Melting Pot

In episode 3 of The Performing Perspectives series join us as we dive into the inspiring journey of Felipe Simi, renowned LGBT+ activist, advertising game changer, and founder of SOKO—a creative agency dedicated to inclusivity and purposeful storytelling.

With an impressive career spanning global corporations and local agencies, Felipe has emerged as a beacon of change in the advertising industry. His passion for creating a less toxic, more inclusive environment led him to establish SOKO, a powerhouse agency known for its diverse representation.

As co-founder and President of Observatorio da Diversidade na Propaganda, Felipe has spearheaded initiatives to promote underrepresented groups within the industry. Join us as we delve into his remarkable journey and uncover the secrets behind his innovative approach to advertising.

Get ready to witness the extraordinary story of Felipe Simi, the visionary founder, CEO, and Creative Chairman of SOKO as he talks to our host Payal Nayar.

With an illustrious background spanning global corporations like Hershey's and Unilever, Felipe ventured into the realm of local agencies as a creative director before embarking on an incredible mission. Driven by a desire for change, he established SOKO to foster a more inclusive and purposeful advertising industry, free from toxicity. As an LGBT+ activist and recognized TEDx speaker, Felipe's dedication to amplifying underrepresented groups has earned him the title of Brazil's #1 most admired advertising executive. With honors including the Brazilian Marketing Hall of Fame and prestigious Cannes Lions and The One Show jury memberships, Felipe is renowned as one of Wired Magazine's 50 most creative people in Brazil. Brace yourself for an awe-inspiring journey as we uncover the visionary mind behind SOKO and his unwavering commitment to diversity.

Episodes available on all podcast streaming platforms and on YouTube.

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-Original music credit: Rish Sharma.His music is available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and other streaming platforms.

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In episode 2 of our Performing Perspectives series our host Payal Nayar is in conversation with Vessela Banzourkova, a cinema, photography, and fine arts enthusiast and Stefan Mustafchiev a man who gets things done.

Vessela had always known she wanted to work in the artistic field since she was a child. Vessela tried with many kinds of expression, but it wasn't until she took up a camera that everything clicked, and she soon fell in love with the art of photography. This became her major passion and source of joy in life.

Stefan is a seasoned professional in the offshore industry, boasting a proven record of efficiency, productivity, and accuracy. With his well-organized nature and excellent attention to detail, he possesses the ability to effectively prioritize a substantial workload. Over the years, he has acquired extensive experience working for various employers, honing his skills and expertise to perform under pressure. His exceptional interpersonal skills allow him to work seamlessly with individuals at all levels, making him a highly valuable asset within any team.

Stay tuned to hear more from Vessela and Stefan about their experiences in photography and cinema in the upcoming episode with our host Payal Nayar.

Vessela Banzourkova has worked as a freelance filmmaker in over 100 feature films. 

She's become a renowned figure in the film business over the years, working as a First Assistant Director, producer, or Line Producer on a range of projects. She is especially pleased of her contributions to a number of blockbuster films, including The Enforcer, Hellboy, The Expendables, Bricklayer, Rambo V, and many others. 

Working alongside stars like Antonio Banderas, Jason Statham, Silvester Stllone, Aaron Eckhart, Nicolas Cage, Gerard Butler, William Dafoe, and many more has been an honour for her. 

Tune in as she shares insights of working with big names in the industry and her journey throughout with our host Payal Nayar. 

Episodes streaming on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you may listen to podcasts.

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-Original music credit: Rish Sharma.His music is available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and other streaming platforms.

-October2019 voicesandmore Pte Ltd All rights reserved

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In our very engaging show Melting Pot we start Season 16 with a new series Performing perspectives. This episode's guest is Kate Golledge a UK based theatre director. She specialises in new musicals and making work with & for young people. She is an Associate Artist of the Singapore Repertory Theatre, for whom she has developed and directed a catalogue of children’s shows over the last ten years, seen by around two hundred thousand primary school aged children.

