Hi there,

Welcome to the latest edition of our NAAC e-alert.

We are back for our Summer term at the NAAC Music & Dance Academy! We have great opportunities for music, dance and cricket enthusiasts...Yes the All Stars Cricket & Dynamos Cricket training takes place at the Academy too!

Our Bollywood classes are back with Vrundadevi, from 6:00pm every Wednesday. Please let your friends and family know about the classes. 

All our students are busy preparing for their performances coming up in the next few months. We are very pleased that our Academy students will be performing at the Wollaton Arts Festival Grand Finale on Sunday 26 June in the grounds of Wollaton Hall & Deer Park and then the Nottingham Mela in September (2 September - 4 September 2022)...We will have free workshop sessions in August to prepare for the Mela performances. If you would like to perform at the Mela or volunteer at any of our events then please get in touch with NAAC... 

Finally, due to funding cuts, NAAC is looking for sponsors to support its sustainability and would welcome anyone wanting to sponsor our events, classes, etc. Please get in touch with us if you can help!

NAAC Music & Dance Academy

Nottingham Asian Arts Association (NAAC) Music & Dance Academy aspires to promote and support South Asian Arts through arranging and promoting a wide range of workshops for people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds.

The Academy is a centre of excellence with tutors who are of high calibre, professional and specialist with years of experience in delivering quality classes in vocal, music and dance.

So whether you want to keep fit with Bollywood Zumba, learn how to dance or learn a musical instrument for fun, as a hobby, or want to achieve and pass grades, we can tailor our music, vocal and dance tuition to meet your needs.

To register your interest and NAAC membership please contact:

Nina Virdi on 07944 051187, Bhavesh Jani on 07792 247331 or

NAAC 0115 8765589/8765590.

For full details, use this link to download the poster...

Registration Form...

April - July 2022 Term Dates...

For directions to the Academy use this link... 

Forthcoming Events & Other News:

International Day of Yoga 2022

Sunday 19 June 2022

We are celebrating the International Yoga Day.

Come and celebrate Fathers Day and International Day of Yoga at this historic park, Wollaton Hall on Sunday 19 June.

Light food, fruit and water will be served at the end of the program. 

See you there...😊🙏

Wollaton Arts Festival

Saturday 18th June to Sunday 26th June 2022

There's some exciting news for June! The Wollaton Arts Festival is coming to Wollaton Park again, with Live Music, Park Run, Tours & more...! Plus even more events & activities throughout Wollaton Village! Saturday 18th June - Sunday 26th June Check out the flyer with timetable of events & activities happening throughout the Wollaton area. Discover more: wollatonhall.org.uk/Wollaton-Arts-Festival Visit Notts / What's On In Nottingham / My Nottingham / My Lenton & Wollaton East / My Wollaton West / Councillor Zafran Khan This year we will be having a week long event with in person activities as well as online events, Art in Shop Windows (on Bramcote Lane) and #SpringWindows - a chance to get involved in creating and sharing your art from home. See some truly wonderful artwork and creativity at the festival, be inspired and get involved to create your own works of art whatever your preferred medium. Our programme of events for 2022 can be found by clicking this link: wollatonhall.org.uk/Wollaton-Arts-Festival The Grand Finale  Sunday 26 June, 12:30pm - 5:00pm On Sunday 26 June 2022, in the grounds of Wollaton Hall & Deer Park (12:30pm to 5pm) will be the Wollaton Arts Festival Finale - which will aim to bring all members of the community together especially our diverse communities to a FREE family fun day with live performances, arts activities/workshops and showcasing activities in the area. NAAC will be showcasing their students' performances from the  Music & Dance Academy from 2pm to 3pm at the finale on the main stage. There will be vocal, tabla, dhol, kathak and bollywood dance performances, so please come along and support these budding artists!  Mrs Jai Verma, Mr Harminder Nagi and the Kavya Rang poetry group will also be reciting various poetry on the unplugged stage from 2:45pm to 3:45pm...Look forward to seeing you all there...

