The Belfast Mela, Northern Ireland’s largest cultural diversity festival, gave a taste of its upcoming week-long series of celebration with a Mini Mela held at Phoenix Natural Gas.
Bringing a taste of global culture, the Mini Mela saw colleagues at Phoenix Natural Gas sample a taste of Nepal with some Himalayan spice provided by The Good Food Shak before getting involved in Bollywood Dance, African drumming and trying their hands at traditional henna artwork.
The Mini Mela also offered an exclusive preview of Belfast Mela’s week-long celebration of culture which will see 40 plus world music, dance, theatre and arts events taking place across the City from Monday 23 August and running until Sunday 29th August.
Recognising the importance of diversity and inclusion, the Mini Mela marked the culmination of a week-long focus on diversity at Phoenix Natural Gas which saw the company work with partners such as Cara Friend, AWARE NI, BITC NI and the RNID to educate its team on the challenges different groups of people face and the small steps they can take to be even more inclusive.
Jonathan Martindale, Director of Business Development at Phoenix Natural Gas explains: “As a responsible business and inclusive employer it’s important that we lead the way in understanding and celebrating a varied range of perspectives and experiences as we reflect the wider society and communities we serve.
“The Belfast Mela is a vibrant celebration of global culture and diversity and we’re delighted that as a Friend of Mela we’re able to bring some of that magic of Mela to Phoenix Natural Gas as part of our Diversity Week.”
Nisha Tandon, OBE, Founder of Belfast Mela and Director of ArtsEkta said: “The Belfast Mela Festival reflects the vibrant, enriched, intercultural and ambitious city Belfast is growing to become and we’re delighted to bring a taste of our global connections to Phoenix Natural Gas as part of their Diversity Week.
This year we have extended the Belfast Mela festival over a full week providing opportunities for everyone across the city to take part and celebrate the magic of Mela in a safe and enjoyable way. Whilst we know many will miss our traditional festival at Botanic Gardens, we are sure there is something that appeals to everyone in the programme and would encourage as many people as possible to come along and get involved.”
Full details of this year’s Belfast Mela programme is available now at www.belfastmela.org.uk Follow all the fun on ArtsEkta’s social media: Facebook – facebook.com/artsekta1 and Instagram and Twitter @ArtsEkta using #belfastmela.
Further information on Phoenix Natural Gas and it’s Responsible Business Programme is available at: https://www.phoenixnaturalgas.com/about-us/phoenix-group/corporate-responsibility
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