Please watch and share! This is the creative work we at Outside The Frame Arts, have been engaged with over the last few months. We’ve loved the journey! For more updates follow us on twitter @artsOTFA and subscribe to outsidetheframearts@gmail.com so we you know what’s coming up next!
Here’s a little something I wrote to help creatively cope when you need something to get through the day(s). Tried and tested, I found them to be useful over the years and would love to hear how they were for you or if you have any other ideas you want to share!
If you are concerned about your mental well being, do get in touch with Inspirited Minds, a mental heath charity that has supported many people needing someone to talk to. Being an Inspirited Minds support worker, I have seen first hand the care and committment they offer to those in need or concerned others.
I hope you find the article useful and do let me know how you creatively cope! X
http://inspiritedminds.org.uk/2017/05/16/10-ways-to-do-some-creativecoping/ 
So earlier this year I, along with nearly 100 different artists in Manchester applied for a Jerwood Fellowship with Manchester International Festival 2017 and can happily say that I got it!!
You can read all about it on the link below! And I do feel a huge sense of achievement! I’m excited that I am working with award-winning company Theatre-Rites, which is a field leader in the creation of experimental theatre for children.
Acclaimed nationally and internationally, their touring productions and site responsive works stir the imagination and stimulate thought. They specifically promote understanding and enjoyment of ‘object-led’ theatre, celebrating the power of visuals, puppetry and animation by working in genuine collaboration with designers, visual artists, film-makers, puppeteers, musicians, composers, actors and dancers.
Co-commissioned by Manchester International Festival, Theatre-Rites, Z-Arts and the Ruhrtriennale Festival, the premiere of the site-specific production THE WELCOMING PARTY for the 2017 Manchester International Festival will be exploring how we welcome new arrivals and the stories they have to tell. But that’s another blog post! Read about my fellowship and the amazing cohort on this link below! X
http://mif.co.uk/six-of-the-best/
So for someone who likes to talk and perform poetry, I have realised that talking about myself is sometimes a huge issue dependant on how I’m feeling that day! Performative speech is fine but tell me to talk about feelings and jeez, I start to run a mile in my head. I’m learning that there is real beauty in being honest about our vulnerabilities and that in some way, shape or form, we all have them!
Luckily, I had lots to say in the interview below with Commonword – a collective that provides great support to BAME and/or queer writers. I remember tentatively stepping into their offices a few years ago, having just finished an undergrad degree in English & Criminology and devoting a decade to raising kids. Trust me, I was worried this mind was rusty and that studying had killed my creativity. Pensive, reluctant to share my work, crippled by very little confidence and self-belief, I shared a poem called ‘Patience’ and then cried at the response. The journey ever since has been amazing.
With an anthology launch last Friday ( see previous blog post ), a Jerwood Fellows Scholarship through Manchester International Festival, a commision with The Royal Exchange, co-forming a collective called Outside The Frame Arts which will explore hidden voices some juicy projects, I’m feeling excited. Terrified but excited. I am learning that stepping into the unknown is how we truly grow. And I hope you continue to join me along the way! X
http://www.cultureword.org.uk/writer-of-the-month-hafsah-aneela-bashir/
Our WITS anthology launch on Friday night at The Three Minute Theatre was an amazing evening to say the least.
Featuring poetry and monologues by the inspiring #WomenInTheSpotlight – Col Bashir, Heena Colada, Yolanda Mercy, Sui Anukka, Naomi Sumner, Shahireh Sangrezeh, Maeve Clarke, Bethany Hermitt, Deborah Chatterjee, Dipali Das, Christina Fonthes, Charlotte Maxwell, Afshan D’souza-Lodhi and I, the audience were led through an amalgamation of womanhood experiences.
Often writing can be an isolated task with us only spending time with the voices in our head. So sharing our creativity together has been heart-warming and inspiring. I am loving this feeling of sistership right now and the journey we have taken together from creating plays to an Arvon residential to this incredible anthology. I am honoured to be in this with them ❤! 
My morning was spent in the quaint area of Haslingdon where bright sunshine and sudden snow were in great conversation together.
I was here to raise much-needed awareness about Dementia in the South Asian community through creative writing exercises with the women of #Apna, an amazing community group organised by Arry Nessa in Haslingdon.
This particular exercise was an object led discussion around memories and my challenge was the fact that there were four different languages in the room enriching the experience. English and Urdu were no problem for me but Pushto and Bengali required some hands-on translating provided by my fellow sisters.
I decided quite early on that writing would go out the window and adopted discussion activities instead. Loved hearing about all the different memories and experiences that shaped these women and then discussing what happens to us when memories start to disappear. Who do we become and how do others respond to this change? What does it mean for an individual to lose their ability to judge, think, communicate and look after themselves? How can we help? 
800,000 people have Dementia in the UK. Let’s make sure our communities are well informed so that sufferers and carers are supported in the best possible way and the stigmas attached to it are eradicated.
#dementia #dementiaawareness #AlzheimersAwareness #alzheimers #communityhealth #creativewriting
It’s been the most wonderful journey for Outside The Frame Arts and my God, how many friends have we made along the way? From supporters, to participants, to mentors, to facilitators, to fellow artists and to all the wonderful story tellers, writers, poets and playwrights we have engaged with! Without them, it would never have been possible.
From the inception – the sowing of the seed over a year ago, to the finali R&D sharing event yesterday, it has been a pleasure creating new writing and informing a wider circle of people about the rich tapestry of Palestine and the people that make it what it is despite all the odds of military occupation. ‘Ordinary people living in extraordinary situations’.
Thankyou all especially Nikushka Mailer – my fellow friend and director of Outside The Frame Arts and the one whose vision drove this project, Mahboobeh Rajabi our brilliant digital artist, Zahid Hussain author of The Curry Mile, Manchester Muslim Writers Collective and facilitator, Elmi Ali poet/playwright and facilitator, Ahmed Masoud Palestinian author/playwright, Hannah Khalil Palestinian playwright, Young Identity poets Roma Havers, Meschach Brencher, Isaiah Hull, Nasima Bi, Joel Cordingly, our actors Yasmin Babiker & Tanzil Chaudhary, our performers, arts therapist Kerry Bertram, poets’ Rose Snow, Laurie and Mary, AnnMarie at PANDA, Garfield at STUN, Ruth Daniel at In Place Of War, Afshan Lodhi at Commonword, Shamshad Khan at Hard Rain, Arry Nessa from Apna, Manchester University Drama dept, all the participants of our workshops and everyone who turned up yesterday to support us!
Watch this space for much more and catch up on where we are going next on outsidetheframearts.tumblr.com. The second phase is going to be a blast!
You can also join our mailing list so you do not miss a single thing! Outsidetheframearts@gmail.com 🙏🏽❤️xxx
