Jaleh Esfahani Cultural Foundation, a charity supporting Farsi-speaking migrants and refugees, has secured £19,900 in National Lottery funding to expand its community arts programme in Ealing and Hammersmith.
The grant, awarded by the National Lottery Community Fund, will support a programme of monthly activities at St Andrew’s Church in Ealing aimed to reduce isolation and strengthen connections within and beyond the Farsi-speaking community. The foundation was established in 2007 by Farsi-speaking Londoners and is run by 32 volunteers.
Speaking to EALING.NEWS, Hydeh Nafarieh from Jaleh Esfahani Cultural Foundation said: “We have been awarded £19,900 from the National Lottery Community Fund to help us support our communities in the London Borough of Ealing and the London Borough of Hammersmith.”
She said the project would consist of three strands, delivered once a month, including story reading and creative writing workshops, poetry recital and composition sessions, and a film club. Ms Nafarieh said: “The project aims to run a combination of community activities for Farsi-speaking individuals, mainly migrants and refugees in London.”
The foundation says its work uses cultural activity to address the social and emotional impact of exile and displacement. It hopes the new funding will help build stronger links between recently arrived migrants and more established members of the Farsi-speaking community, while also encouraging intergenerational exchange.
Nafarieh said the story reading and creative writing workshops in Ealing would focus particularly on women and their experiences of migration, isolation and marginalisation. She said: “The aim is to enable participants to make connections within the community and use reading and writing short stories as a vehicle of self-expression and to build up their confidence.”
