PUBLIC ARTWORK
FLY WITH ME
Good Chance teamed up with Afghan artists and over 70 partners across the world to present a festival of solidarity filled with Afghan kite-flying, music, poetry and dance.
“I was never allowed to fly kites in Afghanistan, because I was a girl - this is the first time I've flown a kite. It gives me such a good feeling to experience the ancient culture of Afghanistan.”
- Fly With Me participant
An international kite flying festival in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan.
On August 15th 2022, to mark one-year since the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, Good Chance launched an immersive, international kite flying festival presented by Afghan artists, actors and sportspeople.
Spread across 47 locations in the UK, Europe and North America, Fly With Me celebrated the ancient Afghan craft of kite-flying in an aerial act of solidarity with the people of Afghanistan. The artform, alongside music, theatre and dance, have been banned by the Taliban during their occupation of the country. See the full press coverage here.
Each year since, Good Chance has gathered with friends and family around the world to celebrate and help preserve Afghan culture through the simple, joyful act of kite flying, sending a message to the world that can’t be ignored: ‘Remember Afghanistan’.
Afghan culture is STILL under attack.
Since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in 2021, the humanitarian emergency continues to unfold beyond the headlines. And the rights of women and girls have been stripped away at a harrowing pace.
Systematic restrictions have made Afghanistan the only country in the world where girls are denied education beyond primary level, and where women are effectively erased from public life. But Afghan communities - inside the country and in the diaspora - are still resisting. And they still need our solidarity.
Inspired by Fly With Me, we believe in the power of collective action. Click the button to discover six ways to support Afghan communities, both in Afghanistan and around the world.
Fly With Me took place in 47 cities and towns across the UK, Europe and America.
And was created in partnership with our friends at Heath Hands · Allianz Kulturstiftung · Bercy Beaucoup · National Literacy Trust Bradford · Danish Hazara Association (DAHAF) · Future Foundry · Kent Refugee Action Network · Samphire · Creative Folkestone · Folkestone Fringe · Citizens Theatre · Manchester International Festival · HOME Manchester · Community Arts North West · Community Arts Network, plus 33 further dedicated and passionate arts, humanitarian, civil society and religious partners around the world.
“During my lifetime, my country’s flag’s colours have been painted, wiped, repainted then wiped again 15 times. But we have always flown kites.”
- Elham Ehsas, Fly With Me creative lead
Over 30 people from Afghanistan were employed in paid roles within the core creative and producing team, many of whom fled the country in August 2021 in the evacuations, and over 50 Afghan artists worked in paid roles worldwide.
Special thanks go to the leaders of the project: master kite-maker Sanjar Qiam; Afghan actor, storyteller and director Elham Ehsas (Yellow, The Kite Runner, Homeland); Afghan musician and creative consultant Elaha Soroor; and Good Chance Producer’s Dina Mousawi and Emily Webb.
Elham Ehsas
Sanjar Qiam
Elaha Soroor
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