Happy Spring Equinox!

This time, it is going to be a Polish-Kurdish-Persian spring celebration for us. We are not promoting it publicly, opting out for a private gathering of friends on Sunday the 26th of March around 2 pm, a short drive away from Glasgow. If you'd like to take part, get in touch with Marzanna. 

And here are some pages from a newly released zine as part of the Putting Ourselves in the Picture by Migrant Voice, where Marzanna is the project coordinator. 

Happy Nowruz to all the Persian and Kurdish friends! Happy Spring Equinox, everyone! 

Glasgow Language Festival 2022

Welcome to 'Bhasha' Glasgow Language Festival 2022!

The festival taking place over 8 days between 20-27 February, offering a wide range of language-based and cultural activities to suit all tastes.

Some events take place online, others in venues across Glasgow. Sessions are free but signup is required for most of them. Book your place here: tinyurl.com/Bhasha2022

International Mother Language Day Exhibition

Sunday 20 February, 2-4pm

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, G3 8AG

Come along for a guided stroll amongst Glasgow Museums’ language related artefacts

and see the Shahid Minar display from the Bangladesh Association Glasgow.

No signup required. Drop in and enjoy meeting fellow language enthusiasts!

Opening Ceremony

Monday 21 February, 5.30-7pm

Online

Join us as we open the festival with a talk from UNESCO Chair prof. Alison Phipps,

a few words from the festival coordinators, and a speech from Bangladesh Association Glasgow.

Sign up here: tinyurl.com/BhashaOpening 

Govanhill Polyglot Sessions - language meetups and taster classes

Various times (see programme)

Online

Did you know that Govanhill is Scotland’s most linguistically diverse neighbourhood?

Join local people as they share their native languages in these friendly

taster sessions of Persian, Urdu, Romanes, Polish, and Arabic. All levels welcome! 

Sign up:

Arabic - tinyurl.com/GPSarabic 

Persian - tinyurl.com/GPSpersian 

Polish - tinyurl.com/GPSpolish 

Urdu - tinyurl.com/UrduGPS 

Romanes - tinyurl.com/Bhasha2022 

Learn Dabke with SAWA

Tuesday 22 February, 6-7:30pm

Garnethill Multicultural Centre, 21 Rose Street

Come along to try your hand (and feet) at Dabke, an Arabic traditional dance, at this workshop

by the Scottish Arab Women’s Association.

Limited capacity, signup required: tinyurl.com/DabkeSAWA

Multilingual Zine-Making Workshop Thursday 24 February 1-3pm Bees Knees Cafe, 83 Bowman Street, G42 8LF

Drop in and make a page for a collaborative community zine (a DIY magazine)

at this hands-on workshop. Suitable for all ages and languages.

No signup required, you can join us at any point during the session.

Verse Universe

Friday 25 February, 6.15-8pm

Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre, Trongate 103, G1 5HD

Multilingual song & poetry from around the world and a mini show of Eduard Bersudsky's

marvellous mechanical sculptures. Sign up:

VERSE UNIVERSE | Glasgow Language Festival at Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre TicketSource

 

Poetry Patter

Saturday 26 February, 5-7pm, Private flat in West End 

Poetry Patter is hosting a cozy gathering swapping favourite poems from around the world.

Snatch your place in a private Glasgow West End living room before they're gone!

Sign up here: tinyurl.com/Bhasha2022 

Arabic Mosaic

Saturday 26 February, 3-5pm

Online 

Global Arabic Group

Join this group of diverse Arabic fans, who come together from all corners of the world

to practise their conversational skills and play language games.

The group speaks MSA and also welcomes speakers of various Arabic dialects. 

Sign up: tinyurl.com/ArabicMosaic 

Language Party in the garden

Sunday 27 February, 11am-2pm

The Bowling Green, 49 McCulloch Street, G41 1SU

We’ll wrap up the festival in style with interactive activities for all the family

including a calligraphy workshop from the Scottish Arab Women’s Association,

an open mic, face painting, postcards activity from Glasgow museums, and more!

