About our Artists

Maria Telnikoff

Maria Telnikoff (she/they) is a writer, performer and alternative comedian. Creator of five star show  “My Dad Wears A Dress” (Nottingham Playhouse, Vagina Museum, Camden People’s Theatre and Underbelly, Edinburgh) about her experience of growing up with a trans female parent, she is excited to bring an excerpt of her new show “All The Men Are Going To Hate Me” to Creative Sparks.

It is also touring to Riverside Studio’s Bitesize Festival, Leicester Comedy Festival and Brighton Fringe. The show is about one woman’s attempt to write The Great (Female) Novel of the 21st Century. Part stand-up, part poetry, part interpretive dance, it’s an exploration of love, sex and literature. Maria is also co-host of alt comedy night Soft Play Area and a graduate of SOHO Theatre Comedy Labs Plus.

Instagram – @mariatelnikoff21

Jas Nisic

Jas Nisic (they/them) is a multi-award nominated Theatre-Maker and Singer-Songwriter, nominated for two consecutive OffFest Awards and shortlisted for Best LGBTQA+ production at the Greater Manchester Fringe. Their work has been supported by Queer Superbia Arts Fund and LGBT Foundation. They trained at the Royal Academy of Music in Musical Theatre.

Jas has been described as a “Mancunian Lily Allen’’ with relatable original music in a jazzy/folky style, Jas has been featured at Stockport Pride and BBC Radio Manchester, and was recently commissioned by HOME Manchester to write a song in response to the film “Red Shoes”.

Instagram – @jazzbyjas

Charisa Francis

Charisa is a creative – artist and actor with a background in musical theatre. In short, she is passionate about all the arts!

She began painting therapeutically focusing on self-discovery and understanding the world around her. Drawing inspiration from artists like Bansky and Kara Walker, Charisa brings the art of storytelling to her work. She uses her creativity to illustrate her play on common sayings, in a style she calls “abstract-literal”. Charisa is now exploring deeper messages through digital art.

Her abstract approach and use of vibrant colours (symbolising emotions) creates a visual world on canvas for inner thoughts and feelings.

Instagram – @charisa_x

Natalia Bo

I am an Argentinian visual artist. I studied Arts and Set Design at the Fine Arts University, National University of La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina. I dedicated myself to murals and acrylic on canvas paintings. All my work is related to the flora and fauna from Latin America, my hometown, friends and family.

I moved to England in 2019 with the aim of growing and expanding my art. I had the opportunity to exhibit back home in Buenos Aires, La Plata, Barcelona, and here in the UK, Bristol and Bath. I love to work inspired by what is around me and learn what comes with it.

Instagram – @natbo_

Be sure to visit our the Creative Sparks event page to secure your tickets!

Our final Creative Sparks event is coming up this Friday, make sure to come along and see what else we have in store!

– 23 February 2024 (CARE & HEALING)

About our Artists

Takeo

My name is Takeo and I am a graphic designer based in London. The main goal I aim to recreate within my work is feeling. I am intrigued how we all as humans can feel so strongly about something but find it hard to verbally describe those feelings, but could point at a picture that relates to us in that moment. I aim to visually recreate those indescribable feelings to make people go “ oh, I feel that, that makes sense!”.

Website: www.t4k30.cargo.site

Instagram: @t4k30__

Kitty Roberts

Kitty Roberts is a BA Fine Art student born in the West Midlands, working across a variety of disciplines and materials, particularly in painting, drawing, fibre art and installations. She is currently exploring feelings of nostalgia and immersion, fantasy visual development and indigenous community representation.

Though she is working towards a degree, she has begun to critique the privatising nature of artistic language at higher education level, and how using these teachings at career level could create a disconnect between ‘the public’ and ‘public art’.

Website: www.thisiskit.cargo.site

Instagram: @katoncanvas

Arisha

Arisha (they/them) is a singer-songwriter and cabaret artist based in Manchester. Their work is heavily inspired by nature and they often use natural imagery to explore the complexities of queer and neurodiverse experiences of the world. They are passionate about making their performance spaces accessible to all and making work that has a positive social impact.

Recent Credits include: Local Artist Spotlight for “Santa Must Die” by Archipelago Arts, Manchester Jazz Festival’s “Soundcheck 2023” programme and “Arisha’s OK Cabaret: An Operatic Extravaganza” which was nominated for Best LGBTQ+ Performance by Queer Lit UK and Off Fest 2023.

Instagram: @arisha.jan

Ghost Flower

Emily Gray, artistically known as Ghost Flower, is a London-based abstract expressionist painter. Her style merges surrealism with action painting, expressing emotions through dynamic brushwork. Her art, rooted in childhood, evolved as an unconscious form of therapy, blending psychology with raw emotional expression.

With an Art and Design Extended Diploma and a background in art therapy, Emily views creation as a therapeutic journey. She advocates for art as a coping mechanism and a means of exploring the unconscious mind. Through her work, Emily aims to destigmatize mental illness, promoting art as a liberating, judgment-free form of expression, accessible to all.