Alongside directing Kate also works as a dramaturg and development consultant on new work, particularly in the field of new British musicals. She is a member of SDUK.

Hear all about her journey into theatre in this Melting Pot episode.

With a specialisation in new musicals and a passion for creating engaging experiences for young audiences, Kate has established herself as a prominent figure in the world of theatre. Her invaluable contributions to shaping and refining original works have made her a sought-after collaborator in the industry. Notably, Kate is an esteemed member of SDUK (Stage Directors UK), further solidifying her position as a respected professional in the field.

Tune in to Melting Pot to gain insight into Kate's remarkable journey in the theatre world, as she shares her experiences, challenges, and triumphs along the way with our host Payal Nayar.

Episodes available on all podcast streaming platforms and on YouTube.

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-Original music credit: Rish Sharma.His music is available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and other streaming platforms.

-October2019 voicesandmore Pte Ltd All rights reserved

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In our final episode of the Impact of Visual Arts series, our host Payal Nayar is in conversation with Rahul Inamdar, a crossover artist with an MBA and an engineering degree and a 10 years of professional experience in innovation and brand management.

Rahul left his lucrative position as a corporate consultant in 2007 to pursue his passion for painting. Rahul Inamdar is a colour gradient alchemist who does not neatly fit into any genre.

He invites his audience to slowly absorb and internalize the paintings in order to really engage with the worlds of pure space that he unfolds.

Stay tuned to listen Rahul's journey from corporate world to canvas in this episode with our host Payal Nayar.

Rahul Inamdar, a self-taught artist, works with oil on canvas, sometimes laying substantial quantities of oil colour on prepared canvas with brushes, rollers and even rolling pins, while utilising charcoal for lines and textures. Rahul orchestrates minimum techniques to portray a range of emotions. 

Rahul's creative method entails an internal search and the elimination of formal parts of memory in order to distil the essence of sensory elements into line, mass, and colour. Wordless thinking transforms into colour masses, propelling the spectator on a sensual creative trip.

Tune in and listen to Rahul share insights about his minimalistic approach onto his works with our host Payal Nayar.

Episodes streaming on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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-Original music credit: Rish Sharma.His music is available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and other streaming platforms.

-October2019 voicesandmore Pte Ltd All rights reserved

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Episode 11 in the Impact of Visual Artists series on Melting Pot we are in conversation with Jivan Hovhannisyan. Born in 1968 in the town of Sisian Republic of Armenia, Jivan Hovhannisyan was a teacher at Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Centre ( DUCTAC) until 2018 and is presently teaching pencil drawing and oil painting to adults at the Reem Gallery Dubai.

Stay tuned as Jivan shares his experiences and insights on his fine art skills in this episode with our host Payal Nayar.

Jivan started painting and drawing at just 2 years old and since then he has never looked back. With over 30 years of experience under his sleeves as an artist and painter, he has

developed a strong set of skills in several artistic areas. 

"My artistic work will lift itself off the canvas for you, engaging all your senses as the detail and the passion I put into every stroke of the brush shines through to enhance the overall finished effect," says Jivan in his bio on Fine Art America.

Tune in as he shares thoughts on his journey as a painter and acquiring such a wide range of skills sets with our host Paya Nayar.

Episodes streaming on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you may listen to podcasts. Episode also available on YouTube.

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-Original music credit: Rish Sharma.His music is available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and other streaming platforms.

-October2019 voicesandmore Pte Ltd All rights reserved

Do support the show with reviews, shares and a one time donation to help bring you a lot more important content.

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Episode 10 is a conversation with Maria Montiel an award-winning painter and textile artist from Spain whose work has been shown both domestically and in the United States.

Maria uses her work to express the difficulty of maintaining memories as an immigrant. Montiel’s surreal ecosystems of colour and movement convey stories of lives left behind, “dancing into a new world.” She mostly works on canvas with watercolours and gouache.