No signup required.

Meet some of the Cosmopolis Group

Cosmopolis Independent Creative Group was founded in March 2010
by Marzanna (Mana) Antoniak and Anna Maria Strzalkowska.

We are a group of friends who share passion for cultural animation and enjoy having fun! There is no formal structure, we're open and dynamic, and we welcome other creatives. Over the years, the group has grown and continues to grow.  

Meet some of the Group:

Marzanna (Mana) Antoniak

is a culture animator, community development worker, and a language teacher with a special interest in working with people who have had little experience of formal education. 

Originally from Poland, she made Scotland her home in 2008, and through her involvement with multi-ethnic communities and professional training, she developed a strong belief in unbounded communication and inclusive diversity as community-making powers.

As the cofounder of the Cosmopolis Creative Group, she has programmed cross-cultural festivals and events around Glasgow and beyond, including the multilingual Verse Universe performances of world poetry and song, and workshops and celebrations based on Slavic folk traditions.

She has also brought to life Poetry Patter, a group reading poetry from around the world.

A speaker of several languages, she currently works in Govanhill, the most ethnically diverse area in Scotland, where at least 88 languages are spoken (and she is still counting them).

She is fond of Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre where she sometimes presents shows of Eduard Bersudsky’s magical kinemats and stages events at the gallery at Trongate 103.

Together with Marion Eele, she organised the Bhasha Glasgow Language Festival 2021.

 

Anna Maria Strzalkowska

holds a Masters degree in Socio-Cultural Animation (specialization: Drama) and for several years she worked in a Cultural Centre  (Mass Events Department) in Poland, before moving to Scotland in 2006. 

Anna is the co-founder of Cosmopolis. 
She has also A Higher National Diploma (HND) for Graphic Design and Animation.

Her experience and skills in planning, conducting workshops and events also graphic design, illustration skills, and artistic eye have been a great asset to the group. 

She has an art studio in Glasgow’s East End where she sometimes disappears to paint and collage. 

In 2019, Anna opened her dream a cafe on 83 Bowman Street in Govanhill in Glasgow.
She called it Bee’s Knees Cafe and made it a unique artful place in the buzzing Southside where you can come coorie in, delight the palate, make beautiful connections, contemplate life...

Anna loves people and she loves art and coffee, too.

Bee's Knees Cafe

The Picture Field
Here you can find musical fairy tales with her illustrations:

Link to the musical fairy tales

John Cavanagh

John is, variously, a voiceover artist, radio broadcaster, writer, musician, record producer and occasional label operator. Chances are that, wherever you’ve been, you’ve heard him at some point across the last three decades, whether it was as the voice that introduced all the different sports events at Glasgow’s 2014 Commonwealth Games, playing music on the radio, or as the voice of innumerable narrations, commercials and installations in many countries across the globe.

John’s book on the early days of Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd is available in English, Italian and Spanish, with a Chinese translation soon to be published by Bloomsbury Press. 

His recorded catalogue, working under the name Phosphene, as part of the duo Electroscope or in other collaborations, spans 25 years. He’s produced records, notably in a long and fruitful run with Scottish legend Rab Noakes. As a record label operator, Cavanagh’s releases include albums by Delia Derbyshire, Ron Geesin and Lol Coxhill.

John’s involvement with the Cosmopolis Creative Group dates back to the early 2010s when he acted as compere for the annual spring equinox festival in Glasgow called Drowning Marzanna.

Further collaborations ensued with events staged at the Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre or even as an open-air procession on Glasgow’s Trongate involving performances of poetry and song in many different languages.

John says of the Cosmopolis Creative Group: “Being involved with events devised by Cosmopolis across time has been a joy. From colourful pageants to the hosting of multilingual poetry gatherings under headings such as Verse Universe, it’s wonderful to see and hear how the sharing of the music of language unites many diverse communities in the appreciation of cultures from around the world which are welcomed here in Glasgow. The keynote of Cosmopolis is that of the inquisitive mind, ever eager to learn and connect with the fascination strands of our wonderful world, brought together through the lens of communities in our city."

