Mixing Faiths on the Big Screen

On the Big Screen in Humberstone Gate this rainy Friday afternoon, a short film called "Mixing Faiths", made by students from Regent College (or "Regents College") as the on-screen credit has it.

Animated cartoon heads of four teenagers (whom I assume to be students at the college) talk about faith issues that affect them personally. It was hard to hear everything that what was being said in the film, but it all looked good to me. I'm sure the students have done a good job on this. More power to them!

The talking heads are surrounded by a border displaying the symbols of many religions, faiths and beliefs, in a stylised hand-drawn manner. I spotted symbols for each of the eight member communities of Leicester Council of Faiths, as well as for Humanism and Shintoism.

2009'S TOP 10: 7

“Sacred on Location”,

Central Lending Library, Belvoir Street, Leicester,

Friday 16 January - Friday 6 February 2009

This was a touring version of the British Library’s most successful ever exhibition (on show at the British Library’s St Pancras site, April to September 2007). It visited Leicester’s Central Lending Library for three weeks. The exhibition brought together some of the world’s most important and beautiful religious texts, exquisite and rare examples of Jewish, Christian and Muslim sacred texts from the British Library’s collections were presented in a unique and compelling modern context, which included a distinctive interactive element, enabling visitors to leaf virtually through some of the Library’s greatest treasures and even to hear extracts from the texts chanted aloud in their original languages. It also provided people with the chance to explore information about customs and rituals from the three faiths featured in the original exhibition: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

I was commissioned to run a series of workshops on behalf of Leicester Council of Faiths, for several schools and colleges who were booked in to visit the exhibition. Unfortunately, this coincided with the worst snowfall in England for over 25 years; a fairly small amount of snow brought the country to its knees for days on end. So only two of the workshops went ahead, with Crown Hills Community College and Regent College. This was an excellent exhibition to have come to Leicester and it's a pity that more people didn't see it. Of those who did get to see it, many complained that it didn't reflect the nature of religious diversity in our city, focusing as it did only on Judaism, Christianity and Islam. But that was missing the point and there are always plenty of people who will do that, sadly. To counteract any such feelings of omission or misrepresentation, we were able to display our full series of leaflets, featuring all eight of the religions represented on Leicester Council of Faiths, in the entrance to the library. Loads of these were taken away by visitors to the library over the course of the exhibitions.

Sacred on Location launched at an event split between the The Mitchell Library and Botanic Gardens in Glasgow on 27 April 2007 before touring the UK for more than two years in all.

Many Faiths: One Future

To Leicester College, Freemens Park Campus, this lunchtime for their student conference, “Many Faiths: One Future”. This has been a long time in the planning and is being held in collaboration with the Council of Faiths. They have about 100 students, not just from Leicester College, but from the three other FE colleges in the city: Gateway College, Regent College and Wyggeston & Queen Elizabeth I College. There’s a nice lunch (I arrive in time to get some of the food, thankfully), the conference is formally opened by our Lord Mayor (a busy man for this cause) and on the stage are Dr Don Brooks (Vice Principal, Quality and Planning, Leicester College), Councillor Manjula Sood (Deputy Mayor of Leicester and Chair of the Council of Faiths), Minou Cortazzi (past Chair of the Council of Faiths) and Maureen Sier (Inter Faith Development Officer for the Scottish Government) who is the keynote speaker, as she was  at the launch of the week in County Hall on Monday evening. Introductions are done by Vinod Chadusama (Inclusion Coordinator, Student Services, Leicester College). Vinod has been the main man behind this event (along with Sharen Kang, the college’s Faiths and Enrichment Coordinator). Any success here should be credited to them. Naim sings again, we have our speakers, then the students break into groups around the tables to discuss and consult. A sizable group get up and walk out together just after 1430, just before Maureen finishes speaking; when asked why they’re leaving, one says “It’s Wednesday; we always go home at half-two on Wednesday.” Some more take the opportunity to sneak away during the break, but enough stay behind to make for good discussions. I can’t stay for that, as I’m off back to the exhibition in Highcross.