Website: www.ghostflower.co.uk

Instagram: @ghostflower.creations

Be sure to visit our the Creative Sparks event page to secure your tickets!

We have more upcoming talent being showcased at our Creative Sparks events every Friday this month, make sure to come along and see what else we have in store!

– 16 February 2024 (ANTI-VALENTINES)

– 23 February 2024 (CARE & HEALING)

About our Artists

Oscar Rodriguez

Oscar Rodriguez (he/they) is a Salvadoran American poet and performance artist based in Kingston. Avid writer since childhood, his migration to London to study Creative Writing was a manifestation of resilience. Escaping from a doomsday group, their poetry reflects on trauma, religion, identity, and queerness. He collaborates with Writers Kingston frequently and in the past with Spotify Radar’s Shygirl collaboration. With their debut Sampson Low pamphlet, Mold, and performance at the National Gallery’s Lates in March 2024, he continues to use abstract to explain reality.

PIECE – Laced with intervals of sound poetry, MOLD: Live Hypnosis is a performance piece that will explore what it means, feels like, and is to fall into hypersexuality, from a queer lens.

Crusty

Crusty is a gender-bending, nasty little bastard with a voice of gold and a head of bald. Crusty strives to bring equal parts stupidity and commentary to their work, using humour and theatre to explore their trans identity. Actor, singer, idiot – Crust is a Must.

PIECE: A performance piece about the trans healthcare system in the UK, including a DIY top surgery.

Scarlett Stitt & Amitai Landau-Pope

Amitai Landau-Pope (he/him) writes and directs between London and New York. Scarlett Stitt (she/they) is an actor, theatremaker and interdisciplinary artist. As a collaboration, they are interested in bridging theatre and performance art, interrogating the limits of language and the body. They are recent graduates of NYU Tisch School of the Arts and RADA respectively.

Piece: A theatrical monologue from the perspective of a box of Celebrations.

Jayran Lear

Jayran Lear (she/her) is a theatre maker, arts facilitator, and performer based in Manchester and the North West. Inspired by mystics and storytellers of the Ancient World, she creates and tells tales that reflect the contemporary world and current political climate throug

h the lens of folklore and myths with: epic poems, movement and music. She highlights Middle-Eastern joy and centres her Iranian heritage in her work that serves as both an escapism and homecoming. Through art, she aims to build bridges and connectivity that transcends language, lived experience, and culture whilst celebrating it all!

PIECE: A cautionary tale about keeping yourself afloat whilst the tide rushes in through artistic mediums of short stories, epic poetry, and mystic dance.

Be sure to visit our the Creative Sparks event page to secure your tickets!

We have more upcoming talent being showcased at our Creative Sparks events every Friday this month, make sure to come along and see what else we have in store!

– 09 February 2024 (LIBERATION)

– 16 February 2024 (ANTI-VALENTINES)

– 23 February 2024 (CARE & HEALING)

Today’s episode focuses AMP’s core theme of music. 

Jarek once again invites two guests of different generations to discuss how things have changed in the last 20 years and beyond. 

Since being involved in the very early years of Creative Youth in the late 2000s, Liam Cottrell has been on a musical journey that has seen him graduate from ‘man with guitar’ to festival DJ. 

Xander Allman-Varty is a young singer-songwriter who has regularly played Creative Youth events, and knows what it means for upcoming musicians to cut their teeth in today’s industry.

In a wide ranging and open discussion, Jarek, Liam and Xander cover the digitisation of music production, the impact of the streaming revolution on artists, and whether the loss of music venues is the tragedy it is often presented as. 

Listen to the episode on Spotify via the link below or by clicking here to view on our YouTube Channel.

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AMPLIFY is brought to you by Creative Youth with support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Host: Jarek Zaba with Liam Cottrell and Xander Allman-Varty
Editing and Mixing: Jarek Zaba
Music: Mariia Yaremak
Artwork: Courtney Ellis

For more information on AMP please click here. 

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About Creative Youth Charity: Creative Youth aims to enable young people to realise their potential through the arts. We believe every young person has a right to access the arts and creativity and should be encouraged to take initiatives, risks and push boundaries in a safe, inclusive environment. ⁠⁠creativeyouthcharity.org

Through our collaboration with Mind in Kingston and Mind Richmond, we’ve been able to offer young people these sessions for free with an extra hour available for drop in 1-2-1 support sessions with a youth support worker.

We are now delighted to announce that these sessions are now being developed with the support the National Lottery Community Fund. With this funding, Creative Youth will be expanding their community reach in order to bring a broad range of different artistic mediums and activities to each session.

The Community Fund will help fund professional artists and workshop facilitators to run these sessions at an elevated level, with specific focuses and themes each week, as well as further investment in materials.

Mindful Art Sessions will be coming back in the New Year (from 9 January 2024) every Tuesday from 4pm.

Mindful Art Exhibition (Wednesday 17 – Friday 26 January 2024)

We are also delighted to be sharing the culmination of artwork that has been produced by the young people that attend these sessions so far. Artwork will be available to view during FUSEBOX opening hours (Wednesday to Saturday, 11:00 – 18:00), free entry.

