Samir Bhamra wins Arts & Culture Award

Samir Bhamra has walked away with the Arts and Culture Award at the British Indian Awards. The ceremony, which was held on 15th July 2016 at Athena in Leicester, was a celebration of the success and achievements of Britain�۪s Indian individuals, communities and business people.

The calibre and scale of talent present at the British Indian Awards is a testament to the commitment and hard work the British Indian community holds, along with the opportunities available in the United Kingdom�۝ commented Yasmin Mahmood of event organiser�۪s, Oceanic Consulting. ���It was truly an inspirational evening and we are humbled and honoured to be able to recognise and reward the achievements of the many inspirational individuals and business that participated. Well done to all of the finalists and winners.

Bhamra was delighted to receive the award and thanked all his partners, artists and stakeholders. He said, ���This award is totally unexpected especially given the calibre of finalists in the category. When I was a young student, I chose a course that guaranteed financial stability over personal satisfaction. Within a few years, I realised that the Arts pump blood into my veins. I have learnt from mistakes and been taught by wonderful teachers. Phizzical was born to fill a gap ��� to support the hidden talent in each and everyone of us. The talent we have nurtured have gone on to achieve success on British, Indian and American TV, stage and film. We are blessed to receive an acknowledgment for the work we have done to enable British Asian talent to thrive and will continue to do so zealously.�۝

Hamish Glen, Artistic Director, Belgrade Theatre said, ���We�۪re delighted to have been able to work with Samir and his company Phizzical for almost 4 years in projects such as the recent hit show Bring on the Bollywood. The Belgrade is committed to supporting talented artists and their development, and working together to build a bigger audience for new and culturally diverse work. This award is well deserved and reflects very positively on the work we and Samir are doing. Congratulations Samir.�۝

Michaela Butter MBE, Director, Attenborough Arts Centre added, ���The Attenborough Arts Centre is delighted to hear about Samir Bhamra�۪s and Phizzical�۪s well deserved British Indian arts and cultural awareness award. We are very proud of our long term partnership with Samir and his team and our role in supporting his company to take creative risks, and reach new audiences. Both our organisations are passionate about opening up,opportunities for emerging talent and removing barriers to access particularly for disabled people to enter into the arts profession. The play by Shahid Iqbal Khan was a brilliant example of how our partnership was able to promote a new writer and we were only too pleased that our patron , Michael Attenborough was able to take such an active role in supporting the development of the play.�۝