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Samata collective

@samata_collective

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International arts & community collaboration
Hybrid events • Storytelling • Performance •

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Our friends and colleagues at @chitrakootcollective have been doing some amazing work organising food and essential supplies in their community, following the devastating floods in Chitrakoot and Uttar Pradesh. Our thoughts are with all those affected.
Images from Meera Jatav and Chitrakoot Collective.

इस बार की बारिश ने उत्तर प्रदेश के चित्रकूट ज़िले को बुरी तरह प्रभावित किया है। लोगों के घर और संपत्ति बाढ़ में बह गए हैं, और उनका दैनिक जीवन बुरी तरह प्रभावित हुआ है। इस मुश्किल घड़ी में, हमारे दोस्त और साथी चित्रकूट कलेक्टिव प्रभावित परिवारों तक राशन किट और ज़रूरी सामान पहुँचाने का काम कर रहे हैं। उनके इस प्रयास के लिए हम बेहद आभारी हैं।
मीरा जाटव और चित्रकूट कलेक्टिव से फोटो by @samata_collective

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25 days ago

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4 months ago

A huge thank you to Edinburgh College and our wonderful friend Andy Duncan for helping us with our Tinderbox Orchestra / Samata Recording Project.

Over the past few months we have been working on some new arrangements and
collaborations with the Samata Collective and cannot wait to share what we have been working on!

The @samata_collective is an international collective of arts organisations who meet online, organise hybrid events, do in-person exchanges, international gatherings and festivals and touring Productions.

Come see us for a special Samata Hybrid Performance next Sunday (7th June) at @hiddendoorarts from 1.15pm-2.15pm in the Tinderbox Room To Play.

The event is FREE and will feature some performances of new collaborations and some special guests from Kenya and India. by @samata_collective

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5 months ago

Samta Collective:
Art, Community, Collaboration

The Samata Collective is an international gathering of arts and community groups.

Project Elimu, Kenya
Rona Foundation, Kenya
Chitrakoot Collective, India
Jagriti, India
Tinderbox Collective, Scotland
Creative Aging International, Ireland

As a collective we focus on:
International Collaborations
Artist Exchange
Hybrid Events
Festivals & Gatherings
Touring Productions
Make sure to drop us a follow to keep up with all the projects that we are very excited to share with you!

Samata Collective is part of a research project called “RIGAN: Resisting Inequalities Through a Global Arts Network“, exploring digital inequalities and international collaboration. It received an Atlantic Equity Challenge Award, supporting collaboration between community-based practitioners from Samata Collective and researchers from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and was made possible by funding from Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity (AFSEE), based at the International Inequalities Institute at the LSE. by @samata_collective

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6 months ago

@projectelimu were featured in 'The Week around the World in 20 Pictures' in the @guardian

Project Elimu is a local Kenyan organisation helping children in Nairobi's informal settlements through arts and education taken in Nairobi, Kenya by @samata_collective

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7 months ago

The final organisation to introduce as part the Samata Collective is the @ronafoundation

Rona Foundation is a grassroots widow human rights organisation in Kenya advancing the rights, dignity, and wellbeing of widows. They work to improve access to justice, education, healthcare, and essential services while supporting widows to live free from violence and discrimination.

Through community-led initiatives, they enable widows—and vulnerable children—to rebuild their lives, secure sustainable livelihoods, and restore dignity, giving families and communities a renewed chance to thrive. taken in Kenya, Africa by @samata_collective

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7 months ago

The next organisation involved in the Samata Collective that we would love to share about is the wonderful Chitrakoot Collective.

Chitrakoot Collective is an anti-caste feminist collective based in the predominantly rural region of Bundelkhand in Uttar Pradesh, India. We started this collective in 2020 with the vision of creating joyful oases in the heartlands of caste-patriarchy. In these spaces, we invite, encourage, and bring together women to speak freely about our lives, bodies, and our labour, how they are both hypervisible yet invisible, what leisure means to us, and how we can collectively experience leisure, laughter, and rest.

Since the pandemic, we have been nurturing these gardens of leisure, rest, and dialogue across our region as part of a global collaborative project with Samata Collective. What is emerging from these gatherings is a powerful expression of women crafting their own subjectivities, making sense of oppressive structures, tradition and modernity through their lived experiences, often mediated by new technologies. by @samata_collective

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8 months ago

Our third group that is part of the Samata Collective is the wonderful Project Elimu!

