Counterpoints

The Sound of Us: Building Community Through Music
2025-06-29 15:30 - 16:30 (Europe/London) | Queen Elizabeth Foyer, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, London SE1 8XX
Come together to hear personal stories of the ways that music nurtures creativity, builds connections and drives social change.
This session explores how music breaks down barriers and creates spaces of belonging, reconnecting people with their cultural roots and strengthening the bonds that connect us all.
Through personal stories and reflections around different approaches and practices, the artists demonstrate how music is a universal language of creative expression, bringing communities together regardless of background.
Gaby D’Annunzio is a London-based community organiser and activist. She shares her journey as Co-Founder of Open Music Lab and her work at Refuge Worldwide, highlighting how providing creative education and opportunities has built diverse and supportive communities within the music industry.
In partnership with Southbank Centre as part of Refugee Week 2025.

Big Sunday: Mapping Movment in Colour
2025-10-05 10:00 - 13:30 | Sainsbury Centre, University of East Anglia, Norfolk Road, Norwich, NR4 7TJ
Join a collaborative art session with community artist Shathy Bano, inspired by Sainsbury Centre artworks.
Presented by Sainsbury Centre as part of the Platforma Festival 2025, produced by Counterpoints Arts.
10.00-1.30pm
Age 15+
Explore personal journeys and cultural influences through colour and creative markmaking, using a range of materials including paint and textiles.
No experience required, just an interest and curiosity in visual maps, migration and storytelling.

Lunch with the Aziz Foundation
2025-10-18 12:00 - 13:30 | Gladstone Connect Ltd, 157 Cromwell Road, Peterborough, PE1 2EL, United Kingdom
Join the Aziz Foundation for lunch and hear about their support for British Muslim communities in the media, the arts, and public life.
Co-commissioned and presented as part of the Platforma Festival (October 2025), produced by Counterpoints Arts.
Join the Aziz Foundation for an informal lunch and introduction to their philanthropic work supporting British Muslim communities in media, the arts, and public life. Learn about their Masters scholarships, offered in partnership with leading UK universities, as well as traineeship opportunities designed to help develop the next generation of cultural leaders and creatives. Enjoy food, conversation, and practical insights into how the Foundation is helping to increase access, representation, and opportunity in the creative and public sectors.
Free entry | Young people 15+
Full information and booking
About Platforma in Peterborough
Platforma 2025 in Peterborough is produced by 62 Gladstone Street, a community-rooted arts space in the heart of Peterborough with a particular focus on supporting South Asian and MENA artists. Through exhibitions, residencies, and public programmes, it provides a vital platform for underrepresented voices and fosters meaningful dialogue between artists and the wider community.
Partners: Counterpoints Arts, Landmark Theatres, Peterborough Cultural Alliance, Metal Peterborough, Peterborough Presents, Peterborough Museum, HELP Charity & the Aziz Foundation
Dedication: “Our programme is dedicated to the innocent men, women, and children who have lost their lives, those who have been displaced by war, and all those seeking a safe place to call home.”
62 Gladstone Street’s Platforma programme is supported by Arts Council England as and presented as part of the wider Platforma Festival across the East of England, produced by Counterpoints Arts.

The Butterfly Effect (A Call for Peace)
2025-10-20 - 2025-10-24
This socially engaged art piece and poem from Ruthie Collins and friends features beautiful butterflies made with children in Norfolk and objects inspired by movement, in heritage and nature – across the elements, from water to air – including a book published during World War II Kitty Come Home, narrating the journey of children traveling to Britain across water to escape the Nazis.
Presented as part of Platforma 2025, co-commissioned and produced by Counterpoints Arts
For this project Children in Norfolk explored iconic British butterflies that travel to the UK including the Red Admiral and what flowers to plant to help restore them. You can also plant butterfly friendly flower seeds as part of the piece and an ongoing project to help restore biodiversity locally in Norfolk and encourage connection to the landscape.
The art piece also includes a poem written by Ruthie Collins inspired by the need for child wellbeing in current times – conversation with a child talking about missing family, estranged by war. Selected words from the poem have been put to electronica especially for Plaforma – listen and enjoy The Butterfly Effect (A Call for Peace) which will be shared as part of the festival.
More information on how to pick up your seeds and where to read or listen to the track, will be shared later in October.
Ruthie Collins is an award winning writer and artist based in East Anglia.

