Mudroom evolved as a fringe of the South Asian Theatre Festival (Mela). Mudroom is a creative and social encouragement project within the Western Sydney area.
As we were coming out of the Pandemic, we realised the importance of social connections and human interaction. After delivering the Festival for 5 years, Nautanki reflected on the delivery of this event and noted that sometimes we get overwhelmed with the approach of the program and our communication becomes somewhat mechanical. To address this issue, we started annual Mudroom project that primarily addresses:
Community connection and spreading performing arts within the diaspora.
Reassurance through discussions to the collaborator about the continuing art practice especially after lockdown and social distancing.
A portable component of creative awareness.
On the spot pitching, idea generation, collaboration, and project creation.
In 2022, we started with a photo exhibition, a reflection of Nautanki’s 5-year journey of South Asian Theatre Festival from the archived resources. We curated 60 selected photos and displayed them. We invited and engaged with the participants, actors, directors and the audiences through videos and writeups.
In 2023, Nautanki will have a community consultation within the Pakistani diaspora, aiming to spread creative arts within the community.
