Gitana Productions also develops strategic community collaborations that engage various ethnic communities in dialogue and education. These events nurture relationship development and cultural acceptance based on knowledge and authentic cross-cultural sharing. Here are some examples:

Afghan families come to “My Heart is Always Shaking”

gitana afghan women group shot

There are approximately 1500 Afghans in St. Louis representing the Pashton, Hazzara, Uzbek and Tajik tribes. Gitana conducted outreach efforts to attract these families to our original production of “My Heart is Always Shaking: Afghan Women Refugees in St. Louis,” written by Lee Patton Chiles. We worked with immigrant service organizations, an Afghan Market, Saleems Restaurant and a community organizer to make this happen. As a result at least 60 members of the community attended our play-their first theater experience!

Carpenter Branch Library Hosts “Women of Afghanistan” Exhibit

We were delighted that Carpenter displayed Gitana’s photography exhibit featuring the ethnically diverse women of Afghanistan for almost six weeks. In addition they assembled books regarding Afghanistan and featured them during the same time period.

The Language of the Heart Poetry Contest

For “Faces of Love from Iran: We are God's Music”, Gitana Productions invited local writers to submit original poems for “The Language of the Heart,” a poetry contest and reading based on the work of the acclaimed 13th century Persian poet Rumi. Selected poems were featured at “The Language of the Heart” poetry reading at the Regional Arts Commission. The reading was well received by a full room of poetry enthusiasts including well-known Rumi expert, Fatemeh Keshavarz and local poets Michael Castro and K. Curtis Lyles. The event brought a diversity of poetry contestants and audience members of all ages, socio-economic background and many nationalities.

Voices from Darfur: Personal Stories of a Genocide

In 2007 and 2008 for “Complacency of Silence: Darfur”, Gitana worked with the St. Louis Darfur Coalition, the African community, St. Louis University and other specially targeted organizations to provide education on the crisis in Darfur and to involve diverse sectors of the community in our performances. More than 500 people attended the “Voices from Darfur: Personal Stories of a Genocide” symposium hosted by Gitana in partnership with the American Friends Service Committee on November 6 at Saint Louis University. The audience included diverse ethnicities, and included students from local universities and high schools. To enhance the participation of students, Gitana set up a telephone conference between students from six local high schools and Daoud Hari, a refugee from Darfur, Sudan. The conference call was facilitated by a professional journalist from Belleville. This activity alone generated six school newspaper articles in St. Louis City and County.

Faces of Darfur Photography Exhibit

In 2007 and 2008 for “Complacency of Silence: Darfur”, Gitana worked with the St. Louis Darfur Coalition, the African community, St. Louis University and other specially targeted organizations to provide education on the crisis in Darfur and to involve diverse sectors of the community in our performances. More than 500 people attended the “Voices from Darfur: Personal Stories of a Genocide” symposium hosted by Gitana in partnership with the American Friends Service Committee on November 6 at Saint Louis University.

Love through the Fire

In September 2006, Gitana sponsored a special lecture and musical program at Central Reformed Congregation, the only synagogue in St. Louis City bringing Muslims, Jews and the public together. The program included the participation of Iranian lecturers from Washington University, a Jewish singing group, and musical band from Guinea. An African American poet and publisher of an alternative newspaper also participated. When the Faces of Love show was performed in October, eleven different ethnicities were represented in the audience. The show included an international Muslim Moroccan artist, Hassan Hakmoun and Rick Recht, a well-known Jewish rock artist.

Romani Culture Lecture featuring Dr. Ian Hancock

Prior to presenting the first St. Louis Roma (Gypsy) Music Festival in April 2006 Gitana collaborated with local Romani and Washington University to bring Dr. Ian Hancock, an internationally known scholar on Romani culture to St. Louis. A local Romani businessperson provided dinner for the event. Gitana then collaborated with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to inspire an article about Bosnian food and culture that had two full pages of coverage.  Partnerships included the St. Louis Public Library, St. Louis Public Schools, Legal Aid Immigrant Services, CHIPS and a number of arts groups.

Dance of the Dragon: A Profile of Chinese Music

When Gitana brought the China National Orchestra to St. Louis in 2000, the relationships Gitana developed with the Chinese community resulted in the joint production of an award winning film, Dance of the Dragon: A Profile of Chinese Music. We were able to engage students from St. Louis City Public Schools and Parkway School District to open the performance at Powell Symphony Hall with dynamic cross-cultural dance routines.

In 2003, Gitana Productions received top awards from the Committee for Access and Local Origination Programming (CALOP) for their film "Dance of the Dragon: A Profile of Chinese Music.” The documentary "Dance of the Dragon: A Profile of Chinese Music" was completed on the eve of the St. Louis premier performance of the world renowned China National Orchestra, an eighty-member orchestra composed of China's best musicians. The Orchestra has traveled throughout Europe, South America, Asia and Australia, leaving with rave reviews. The China National Orchestra performs from a large repertoire of fine folkloric musical works originating from various regions in China using instruments dating back three thousand years.

The film was the result of collaboration between Gitana Productions, Maven Films, the St. Louis Chinese Association and China's Ministry of Culture as a part of their combined efforts to educate St. Louisans about the cultural, historical and literary influences on the traditional music of China.

The film required approval from the China's Ministry of Culture because of the participation of musicians from the State sponsored China National Orchestra. Cecilia Nadal, secured Beijing's approval and the film was produced on location at Webster University in St. Louis.