Kakilang

Kakilang

England, London

Artform

Circus Dance Drama Mixed Media Physical Puppetry

Organisation Type

Other

Contact

Kakilang (formerly Chinese Arts Now) produces and presents world-class art, and pioneers multi-disciplinary artforms from a wide spectrum of Southeast and East Asian voices.

Kakilang was founded in 2005 and became a National Portfolio Organisation supported by Arts Council England in 2018. We are based in Central London but do not have our own venue. Kakilang works with other arts organisations and venues and has built an extensive network of partner organisations including: Barbican, Southbank Centre, Rich
Mix, Soho Theatre, The Place, Horizon, Leicester Curve, York Theatre Royal, Cambridge Junction, Oxford Contemporary Music, LSO St Luke’s, BFI, Young Vic, Tamasha, Dance Umbrella, and more.

We have rebranded as Kakilang in September 2022. The new company name Kakilang (自己人), meaning ‘one of us’ in the Hokkien dialect, evoking kinship and affinity, is widely used amongst East and Southeast Asian diasporic groups. For us, our Kakilang are people who come together through art, and who champion diverse voices and communities.

The rebranding marks a watershed moment for us as we grow the ambition, scale, and reach of our in-house productions and the platforming of East and Southeast Asian artists. Kakilang also recently won Arts Council England’s Digital Culture Award (Storytelling) which secured our position as a pioneer in innovative digital works.

Kakilang has an innovative artist-led leadership model that puts creative people in the driving seat, enabling us to access a wide range of creative ideas, inspiration and art forms and ensuring that all decision making is artistically-centred. This is a new model that challenges traditional practice that we hope will inspire others. The four
Artistic/Associate Artistic Directors from diverse creative backgrounds work to push artistic boundaries and curate the biennial cross-artform festival.

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