CHANJE KUNDA

Chanje Kunda is a poet, writer and performer and during 2008/9 was Artist in Residence at Lime Studios. This was a partnership project with The Manchester Museum and the Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Since graduating Chanje Kunda has had a prolific writing career. She has produced several plays, a collection of poetry, a music CD and numerous articles for the press. Chanje's poetry has been featured in several anthologies and literary magazines and Radio. As a professional performance poet Chanje performs up and down the country including the Royal Albert Hall and the Manchester Royal Exchange. She has worked with influential modern poets such as Benjamin Zephaniah, Linton Kwesi Johnson and Lemn Sissay and has also represented UK talent at the Calabash Festival in Jamaica.

The Residency

This Arts Council funded project was designed to bring the LIME art Central Manchester Hospitals and the Museum together, so we could collaborate to produce artwork to be displayed in the new hospital but also include a participatory element.

Chanje has successfully managed to achieve this by working with and building good working relationships across all three organisations.

Through the residency Chanje has achieved a number of outcomes:

Production of Artwork for the New Hospitals in central Manchester in collaboration with a Chinese artist, an African artist and an Islamic artist and the Manchester Museum.

Participatory projects and performance events with Central Manchester Women’s Aid, Booth Hall Children’s Hospital, Nowgen Centre For Genetics, the hospital Community Engagement team

Proverb Collection - a postcard was produced using a photograph of a museum objects for people to write in with inspirational sayings. These were collated and redistributed to inspire and uplift at a hospital Community Engagement Week.

Manchester Museum - Chanje produced a performance for the heads of department at the museum. She has also done short performances for the Community Advisory Panel and The Community Engagement Team. This is a mixture of both staff and service users and has benefited both groups.

www.afrique-performs.co.uk

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