The lack of role models for the Muslim community combined with a vision to link faith and the arts led marketing expert Naz Koser to set up Ulfah Arts in Birmingham four years ago. She tells Joy Francis why it is important for new voices to be heard and how a dynamic Muslim female superhero was created.

March/April 2008

Naz Koser

You don’t come from an arts background?

No, my background is in marketing. About four years ago, after attending a lot of arts events, I noticed that there wasn’t much of a Muslim presence or audience. I realised that I was hanging about in the arts without any Muslim women around. That made me ask, but why? I also realised that there was a lack of products to engage a Muslim audience. So one thing led to another and Ulfah Arts was born. The organisation looks at audience development and developing artists.

I notice that you don’t get core funding, yet Ulfah Arts has worked with a range of mainstream agencies such as the Arts Council England. Bearing in mind the recent cuts to small arts organisations, how are you managing?

I have no idea. It is pure faith, I think. I’m at a stage now where I’m doing a lot of planning rather than chasing funding. I am looking at what Ulfah Arts needs to be doing and possible partnerships. We recently had visitors from Amsterdam and Denmark. We were exploring our respective communities and finding areas of common ground. So there is an international strategy developing. We are so unique in the UK and now I realise internationally. To build the organisation to the level that it needs to be will take a bit of time, but once we have the right partnerships in place, we will go for the funding.

Apart from yourself, who else works with you? Do you have an artistic team or do you bring people in on a project by project basis?

I have two part time staff. One is a community development engagement officer who networks with women and draws in the audiences for our shows. Then we have a projects officer who works closely with me in developing initiatives. She is also an artist in her own right. Since last year I’ve been developing as an artist myself. I have a lot of creative ideas around products that I feel need to be put out there. I have tried to do them through other people, but they haven’t quite hit the spot. So I’ve had to do them myself. I’m working on my solo commission at the moment, which is called Too Punk to Pray, which will be part of the Live Arts Festival in Birmingham. But the normal process for us is to income generate. We usually get commissioned for a project and I put together the appropriate creative team. We would put out an open call for people to participate in our writing workshops. You don’t have to be an experienced writer to take part which is what is exciting for us. We encourage people who have never written before and a lot of the time it is very good work. The sessions are facilitated by professionals from Birmingham Rep Theatre and the BBC.

Your recent play Danger Gulaam Fatima is about a heroic superwoman in a hijab. How did the production come about and what have those who have seen it said to you?

Danger Gulaam Fatima is a concept the team came up with. We were interested in showing everyday situations that Muslim women find themselves in to give our stories a voice. It wasn’t necessarily about preaching Islam or showing that we weren’t terrorists. Our stories came out of brainstorming sessions and through the spoken word. We also wanted to highlight key women from Islamic history who have been quite powerful. The superhero character Fatima encompasses all their spirits and their wisdom – that is what she uses to help the other Muslim women realise what they are worth. We’ve had Muslim and non-Muslim audiences. Muslim women have been quite inspired and excited about what we have created. From the Muslim men’s point of view, there were parts in the piece that were quite difficult for them. I think mainly because of seeing Muslim women on stage and also some of the content was possibly quite difficult for them because it is the truth. And from the non-Muslim audiences, it was quite nice to hear that they felt privileged to be in the space and hear these stories and new voices.

Can you give me an example of which aspects of the stories some of the Muslim men in the audience struggled with?

One was the character that I played in the piece where I do a piece of poetry. In it I am angry with my dad because he didn’t love me like the Prophet Mohammed loved his daughter Fatima. It is quite strong piece. I think that for a lot of the men that is the only piece they remember. They were saying that there should be bits that were more spiritual and more positive. There were a lot more positive pieces, but the fact that they only remembered my one showed that it was the story that resonated with them a bit more. Some men said it was reinforcing stereotypes, but to be honest I think it was hearing a woman is talking about the Prophet Mohammed and the relationship he had with his daughter and how wonderful and beautiful that was. This viewpoint isn’t common so it ruffled a few feathers.

What have been some of the challenges you faced when combining the arts and faith?

Loads! From the arts world point of view, they seem to think that faith is ‘preachy’ or religious doctrine. I’ve experienced a lot of fear and closed minds and not really understanding what I’m trying to do. But now the work is more established, people are more wanting to see what Ulfah Arts is all about, and when they do come it is often surprises them, in a good way. With the Muslim community it is the opposite, many believe that they can’t engage in art forms as it is against their religion. Yet when they come and see the work they realise that it doesn’t contradict their religion. And the ones who feel very strongly just stay away. With Danger Gulaam Fatima, Muslim women said we need more of this work.

You mentioned that you had visitors from Holland and Denmark and I know that you are hoping to perform in London. How easy has it been to take the work outside of Birmingham to the regions including London?

It is getting easier. Muslim women are quite fashionable at the moment politically and what we are doing is very different. I don’t think we will have that much difficultly in getting our shows in front of the right people. It might be a bit different within the Muslim community. If there are women-only events then we will get the interest. The bigger events in the Muslim community rarely profile Muslim female artists, particularly performing artists. So it will be interesting to see whether the massive Muslim events in London will be interested in what we are doing.

What are your future plans and creative priorities for the next 12 months?

There are a number of different projects. One is a writing project that could come together in a writing festival. It is in the very early stages. We are still negotiating with partners and looking at the details such as whether the festival becomes an annual event and tours. We have attracted some interest from Denmark. They are already talking about International Women’s Day 2009 and having a group of our artists go to Denmark to showcase their work.

Ulfah is an Arabic word for ‘harmony’.

Website: www.ulfaharts.co.uk

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