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About Us
FUNOON [FU-NOON]: (NOUN) THE ARTS (ARABIC, URDU, PERSIAN)
Welcome to Funoon London – the thoughtful guide to South Asian arts, culture and creative resistance in London.
We are a website and an arts platform that represents the beauty and the bounty of our traditional heritage; celebrates new and emerging talent and ideas; and honours the key role art and culture play in resistance and activism for a shared humanity.
Funoon London was launched in early 2013 by two friends – Seema Khan and Nadia Rahman - who work in international development and human rights and grew into a collective of writers and cultural producers. In 2016, we launched our popular Funoon Salon series, curating big and small musical collaborations between artists from across South Asia and the UK in a host of partnering venues, which you can learn more about on our 'Funoon Salon' page.
Funoon celebrates the vibrant and dynamic South Asian arts and culture scene in London. Attend a symposium on the historic walled city of Lahore, hear that Nepali band that’s reviving traditional instruments. Learn about how geometry underpins the eternal beauty of the Taj Mahal, revel in the transcendence of Bulleh Shah’s poetry. Catch the latest indie Pakistani film, throw some shapes to the latest desi queer DJ set fusing Bollywood and old Urdu anthems.
Sample the latest momo and pushka offering, attend the launch of the newest desi fine dining/street food joint. Discover the latest writing from Bangladesh, hear Afghan women human rights defenders speak about their activism. See a Bharatnatyam performance, buy a durree. Feel pure transcendence at a qawwali, feel the divine connection through kirtan. Find yourself in the unlikeliest corners of London discovering South Asian food traditions you can’t believe you never knew about.
At Funoon, we are obsessed with creating more inclusive arts narratives and spaces, building collaborations, and amplifying how art helps us to connect with ourselves and each other. At this pivotal time in history, we believe in harnessing the incredible power of art and culture to inspire us to come together in community, act in solidarity, and create as a form of resistance.
May it be divinely creative. May it be beautiful. May it be love.
The Team
Seema Khan, Co-Founder and Editor
Seema works on women’s rights internationally, particularly in health. She tends to think complicatedly, speak rhetorically, and reckons art is the answer. She likes Urdu poetry, Kashmiri embroidery, and carrying a very large flag (she insists its the largest) at every Palestine protest.
Nadia Rahman, Co-Founder and Creative Producer
Nadia is a human rights campaigner and advocate and works for an INGO. She qualified as an Attorney at the New York Bar, trained as a filmmaker at Goldsmiths College, and is obsessed with the role of art in activism.
If you’d like to send us ideas about things to check out, or get in touch with us just because, please email us at info@funoon.co.uk.