poetry Wales, The Dark Horse and Gutter. Nasim has worked on projects with the likes of The Poetry Translation Centre, The Poetry Business and the Rugby League World Cup. She received a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award for Poetry in 2021 and was shortlisted for the 2022 Edwin Morgan Poetry Award. Her debut pamphlet, Nemidoonam was recently published by Verve Poetry Press.

Salma Faraji
Originally from Tanzania, now based in Glasgow, Salma has worked, performed, taught and shared joy alongside inspiring choreographers and communities worldwide. She is passionate about travel and Human Rights and spent 5 months volunteering as a Human Rights Ambassador in Brazil and Columbia, teaching Dance and English conversation in a Language exchange programme.

Her current vulnerable journey involves breaking the barriers of diversity and representing our unique voices in a multicultural society. Her passion is Dance, although she has many others. She aims to bring ethnic, cultural and diverse communities together through a mix of laughter, movement and fun.

Elaine Cheng
Elaine Cheng 鄭依玲 (she/her) is a composer/sound artist from Edinburgh, Scotland and from Hong Kong descent. Her practice is currently based around producing drone music from analog and modular synthesisers and has come from a compositional background in electroacoustic music. As Artist in Residence with Art27scotland, Elaine has utilised free improvisation as a compositional tool in her work. Elaine has studied at Goldsmiths, University of London, Newcastle University and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. She has released music with NX Records, TingShuo HearSay and The Lumen Lake. Her music has been played on various independent radio shows as well as BBC Radio 3 and NTS Radio.

Jideofor Muotune
Jideofor Muotune is a multi-platform content creator with over 30 years combined experience in the music and broadcasting industries. He is passionate about Equality Diversity and Inclusion and how all art forms can inform nuanced debate about race and culture in Scotland.

His skill set runs from legal and business affairs to radio feature, podcast, music, short form video and remote online production (during lockdown he produced this session for June Sarpong’s online festival of Black creativity.

Jideofor believes that improving EDI is not a spectator sport but requires the constant interrogation of a ‘critical friend’.

Born in Lagos, Nigeria but brought up in Glasgow, Jideofor has launched a platform – theafrowegian.org – to do just this.

Rise Up

Rise Up! Festival is a celebration of some of the many diverse voices and visions that shape Aberdeen and Scotland’s Black and PoC creative communities. Join us at the Music Hall and Lemon Tree for three days of art, music, and dialogue that challenge, inspire, and unite. Curated by We Are Here Scotland in partnership with Aberdeen Performing Arts.

See the whole programme here.