Kallaway Buta Festival, celebration of Azerbaijani arts

The first ever Buta Festival, a celebration of Azerbaijan's rich cultural heritage and vibrant contemporary arts scene, took place at packed out venues across London from November 2009 – March 2010. It represented a major opportunity for London to discover Azerbaijan, through a wealth of music, art, photography, poetry and food at events taking place across in the city at a range of venues including the Royal Festival Hall, Sotheby's and St Martin-in-the-Fields.

Kallaway worked with the Buta Festival several months in advance on both the media campaign and the implementation of the highly varied and complex schedule of events which involved international performers Gidon Kremer and Schlomo Mintz as well as artists Rena Effendi and Tair Salakhov.

The media campaign secured over 75 articles across UK and international media. Highlights included a double page spread on Rena Effendi’s photography exhibition in The Times an interview with her on the BBC World Service’s flagship arts programme The Strand, and an appearance by Azeri poet Nigar Hasan Zadeh on BBC Radio 3’s The Verb and festival reviews across the media, including features in the Metro.

Kallaway is now working with sponsors to develop future BUTA festivals in London.