Come and join our Creative Youth team at a very exciting time in our history as we open our brand new creative space, FUSEBOX.
FUSEBOX, situated on the Riverside in the heart of Kingston, now requires its very first Marketing and Box Office Coordinator to manage promoting the space and all its activities plus overseeing the sale of tickets as we move to our full launch from July.
For all information regarding this role, a full job description and how to apply .
Our Creative Sparks nights give emerging artists and companies the opportunities to showcase short pieces of work that are in development (and between 10-15 minutes long). The work can be from a range of genres including theatre, comedy, physical theatre, poetry and more.
Creative Sparks nights also provide opportunities to share ideas and request feedback from audience.
Book tickets for the event in advance or buy on the door.
Serena Arthur was Birmingham Young Poet Laureate for two years, writing and performing her work for and at various institutions, companies and schools across the UK. She is now London-based and has recently returned to writing and performing her work. She is also an Editor at one of the UK’s biggest publishing houses, Hachette UK.
Follow Serena on Twitter
Follow Serena on Instagram
Sharifa Olateju – Sharifa Music
Sharifa is an 18-year-old musician, producer, artist and DJ working in between different genres, notably rap, pop, R&B and alternative. With a unique and interesting style, he shows an undeniable potential and a future full-of-promise. Being born in the East Midlands and raised in a close-minded town, Sharifa is now living in London where he continues to grow and collaborate in the creative industry. He takes influences from his daily life and emotional struggles, and portrays it through his work.
Cora
Cora Dessalines is a queer, non-binary afrofuturist poet & writer. their work primarily centres on themes of love, loss, and rage. drawing from the imagery and language of the natural world and the cosmos, both their poetry and writing is a channel to invigorate their community, to galvanise them into materially creating the liberating worlds that afrofuturism allows us to imagine. they have previously had their work published in bad form magazine, lacuna literary magazine, and iamb poetry. throughout their career, they have performed with a number of organisations including the rap party x spazio griot, London queer writers, and queer off. a lover of fashion, space, and all things colourful, they are currently working on their first science-fiction novel for adults.
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Cora’s website
Izabella Iváshchenko (IzaBella), 20 (singer, songwriter) and Mariia Yaremák, 25 (composer, pianist) are Ukrainian professional musicians who were forced to leave their country because of the war that Russia started. Both had successful careers: they worked with TV, radio and films, performed on big stages with orchestras, participated in many projects and competitions in Ukraine and abroad) and they have never known each other before. They met in the UK and became friends in life and music, despite completely different personalities and musical tastes. And now they are trying to build their life and career in the new country.
They created a special performance-programme about Ukraine which consists of video and photo content, introducing foreign people with Ukraine’s history and culture and, of course, sharing music – songs that have been written during the war times. They have already done about 16 charity concerts in the UK to support Ukrainian families and children who have lost their homes or relatives. As well they’ve sent toys and financial support to people in need with the help of local Rotary Clubs, churches and generous British people. The last event that they did was at the St Albans Cathedral which was full with people and they’ve collected a lot of money to send to Ukraine.
Apart from this project they are working on their solo careers as well, IzaBella and Mariia are planning to publish their own material, trying to find projects in acting and dancing industries and working on different projects with other countries and in the UK on distance.
Our Creative Sparks nights give emerging artists and companies the opportunities to showcase short pieces of work that are in development (and between 10-15 minutes long). The work can be from a range of genres including theatre, comedy, physical theatre, poetry and more.
Creative Sparks nights also provide opportunities to share ideas and request feedback from audience.
Book tickets for the event in advance or buy on the door.
Guitarist, vocalist and composer, originally from beautiful city Gdańsk, where she started her musical path. She obtained Bachelor’s degree at the University Mozarteum Salzburg where she was improving her classical guitar skills. Also, Zuzanna has studied Composing for Film and TV at Kingston University London. At Creative Sparks Zuzanna will perform the newest songs which has been released on streaming platforms with Acid Grass Records, few songs from her EP 2020 and unreleased tracks too.
Chidera Ikechukwu will be performing a spoken word poem about her relationship with being black and British and how those both coincide and collide.