Ashley Holdsworth Quinn

is an academic with a background in textile craft and community arts

facilitation. While running a freelance craft business she provided fabrication and production services for contemporary artists in Glasgow and further afield, making items to order and also running craft workshops for community projects, therapeutic purposes, and just for fun!

She also offered tuition in knitting, crochet, spinning, and dressmaking, and it is through this work that she became involved with 

the Cosmopolis Creative Group, eventually providing crucial support with paperwork for community arts events such as Drowning Marzanna, a popular cross-community celebration of the arrival 

of Spring.

She is a member of Russkaya Cappella, Glasgow’s Russian Choir.

Russkaya Cappella exists to promote Russian choral music in Scotland to people unfamiliar with the repertory, but also provides a cultural focus for Russian-speaking people living here, their families, and people interested in learning the language.

Ashley has a Masters degree from Glasgow School of Art in Curatorial Practice for Contemporary Art, and is currently taking a break from freelance crafting while she undertakes doctoral research at the University of Glasgow into the reception of Russian music and musicians in Scotland in the early twentieth century.

In November 2015 Ashley co-founded Knit for Unity: Across the Globe with human rights activist Pinar Aksu. Knit for Unity is a friendly, community-led knitting group that makes cosy hats, scarves and blankets for anyone in need, anywhere in the world.

by Duncan Holmes

Marion Eele

Originally from Wales, Marion moved to Glasgow in 2016 to do 

her master’s at Glasgow School of Art. Her background is in art 

and publishing, and she now works in community development 

in Govanhill.

Marion is interested in languages and stories of migration, a calling that has taken her from London to Amman. 

In 2019 she co-curated the exhibition Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From for Gallerie delle Prigioni in Italy and the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto. The travelling exhibition brought together new commissions by 15 artists from around the world whose work deals with themes of movement, identity, and belonging.

Her other passion is learning and sharing traditional crafts, including knitting, weaving, crochet, sewing, and more.

Marion joined Cosmopolis Creative group recently and has helped to organise the Bhasha Glasgow Language Festival.

Annie and Peter Bowyer

moved to Glasgow in 2011 and immediately fell in love with the vibrant and cultured city. Through the Govanhill People's oral history project they became involved with Cosmopolis events, and participated in many wild and wonderful occasions. Although now only occasionally Glasgow residents their heart is still there!

Pictures by the talented Glasgow photographer Karen Gordon.

Kasia Korzeniowska

is the good spirit of Cosmopolis and has been a part of the group since the very beginning. She leads on many activities for children at our events. And she does a lot of work ‘behind the scenes’, including making decorations, shopping, and logistics. 

In everyday life, she is a teacher assistant in a primary school and enjoys crafts and physical exercise.

Photo by Zoom Zoom Photography 

Drowning Marzanna 2011

These are just a few faces of our Cosmopolis community. 

You can see many others in the photographs and videos on our blog. Among them musicians, photographers, film-makers, artists, and many other culture and fun lovers. 

Thank you all that you are !!!

Poetry Patter at GIF

Poetry Patter now has a Facebook page where you can follow us for updates of future events.

Some photographs from our Poetry Patter event as part of the Govanhill International Festival.

Readings included poetry from Romania, Scotland, Russia, Poland, and we also got introduced to an Arabic song.

Bee's Knees Cafe, 29/08/2020

Sharmanka's multilingual performances

As part of the Merchant City Festival, a unique story telling walk culminated at Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre where multilingual performances accompanied by Eduard Bersudsky’s marvellous mechanical sculptures celebrated Glasgow’s present, past, and its welcoming openness to the world beyond the city.

Performers in order of appearance:

Stepan Zatkulak
Ivan Nieto
Alok Samartha
Pawel Glowienka
Adnan Shamdeen
Lyn Krige
Charlie Doran
Sophie Casimira Kromholz
Marzanna Antoniak
John Cavanagh
Jo Bowie
Mo Asif