Muslim Girls Fence with Maslaha
2025-10-25 11:00 - 13:00
62 Gladstone Street presents: Blending sport and creativity, the session invites participants to reshape narratives with movement and dialogue – led by Maslaha
Co-commissioned and presented as part of the Platforma Festival (October 2025), produced by Counterpoints Arts.
Muslim Girls Fence is a creative collaboration between Maslaha and British Fencing, designed to create empowering spaces where Muslim girls and women can challenge stereotypes around race, gender, religion, and identity.
Blending sport and creativity, the session invites participants to explore self-expression, build confidence, and reshape dominant narratives through both movement and dialogue.
Free entry | Women and girls only 12+
Venue to be announced.
Full information and free booking
Maslaha seeks to change and challenge the conditions that create inequalities and racism for Muslim communities in areas such as education, gender, criminal justice, health, negative media coverage and a continued climate of Islamophobia. ‘Muslim Girls Fence’ is a project collaboration between Maslaha and British Fencing which aims to facilitate spaces at a grassroots level for Muslim girls and women to challenge assumptions and narratives relating to their gender, racial, religious and other identities through both physical and creative methods.
About Platforma in Peterborough
Platforma 2025 in Peterborough is produced by 62 Gladstone Street, a community-rooted arts space in the heart of Peterborough with a particular focus on supporting South Asian and MENA artists. Through exhibitions, residencies, and public programmes, it provides a vital platform for underrepresented voices and fosters meaningful dialogue between artists and the wider community.
Partners: Counterpoints Arts, Landmark Theatres, Peterborough Cultural Alliance, Metal Peterborough, Peterborough Presents, Peterborough Museum, HELP Charity & the Aziz Foundation
Dedication: “Our programme is dedicated to the innocent men, women, and children who have lost their lives, those who have been displaced by war, and all those seeking a safe place to call home.”
62 Gladstone Street’s Platforma programme is supported by Arts Council England as and presented as part of the wider Platforma Festival across the East of England, produced by Counterpoints Arts.

Build A Boat Adventure Play
2025-10-29 - 2025-11-02 | Charterhouse, Charterhouse, London Road, Coventry, CV1 2JR
This October half term, join Charterhouse to celebrate 80 years since Tove Jansson’s first book The Moomins and the Great Flood was published. In collaboration with Moomin Characters and Counterpoint Arts, Woodland Tribe will lead this exciting activity in the historic walled garden at the Charterhouse. Artist Nabil Amini will lead additional workshops from Thursday onwards.
Over the course of each day children will help build a Moomin inspired boat, which featured heavily in the Moomin books, as well as take part in a range of Moomin themed craft activities to take home. Each 75 minute session is a lively mix of hands-on building using real tools (including hammers, saws and nails!), creative making and playing.
Woodland Tribe are the UK masters of constructive play, with sold out residencies at Tate Modern, Southbank Centre and major UK festivals.
Full details and booking

Artists Against The Far Right - Together March
2026-03-28 12:00 - 18:00
Join Counterpoints in the Arts Bloc at the Together March on 28 March!

We invite artists, creatives, arts organisations, partners and supporters to walk with us at the Together Alliance March. Bring your work, your art, your placards and your chants. At a time when division is being weaponised, we believe in the power of the arts — and in the power of gathering together — to imagine and demand something better. Let’s make creativity visible in the movement for justice.
We’ll have some placards available, please sign up if you’d like one, and to give us an idea of numbers.
Sign up to join us at the march!
Meet on Park Lane at 12pm – exact location on What Three Words.

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About The Together Alliance
The Together Alliance is made up of hundreds of civil society organisations representing over 7 million people. They are backed by thousands of everyday people from all over the country: trade unionists and environmentalists, community activists and faith leaders, musicians, athletes, entertainers and elected representatives.
The community is rapidly growing and are mobilising in communities across the country – members represent over 7 million people mobilising for love, hope and unity in the face of hate, fear and division, raising their voices to stop the rise of the far-right. More information about the March route, accessibility and speakers here.

