South Asian Arts (Vancouver)
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Vancouver 49° 15' 39.14" N, 123° 6' 50.23" W Arts Group
About[edit]
South Asian Arts was co-founded by Gurpreet Sian and Raakhi Sinha in 2005 with an aim to balance the lives of children and adults and develop their individuality through the arts, creating a passion for life. Since then, SAA has been active in promoting South Asian dance, music, and culture via dance & music classes, professional performances & workshops, guest lectures, as well as children’s cultural summer camps. SAA has travelled across British Columbia and taught over 30,000 students in both Elementary and Secondary schools.
In September 2010 and again in January 2011, they offered the first University accredited Bhangra dance class in North America at Simon Fraser University. The course received an overwhelmingly positive response with nearly 50 students registered for each semester. Beginning in February 2012, they also offered accredited High School level courses in South Asian dance and music.
The title of “producer” has also become part of their arsenal in presenting comedic plays, musicals, and dance dramas. Over the past six years, they've partnered with some amazing organizations including New Works, the PuSh Festival, neworldtheatre, and the Cultural Olympiad just to name a few. In 2009, they wrote, created, and produced an outdoor, interactive, dance & live music play called Bollywood Wedding, which was awarded the "Best Outdoor Interactive Theatre Events of 2009" by the Georgia Straight.
With prestigious South Asian dance and music performances ranging from the 2009 Juno Awards to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, they’ve firmly established ourselves as a premier organization successfully promoting the rich cultural diversity of British Columbian artists to widespread audiences. They are committed to artistic excellence through innovation and creativity.
Mandate[edit]
To create performance and educational opportunities for professional and amateur artists and build artistic forums that act as a platform for building knowledge of South Asian culture and to create bridges with western culture and highlight the similarities and differences via New Projects; New Ideas; New Collaborations.