Stay tuned to hear more from Maria on textile art & her take on paintings in the upcoming episode with our host Payal Nayar.

A resident of Spain and recipient of honorary awards like Vista Alegre- 1st prize- Madrid, Spain (2004)& Excellence award, CNAC.Venezuela- Best mention for EL SILBÓN anime short.- Caracas, Venezuela.

Maria shares her take on art quoting, "I want to share my world of imaginary tales through my art, a mixture of the coconut flavor and the smell of the Caribbean with landscapes and the Mediterranean breeze."

She has been collaborating with Taller Balam - Barcelona, Spain; AG Gallery - Brooklyn, US; ITACATE - BARCELONA, Spain & many more group exhibitions!

Tune in as she shares ideas & creative processes in painting and textile art with our host Payal Nayar.

Episodes streaming on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and on all other podcast streaming platforms. Episode also available on YouTube.

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Spotify: https://buff.ly/2Vf8uHA⠀

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-Original music credit: Rish Sharma.His music is available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and other streaming platforms.

-October2019 voicesandmore Pte Ltd All rights reserved

Do support the show with reviews, shares and a one time donation to help bring you a lot more important content.

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Episode 9 of our series Impact of Visual Arts features a conversation with Cristina Dominguez, a mother of two who works as an educational counsellor and teaches Sumi-e painting. 

Sumi-e, or Japanese ink painting, is the essence of Japanese aesthetics. Sumi-e conveys the everlasting beauty and intricacy of the natural world using just black ink and carefully maintained white space.

Taller Balam is a studio and gallery where Cristina and other artists market their works and share their own artistic style with the world.

Stay tuned for Cristina's thoughts on Sumi-e art in the next episode with our host Payal Nayar.

Cristina Dominguez is a Sumi-e artist. She enjoys developing and recreating Japanese aesthetics that developed during the Tang Dynasty of China. Chinese Zen Buddhist monks brought the contemplative brush painting method to Japan, where it was modified to the Japanese style and named Sumi-e.

"My proposals are not strictly artistic," Cristina explains, "I'm actually looking to create a framework where people can rest, rest, and reconnect by creating."

Taller Balam hosts a workshop where people may sign up for Sumi-e classes taught by her and learn their methods first hand. 

Tune in as she shares her thoughts on her classes, exhibits, and, in particular, Sumi-e with our host Paya Nayar.

Episodes streaming on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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-Original music credit: Rish Sharma.His music is available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and other streaming platforms.

-October2019 voicesandmore Pte Ltd All rights reserved

Do support the show with reviews, shares and a one time donation to help bring you a lot more important content.

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In Episode 8 of Impact of Visual Arts series on Melting Pot we are in conversation with Galina Dimitrova-Dimova an art historian, curator, and cultural project organiser.

Since 2009, Galina has served as co-curator and organiser of the International digital arts festival DA Fest in Sofia. DA Fest is an International festival that introduces Bulgarian audiences to the most recent and exciting artistic practises in the field of digital arts, including digital video, sound art, net art, multimedia performances and installations, robotics and generative systems, and other interdisciplinary forms.

Stay tuned to hear more from Galina on contemporary art in this episode with our host Payal Nayar.

A PhD in contemporary art, Galina Dimitrova-Dimova; her main areas of work are art in public space, digital arts and socially engaged artistic practices. 

Curator of various exhibitions like, “The Weight of Being” in September 2022, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, "International Artist Residency "

Organized by the Ideas Factory Association in the village of Deleina, Vidin region, Exhibition in the Goethe Institute Gallery, Sofia, 2020; OF PEOPLE AND PLACE

Public Art Festival in West Park, Sofia; In Fifthteen Minutes Everyone Will Be in The Future" (Opera) International exhibition for the 18th edition of Week of Contemporary Art 2012, Center for Contemporary Art Plovdiv, Banya Starinna and many more!