Project Elimu is a local Kenyan organization helping children in Nairobi's informal settlements through arts and education. (‘elimu’ in Swahili means ‘education’). Founded in 2017 by Mike Wamaya, a Kenyan dancer and teacher who was named a Top 10 finalist for the Global Teacher Prize 2019, the organization uses ballet and other art forms to build confidence, discipline, and creativity in children and young people in Kibera, the largest informal settlement in East Africa.
By combining arts with learning support and mentorship, they help children stay in school, develop life skills, and imagine better futures for themselves. For many, this offers a way out of poverty.

@projectelimu by @samata_collective

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8 months ago

Rooted locally, connected globally.
The second group involved in the Samata Collective is Jagriti, based in Kathputli Colony, Delhi, India.

@project_jagriti brings deep community wisdom, artistic excellence, and a long-standing commitment to preserving living traditions while shaping new futures.

Jagriti is an initiative by @vijay_maitri Maitri, a local community art activist and entrepreneur from Kathputli Colony. Rooted in one of the world’s largest performing artist communities, Jagriti works closely with artists and young people, using art as a tool for learning, expression, and collective growth. Their work supports traditional puppetry, folk practices, and contemporary creative forms, while responding to the everyday realities faced by artists and their families.

Their approach centres community leadership, skill-building, and the creation of safe spaces where artists can develop confidence, share knowledge, and sustain their cultural practices with dignity. Jagriti believes in long-term, community-led processes that strengthen both individual artists and the collective ecosystem they belong to.

Through workshops, performances, mentoring, and collaborative projects, Jagriti continues to nurture creativity while advocating for access, visibility, and fair opportunities for artists from Kathputli Colony and beyond.

As part of the Samata Collective, Jagriti stands alongside local and international partners—building a shared ecosystem where community-rooted practices connect, exchange, and grow across borders.

#SamataCollective
#Jagriti
#KathputliColony
#CommunityLed
#ArtAsResistance taken in New Delhi by @samata_collective

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8 months ago

The first group involved in the Samata Collective is the @tinderbox.collective from Edinburgh, Scotland!
Tinderbox aims to ignite a spark in people – one which fills them with confidence, imagination and sense of possibility, and which enables people to achieve things they never thought possible. Their work uses music and the arts to bring people together and strengthen communities, providing exciting opportunities that support young people to build their confidence, skills, self-esteem, and professional experience. They balance an ambition to create high quality and original work, with a drive to be genuinely inclusive and foster active and creative participation from everyone involved.

Projects include an original and experimental orchestra, a creative technology studio and maker-space, as well as several vibrant youth clubs built around music, arts and game-design. They also run a wider community music programme working with children in hospitals, care settings, schools, libraries and other targeted partners, offering a range of creative workshops, courses and apprenticeships. by @samata_collective

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9 months ago

Through Many Eyes — The Samata Kenya Gathering

From the vibrant streets of Nairobi to the open skies of Siaya, the Samata Gathering in Kenya became a celebration of shared creativity and connection.

Over one week, more than 100 artists, musicians, dancers, and community leaders from India, Kenya, and Scotland came together to create, perform, and exchange stories — building a festival that truly belonged to everyone.

Our incredible media team worked tirelessly to document every rehearsal, every smile, and every beat — capturing not just what was seen, but what was felt. Your dedication transformed moments into living memory.
@vijay_maitri @with_a.jay @with_filmy_aj @clairedocdocdoc @rosieirvine_ @nowellatieno @zubeidah_okuta

A special thank you to @ilincaseda , whose design work gave our collective journey a visual voice.She has created beautiful log and t shirt designs for this gathering.

This gathering reaffirmed what Samata stands for — creativity as resistance, collaboration as hope, and art as the bridge between worlds.

Together, we are Samata — in solidarity, in creation, in celebration.

#SamataCollective #KenyaGathering2025 #CommunityArts #KibraRising #HybridCollaboration ArtForChange by @samata_collective

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10 months ago

This Kenya gathering was not just a journey —
it was an intention in action.

Through Samata Arts Collective, we came together to listen deeply, share lived stories, and build connections rooted in care, dignity, and solidarity.
Across borders and communities, art became our common language — a way to reflect, heal, and imagine together.

Grateful for every conversation, every shared meal, every moment of learning.
Carrying these experiences back into our communities, our practices, and our collective future.

Kenya, thank you for holding us with so much warmth 🤍🌱

#samatacollective #art #community #communitythroughart #projectelimu taken in Kenya, Africa by @samata_collective

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10 months ago