'Refugees Welcome! With Poets Against Racism'

Open Mic and Open Floor for Nottingham Refugee Week 2022

The Carousel, Hockley, 7-9pm, 23^rd June

Kindly supported by the Postcolonial Studies Centre at Nottingham Trent University

This Refugee Week, you are warmly invited to join Poets Against Racism's Manjit Sahota for an evening of making your words count. Manjit will be taking to the floor to perform some of his own works on the subject of sanctuary, while there'll be space for open mic contributions, and an 'open floor' policy for discussion. 

Feel free to bring along anything you would like to read on the subject of 'welcome', or simply listen and support.

The event is free, but please register via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/refugees-welcome-open-mic-and-open-floor-with-poets-against-racism-tickets-344626445977

Donations for Care 4 Calais will be taken at the event.

This event is taking place as part of Nottingham Refugee Week, a festival that celebrates the culture of sanctuary we have built here in Nottingham. 

Please check out the full programme at https://nottinghamrefugeeweek.org/2022/#intro and share widely.

Feel free to contact PSC member and NRW Chair Anna Ball with any queries: [email protected].

Volunteer for Nottingham Youth Justice Service

Nottingham Youth Justice Service (YJS) is looking for committed, caring people representing the diverse communities throughout Nottingham who are willing to give their time to challenge youth crime in the city, in the role of a Volunteer Panel Member.

Nottingham Youth Justice Service (YJS) hope people will take this opportunity to join the YJS as a volunteer to develop in this valuable role.  Training is provided and no experience is necessary. 

To find out more about the role and for an application form, please go to https://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/VolunteerForYJS.  Please send completed application forms by Saturday 11 June 2022.

If you have any further questions not answered on the website, please call Phil Kirk on 0115 9159400 or alternatively, email: [email protected]

JOY, AWE AND TEARS – My association with Sargam by Shireen Isal Joy, awe and tears: a range of emotions experienced over forty years of artists’ management through Association Sargam!  Intense feelings in unequal measure, for the joy and awe have vastly outweighed any angst or tears.  For this I owe immense thanks to the fifty Indian musicians and dancers, and their accompanists, that I was privileged to invite to tour Europe over four decades (1978 – 2018).  “Joy, Awe and Tears” is that story, of my love affair with the performing arts of India, a discovery that infused me with a passion to reveal its timeless beauty on the shores of that continent – Europe - where destiny brought me: in France, the UK and innumerable European countries.  The vision started with a seed, planted, in the early seventies in Mumbai, through a simple encounter with an Indian dance recital and its protagonists: the iconic Jhaveri Sisters (Manipuri dance) and that awesome connoisseur of Indian dance, Shri Sunil Kothari.   And, from that moment, there was no turning back. Revealing the magic of India’s classical heritage to a western audience became akin to a personal calling, which consumed my professional life for forty years.  All was not smooth sailing. I have encountered generosity and gratitude but experienced extreme personal hurt and disappointments too; eccentricities and clashes of egos amidst humility and kind understanding.  Some of those negative experiences did take their toll but the overwhelming feeling that remains with me today is one of pure magic! “Joy, Awe and Tears” relates all this simply, as it happened.  Above all, it is a catalogue of Sargam’s achievements over four decades and grateful recognition of those – artists, organisers, audiences and family - who made it all possible. I hope you enjoy reading it. The book is available: In the UK, at Amazon.co.uk.  (link: https://amzn.to/3gDNeF0).  Price: £7.85 + postage or directly from the author.

Did you know that you are one of over 60,000 City residents who enjoy the convenience of receiving their Stay Connected e-bulletins of choice in their inbox. Why not take a moment to update your topic choices so you get the greatest benefit from our free Stay Connected service.

Nottingham Asian Arts Association (NAAC),

Communities Courtyard, Wollaton Road, Wollaton Park, Nottingham NG8 2AD

Email: [email protected] and [email protected]

Tel: 0115 876 5589 / 0115 876 5590

Nina Mob: 07944 051187 | Bhavesh Mob: 07792 247331