Tune in to listen to her insights on art and history and vivid experiences of her exhibitions with our host Payal Nayar.

Episodes streaming on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever else you listen to podcasts.

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-Original music credit: Rish Sharma.His music is available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and other streaming platforms.

-October2019 voicesandmore Pte Ltd All rights reserved

Do support the show with reviews, shares and a one time donation to help bring you a lot more important content.

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Episode 7 of Impact of Visual Arts series is a conversation with Shuddhabrata Sengupta who is co-founder, along with Monica Narula and Jeebesh Bagchi, of the Raqs Media Collective. Since its inception in 1992, the members of the Collective have worked in a wide range of forms and formats. Raqs has exhibited widely, including at DOCUMENTA, and the Venice, Istanbul, Taipei, Liverpool, Shanghai, Sydney, and Sao Paulo Biennales. Their sculptural project, Coronation Park, is currently on display at the 56th Venice Biennale. Raqs received the Multitude Art Prize in 2013.

Stay tuned to know how how Raqs takes the sense of ‘kinetic contemplation’ and a restless and energetic entanglement with the world, and with time with our host Payal Nayar.

Shuddhabrata Sengupta is a well renowned artist and writer, and member of Raqs Media Collective. Raqs is a word in Persian, Arabic and Urdu and means the state that “whirling dervishes” enter into when they whirl. Raqs signifies and embodies the practice of a kinetic contemplation of the world. It is also a word used for dance.

The collective makes contemporary art, edits books, curates exhibitions, and stages situations. It has collaborated with architects, computer programmers, writers, curators, and theatre directors, and has made films.

Sengupta also co-founded Sarai—the inter-disciplinary and incubatory space at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi—in 2001, where it initiated processes that have left deep impact on contemporary culture in India.

Tune in to listen to his conversation on his projects, Raqs and insights behind their work with our host Payal Nayar.

Episodes streaming on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/2Vf8vv8⠀

Spotify: https://buff.ly/2Vf8uHA⠀

Google Podcasts:https://buff.ly/2Vds6LX⠀

-Original music credit: Rish Sharma.His music is available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and other streaming platforms.

-October2019 voicesandmore Pte Ltd All rights reserved

Do support the show with reviews, shares and a one time donation to help bring you a lot more important content.

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/meltingpotcollective

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Episode 6 of our Impact of Visual Arts series our host Payal Nayar is in conversation with Aashti Miller an architect, illustrator, and graphic designer. She was born and raised in Mumbai and studied Architecture at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. She is the sole force behind MillerInk, an illustration, and graphic design studio. In 2023, she was selected for the Forbes 30 under 30 lists for design.

One of Aashti’s most notable illustration projects is ‘The World is My Oyster,’ a children’s book which highlights accomplished Indian women and provides role models for little girls ready to take on the world.

Stay tuned as she gives us a deeper dive into her world of illustrations and designs. Aashti Miller is an architect by day and an illustrator by night. A Henry Adams AIA Medallist and a licensed Architect in the US and India.

Aashti constructs her drawings in an attempt to make sense of the unexpected collision of her two seemingly disparate worlds. As a result, her aesthetic and style have evolved into detailed drawings that tread the fine line between constructed and painted, digital and analog, and two and three-dimensional Her work is heavily inspired by and explores spaces, places, and faces.

Tune in as expresses how she looses herself among her graphics and structures while conversing with our host Payal Nayar.

Episodes streaming on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and all other podcast streaming platforms and YouTube.

Apple Podcasts: https://buff.ly/2Vf8vv8⠀

Spotify: https://buff.ly/2Vf8uHA⠀

Google Podcasts:https://buff.ly/2Vds6LX⠀

-Original music credit: Rish Sharma.His music is available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and other streaming platforms.

-October2019 voicesandmore Pte Ltd All rights reserved

Do support the show with reviews, shares and a one time donation to help bring you a lot more important content.

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/meltingpotcollective

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.