“The arts can be a massively effective tool for social change”: an interview with the Artistic Director of Pan Intercultural Arts, the charity rebuilding lives with the strength of the creative arts.
Artistic Director John Martin describes Pan’s mission as using “the powers of creativity and imagination to give people access to more fulfilling lives and more satisfying futures.” Pan works with people whose imagination has been limited by trauma; young people close to crime, asylum seekers, and survivors of human trafficking are just some of the people the charity helps. Describing Pan’s work, Mr. Martin explains how powerful offering a safe space for these victims can be: “creativity can break through their barriers and reboot their lives.”
Pan’s work spans cultures and ethnic backgrounds to reach an impressively diverse audience. Organisations, including Camden’s Equalities Unit and the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture (now Freedom from Torture), have helped Pan run workshops for young people to consider alternatives to gang violence. This work resulted in a festival called “There Ain’t No Black In The Union Jack” at Hackney Empire, involving an eclectic display of scenes, videos, street dance, and graffiti. The project continues to run under the name “Weapon of Choice,” where Pan “celebrates choice as a weapon to get out of violence, to resist bullying and move into leadership and positive pathways in life.”
Pan also works with various other groups. In particular, two colleagues of Mr. Martin set up the group “Amies” to help female survivors of trafficking and domestic violence. Mr. Martin describes how “their trauma is evident, and this blocks them from moving on to education, employment, and training.” Fortunately, he mentions that “by increasing their ability to trust others and trust their ideas ( and by rediscovering having fun again), 66% of them went into college, training programmes, or jobs -a wonderful percentage!” Pan’s women’s choir has even won a Women of The Year award for Community Spirit.
In addition, Pan’s works are abroad, ranging from “founding a theatre group in the slums of India working for girl child rights, post-conflict rehabilitation in Sri Lanka and South Sudan and anti-trafficking performances in Vietnam.”
In describing his favourite thing about working at Pan, Mr. Martin says, “there are so many great things about working at Pan. We change so many people’s lives, but I think what makes me most proud is when I look at our great team of artist-facilitators and see that more than half of them used to be participants in our programmes. These brilliant people have a much richer knowledge of the issues of our participants because they have lived it, and now they have trained with us to run workshops and give the same chances to more people.”
Like all worthwhile pursuits, the work at Pan is demanding. Doubtlessly, this charity is making a difference and improving the lives of so many in an exciting and innovative way.
Readers are encouraged to donate to the charity and follow and share Pan’s posts on social media.
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