Pureland Series and Southbank Centre Present Being A Man Panel Discussion

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Pureland Series have announced an exciting preview event in partnership with the Southbank Centre in advance of the 17-acre arts hub’s hugely popular Being A Man Festival.

The preview panel discussion, curated and compered by Southbank Artistic Director and Being A Man founder Jude Kelly CBE, and featuring comedian Jack Rooke, spoken word poet LionHeart and Leiran Gibson, will be held on October 24 at London's China Exchange in Chinatown.

The Pureland evening offers an exclusive preview for the 2017 Being A Man festival and the panel will discuss masculinity, identity and the pressures on men in the 21st century. Now in its fourth year, the Being A Man Festival has received widespread acclaim for its poignant and necessary discussions around the challenges and pressures of masculine identity in our modern age, including men’s mental health and stigma associated with showing emotion.

Jude Kelly CBE has been the Artistic Director of Southbank Centre in London for over 10 years. She is the recipient of an Olivier Award for her production of ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ at The National Theatre, a BASCA Gold Badge Award winner for contribution to music, a Southbank Award for her opera work, Red Magazine’s 2014 Creative Woman of the Year, CBIs 2016 First Woman Award winner for Tourism and Leisure and this year won the inaugural Veuve Clicquot Woman of the Year Social Purpose Award.

Kelly also created the WOW - Women of the World Festival in 2011 which celebrates the achievements of women and girls globally and drives gender equality. WOW is now in its seventh year at Southbank Centre and is taking place in other parts of the UK and 20 countries in 5 continents across the world. She has directed over 100 theatrical and operatic productions from the Royal Shakespeare Company to the Châtalet in Paris. In 1997, she was awarded an OBE for her services to theatre and in 2015 she was made a CBE for services to the Arts.

Kelly will be joined on the panel by young men sharing their personal experiences and solutions about how to make real societal change. Sexuality, the impact of a lack of father-figures and race will be used as lenses through which to examine the politics of gender and creation of an equal society.

Jack Rooke’s Edinburgh Fringe show, Good Grief, written with his 85-year old Nan, was nominated for Best Show by an Emerging Artist at the Total Theatre Awards 2015. This critically acclaimed debut brings comic light to personal tragedy and bereavement and has since been adapted into a BBC Radio 4 comedy and a BBC Three documentary about happiness. The show delves into issues surrounding manhood, a theme that Rooke explores across his work.

LionHeart is a TEDx Speaker, award winning poet and international spoken word performer who speaks and ‘writes for those with walls for windows’. Author of upcoming poetry collection The Mute’s Rebellion, which excavates memories of social anxiety, selective mutism, masculinity, emotional vulnerability and more. He is also Co-Founder of international and innovative debate platform SubjectivityUK based in London, Birmingham and New York.

Leiran Gibson is a British-born Caribbean actor, writer and illustrator who trained at St Mary's University, before becoming a Youth Ambassador and a BAMbassador for the Southbank Centre.

Pureland Series at China Exchange is hosted by Pureland Foundation, which supports charities and organisations committed to enriching lives through creativity, spirituality and self-expression. Pureland Series seeks to promote awareness and change through ideas interchange and inspiration. Pureland Foundation supports charitable endeavours to promote social, spiritual and emotional wellness. It also aims to enrich lives through art and music. “Pure Land” in Buddhism is the realm of higher consciousness, peace and harmony.

Pureland Series is delighted to partner with China Exchange to share the best of arts, music and wellness inspiration.

Southbank Centre is Europe’s largest Arts Institution and London’s third biggest tourist attraction, and includes the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery over 21 acres.

For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit www.purelandseries.com

Pureland Series at China Exchange UK, 32A Gerrard Street, London W1D 6JA

Doors open at 6pm, event 6.30pm – 7.45pm

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