Xander
Xander finds himself influenced from many different musical angles which relay to the performance style and sound that he delivers. Growing up just outside of London, in a home which loved music, Xander was exposed to a multitude of artists from a young age, ranging from the smooth soul sounds of Sade to the psychedelic guitar solos of Pink Floyd, to hard-hitting Nu-Metal of Linkin Park down to the pop melodies of Coldplay and The Script. All these different musical influences combined with Xander’s ever-wondering sense of purpose lead to a familiar pop sound with some progressive intrigue.
The majority of Xander’s music aims at people’s hearts instead of their feet, tackling relatable subjects from heartbreak to chasing your dreams. These relatable subjects have always been something Xander has been drawn to as he believes music is one of the best ways to counter isolation as it can let you know you’re not the only person out there feeling the way that you do.
Expect conversations around the importance of making work for and about local communities and an exploration into different teaching methods by Professional Korean choreographer, Gong-Won (Su-Young Park).
Be sure to register your FREE place for this live conversation taking place on Thursday 30 March at 7pm by following the link below or 🎙️
We want to hear what you have to say! Keep an eye out on this page for updates on our panel very soon.
This webinar is part of a free series by Creative Youth, called So You Wanna Work in/Change the Arts. Visit our page on Anchor to listen to our full archive of webinar sessions.
So You Wanna Work in/Change the Arts is a podcast produced by Creative Youth charity, created to discuss key topics which affect the arts industry, alongside practical sessions which cover a range of advice about different arts sectors.
The series is part of Creative Youth’s wider Creative Talent Programme which offers artistic, strategic and business support to young emerging artists. Generously supported by Arts Council England.
When David Bowie took to the stage at the Toby Jug pub in February 1972, the 60 or so people in the room had little idea that they were witnessing history. 50 years on, Kingston Museum’s Bowie And Beyond exhibition will look at the remarkable moment that Ziggy Stardust was launched in Tolworth and the wider music and pop culture scene in the borough.
Through a curated collection of music memorabilia sourced from local people, original artworks and interviews with people who were there and people who were inspired (including musicians, artists and authors), Bowie and Beyond looks at the impact Bowie’s alter ego had on art, music and pop fashion. More broadly, the exhibition will reflect on how society in Kingston reflected, and sometimes helped to shape, national and international trends.
The exhibition takes in Kingston’s shifting musical landscape since the 1970s, exploring the loss of historical venues and celebrating those that continue today. It will look at Kingston Polytechnic’s role as music venue and creative hub, cult bands from the area such as Cardiacs and The Trudy, and the scene that sprung up around 90s indie band Dodgy, who settled in Kingston prior to their chart success and established a popular club night.
Bowie and Beyond is part of charity Creative Youth’s music heritage project AMP Kingston and is presented in partnership with The Community Brain and Kingston Museum. Among the artworks will be Guy Portelli’s Circle of Hands, which features handprints of collaborators from throughout Bowie’s career, and album artwork from Bowie’s Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust records provided by original illustrator Terry Pastor. Continuing the legacy into the present day, local young artists supported by Creative Youth will produce artistic responses to the items in the collection and will be displayed alongside them.
Speaking about the exhibition Chair of Creative Youth Robin Hutchinson said
“The launch of Ziggy Stardust is a momentous piece of pop culture history that happened in Tolworth. It reflects the huge amount of creativity and musical talent that can be found in suburban towns. Yet, as this exhibition will explore, 50 years later we are rapidly losing music venues across the borough and you’d be hard pressed to find a Toby Jug equivalent.This exhibition celebrates the rich vein of musical legacy that runs through Kingston, while also asking where would an artist like Bowie play today?”
In the months leading up to the exhibition, Creative Youth and The Community Brain are continuing to collect items related to the search for items, photographs, mixtapes and memories linked to music in the local area. Anyone with objects they can loan or memories to share is encouraged to email our researcher.
Listings information
Bowie And Beyond
Art Gallery, Kingston Museum, Wheatfield Way, Kingston upon Thames KT1 2PS
31 March – 16 September 2023
Free Entry
kingstonheritage.org.uk