FUSEBOX

In January 2023 we received the keys to FUSEBOX after several months of building work to establish the space as a flexible, multi-arts space. It’s hard to believe that the space changed so much between summer 2022 and Jan 2023!

There were still some outstanding building and public realm projects for the first few months we occupied the space, so we made the most of this time to test what FUSEBOX could be used for – inviting as many local residents, artists and young people as possible to come and explore and challenge the venue’s potential. In the first 6 months, we gave over 200 tours, held several exhibitions, public events, meetings and performances that covered a wide range of artforms.

One of the early highlights of our pilot programme was our monthly Creative Sparks nights, programmed by Chiyana Ankhrah, which celebrated a different artform each month. Themes included Music, Spoken Word, Performance and Visual Arts and these nights gave us the opportunity to connect with new artists and welcome our first audiences into the venue. We’re delighted to share that we will be continuing Creative Sparks events in 2024 and tickets are on sale now.

Several months and many events later, we were thrilled to officially launch FUSEBOX on 7 July 2023 with a visit from our President, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh KG GCVO alongside many partners and supporters.

FUSE International 2023

The launch of FUSEBOX took place during FUSE International 2023, and this year’s festival provided a fantastic opportunity to test our new venue for festival performances. FUSEBOX became our Fringe venue, successfully welcoming comedy, theatre and music performances for the 10 days.

We were also thrilled to bring a huge international show to Kingston as part of FUSE this summer: WILD (the Musical) by City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong. WILD featured a cast and crew of 70+ that flew into Kingston for 3 epic performances at Rose Theatre and the FUSE performances marked the UK-premiere. Amongst the 3 shows, we had a special schools performance that saw over 460 local schoolchildren wowed by the musical spectacular.

We’re delighted that applications are open until 7 January for the 16th festival which returns to Kingston from 28 June – 7 July 2024. Applicants can find out more about how to bring a show to the festival on our .

Changes in Leadership

In summer 2023, we announced that our CEO Louise Coles was stepping down after five and half years. Louise led the charity through challenging times including Brexit, Covid-19 and current economic conditions whilst developing Creative Youth from a project-based organisation to a year-round one, particularly with the introduction of FUSEBOX.

Louise’s leadership role has been taken up by two young people with several years involvement with the charity. Archie O’Neill & Daniel Cartlidge took up roles as Co-Directors from September 2023 and are looking forward to continue on focusing on the things that matter to local young people next year such as sustainability, climate change and mental health.

AMP Kingston; Art, Music, Pop Fashion

We have been exploring Kingston’s music heritage throughout 2023 as part of AMP Kingston; Art, Music, Pop Fashion. AMP Kingston is a National Lottery Heritage Fund supported project that is exploring and celebrating Kingston’s music heritage. Since launching, AMP Kingston has connected Kingston’s rich musical heritage to hundreds of people across the local community and beyond. This activity includes Bowie and Beyond, one of the most popular exhibitions ever to be hosted at Kingston Museum. AMP also works with a range of young creatives to deliver artistic interpretations of the historical research, including as part of UPCYCLE. This all-day event took place in June 2023 at FUSEBOX, and featured visual art, music, and make-up and craft workshops.  

We’re excited to be launching a new exhibition at FUSEBOX in 2024: Kingston Art, Music, Pop Fashion 1960s – 1990s as a result of the project. Through a mix of oral histories, archive material and intergenerational community responses, this range of displays aims to connect the community to the rich cultural legacy of the area, and inspire and support the next generation of creatives.

Thank you to everyone who has been part of our journey in 2023 and we look forward to the new connections to be explored in 2024!

This episode focuses on music’s relationship to art.

How did artists promote themselves before the digital era? How did the widespread introduction of computers in the 1990s change the way music and art was promoted?

And does digitisation mean we have lost the craft of album artwork? Or does it open up new opportunities?

Jarek is joined by two graphic designers to explore this topic. As well as being an artist, Sue Smallwood played in Kingston band The Trudy in the 1980s – who were themselves enthusiastic producers of promotional artwork – while Josie Biggs is studying Graphic Design at Kingston University’s School of Art.

Listen to the episode on Spotify via the link below or by clicking here to view on our YouTube Channel.

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AMPLIFY is brought to you by Creative Youth with support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Host:
Jarek Zaba with Sue Smallwood and Josie Biggs
Editing and Mixing: Jarek Zaba
Editing assistance: Zuzanna Wężyk, Mario Cruz
Music: Mariia Yaremak
Artwork: Courtney Ellis

More info on FUSEBOX at ⁠fuseboxkingston.org⁠ 

Contact ⁠ampresearcher@creativeyouthcharity.org⁠ for more info on heritage research or ⁠communityengagement@creativeyouthcharity.org⁠ for volunteering and community events.

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About Creative Youth Charity: Creative Youth aims to enable young people to realise their potential through the arts. We believe every young person has a right to access the arts and creativity and should be encouraged to take initiatives, risks and push boundaries in a safe, inclusive environment. ⁠⁠creativeyouthcharity.org