To Re-Cite: Ayat al-Kursi - Sound, Faith, and Collective Listening
2026-04-12 10:30 - 12:30 | Clore Creative Studio, Clore Creative Studio, Whitechapel Art Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High St, London, E1 7QX
We warmly invite you to a workshop as part of the wider development of our newly co-commissioned project with artist Aliaskar Abarkas, exploring sound, music, and listening through faith and collective experience.
The session brings together members of our community with Muslim backgrounds to share ideas, and reflections on how sonic practices – from recitation and prayer to breath, rhythm, and silence – shape spiritual, emotional, and communal life. The starting point of the project is the Quranic verse Ayat al-Kursi, whispered across generations, transmitted as both lullaby and sonic protection.
This session is the first in a series of workshops forming part of a longer-term project.
Further confirmed sessions will take place on: Sun 26 Apr, Sun 17 May, and Sun 31 May.
Aliaskar Abarkas is an Iranian artist based in London.
Rooted in alternative and communal art education, his practice stages choreographic encounters that move from individual elements into collective expression. Often in dialogue with historical sources, Abarkas builds collaborative frameworks that invite participants to interpret and activate inherited scores through music, exhibition, and performance-making.
He is currently an Associate Artist at Sadler’s Wells / Rose Choreographic School (London, 2024–26) and Lead Artist at Autograph Gallery (Acts of Solidarity, in partnership with All Change, London, 2025–28). He holds a BA in Visual Cultures from the University of Tehran and an MA in the Theory of Contemporary Art and Politics from Goldsmiths, University of London. Previous residencies include Cubitt Gallery and the Swiss Church (London), as well as Rupert (Lithuania), the Institute of Postnatural Studies (Madrid), Castro (Rome), Open School East, and Syllabus V (UK), among others.
His work has been supported by institutions including the Barbican Centre, ICA, The Mosaic Rooms, TACO!, Pushkin House, LUX (London), CAPC (Bordeaux), LOCALES (Rome), Scuola Piccola Zattere (Venice), and CIRCA. Upcoming projects include commissions and collaborations with Arts Catalyst (Sheffield), YDP Foundation (London), and the Singapore Art Museum.
Co-commissioned by Counterpoints Arts and Whitechapel Gallery.
Image credit: Anne Tetzlaf

To Re-Cite: Ayat al-Kursi - Sound, Faith, and Collective Listening - workshops
2026-04-26 10:30 - 2026-08-16 13:00 | Clore Creative Studio Whitechapel Gallery, Clore Creative Studio, Whitechapel Art Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High St, London, E1 7QX
We warmly invite you to a workshop as part of the wider development of our newly commissioned project with artist Aliaskar Abarkas, exploring sound, music, and listening through faith and collective experience.
Each session brings together members of our community with Muslim backgrounds to share ideas, and reflections on how sonic practices – from recitation and prayer to breath, rhythm, and silence – shape spiritual, emotional, and communal life. The starting point of the project is the Quranic verse Ayat al-Kursi, whispered across generations, transmitted as both lullaby and sonic protection.
This is a series of workshops forming part of a longer-term project, with sessions taking place on Sun 26 Apr, Sun 17 May, Sun 31 May, 21 Jun, 12 Jul, 26 Jul and 16 Aug 2026. Please book each session individually.
To Re-Cite is co-commissioned by Counterpoints Arts and Whitechapel Gallery for Backyard Biennial.

Book workshops on these dates:
Sun 26 Apr 2026, 10.30am – 12.30pm; book HERE
Sun 17 May 10.30am – 12.30pm; book HERE
Sun 31 May 10.30am – 12.30pm; book HERE
Sun 28 June 11am – 1pm; book HERE
Sun 12 July 11am – 1pm; book HERE
Sun 26 July 11am – 1pm; book HERE
Sun 16 August 11am – 1pm; book HERE

Aliaskar Abarkas is an Iranian artist based in London.
Rooted in alternative and communal art education, his practice stages choreographic encounters that move from individual elements into collective expression. Often in dialogue with historical sources, Abarkas builds collaborative frameworks that invite participants to interpret and activate inherited scores through music, exhibition, and performance-making.
He is currently an Associate Artist at Sadler’s Wells / Rose Choreographic School (London, 2024–26) and Lead Artist at Autograph Gallery (Acts of Solidarity, in partnership with All Change, London, 2025–28). He holds a BA in Visual Cultures from the University of Tehran and an MA in the Theory of Contemporary Art and Politics from Goldsmiths, University of London. Previous residencies include Cubitt Gallery and the Swiss Church (London), as well as Rupert (Lithuania), the Institute of Postnatural Studies (Madrid), Castro (Rome), Open School East, and Syllabus V (UK), among others.
His work has been supported by institutions including the Barbican Centre, ICA, The Mosaic Rooms, TACO!, Pushkin House, LUX (London), CAPC (Bordeaux), LOCALES (Rome), Scuola Piccola Zattere (Venice), and CIRCA. Upcoming projects include commissions and collaborations with Arts Catalyst (Sheffield), YDP Foundation (London), and the Singapore Art Museum.
Image: Reverberance, Living Rehearsing, YDP, London, 2026. Photograph: Anne Tetzlaff
