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Invite
Thursday 9th 2025 | 5-7.30pm
Join us at our link up @ Ritual, Accra. Bring along your laptop if you have any examples of work you’d like to share! Please extend the invite to your creative friends, producers, graphic designers, curators, stylists etc – would love to connect.
Head over to the Sustainable Studio from now till 31st January 2025 to view our Ffasiwn Exhibition curated by Jukebox Academy students. Guided by the mentorship of Charlotte James and Sharon Kostini, and produced by Jukebox Collective.
This exhibition marks the culmination of our collaboration with Bleak Fabulous. Since 2021, Bleak Fabulous and Jukebox Collective have collaborated to explore Welsh heritage in a contemporary context, encouraging a modern exploration of Welsh pride and identity.
Welsh national dress emerged in the nineteenth century, responding to a surge of interest in the increased use of the Welsh language and the desire to create a sartorial identity. It consists of a red woollen cloak, a paisley shawl, Pais a Betgwn, a petticoat-like skirt, Betgwn, a white classically woollen bedgown, and a tall black hat.
Charlotte James and Clémentine Schneidermann were particularly inspired by the Welsh Hat and used the piece of national iconography as the project’s base. Collaborating with Welsh costume designer Ffian Jones, the Jukebox Academy students engaged in a hat creation workshop, modernising the traditional garb by imbuing it with their unique creative flares and identities.
Aside from hat-making, the programme included a variety of workshops in costume design, styling, photography, illustration, art direction, and image production, with students being immersed in the creative process from beginning to end. Participants learned new creative skills such as moodboarding, styling, customisation, and art direction, examining Welsh cultural iconography, and leveraging their heritage as a form of expression.
Schneidermann photographed the finished outfits in Butetown and Cardiff Bay, while James oversaw the creative direction. The images produced reflect the playful nature of the participants’ exploration of self. The rich colour set against the eminent, supple greys and whites of Welsh homes encapsulates the essence of Bleak Fabulous, which can serve as a metaphor for the Welsh identity: vivacious, bold, and full of life against its post-industrialised past and emerging present.
The space will be open for free public viewing on
Tuesdays – Sundays, 10:30am — 5pm
(Holiday Hours might defer)
On December 15, we launched our collaborative editorial series and ffasiwn zine with Bleak Fabulous (Clémentine Schneidermann & Charlotte James), featuring Jukebox Academy.
The event, held at The Sustainable Studio in Cardiff, brought together students, their families and friends, and representatives of the creative industry in Wales. Guests were invited to view the photography from the project and take home a copy of the limited-edition zine.
Produced by Jukebox Collective, the event included a photography exhibition curated by Jukebox Academy students. Guided by the mentorship of Charlotte James and Sharon Kostini, the students participated in a curation workshop, selecting the layout, sequence, and images for the exhibition themselves.
The afternoon began with the arrival of students, along with their families and friends, welcomed with arrival drinks, music by DJ Treu Beatz, and bespoke desserts from Cake That Cardiff, inspired by the project’s themes. Students were also gifted with custom-made t-shirts featuring their drawings of photographs from the project.
In the evening, we invited guests from the arts community, including Arts Council Wales, Welsh National Opera, KLAT magazine, and Chapter Arts Centre. Including artists such as director Daisy Brown, photographer Pierre Gashagaza and curator Melissa Hinkin. Attendees were gifted copies of the zine and a selection of postcards featuring the project’s imagery.
This launch event marked the culmination of our collaboration with Bleak Fabulous. In 2021, Charlotte James and Clémentine Schneidermann began leading a series of creative workshops with students from Jukebox Academy. The students explored Welsh pride and identity through sessions on costume design, styling, photography, illustration, and art direction. These workshops helped them develop creative skills like moodboarding, styling, and customisation, using their heritage as inspiration for their expression.
The finished looks were photographed by Schneidermann in Butetown and Cardiff Bay, with creative direction by Charlotte James. The images reflect the students’ playful self-exploration, blending social documentary, fashion, and formal portraiture.
Guests at the launch also enjoyed an intimate projection of the behind-the-scenes footage of the project, getting a closer look at the creative journey.
Read more about the project here
We’d like to thank the creatives and local businesses who helped make the event possible, including Sharon Kostini, Tom Swindell, Grace Springer, Claire Huss, and Ice Cream Embroidery. Special thanks to our team, Liara Barusi, Lauren Patterson, Samandal Sidig, Darnell Williams, and Tarina Tajul.
This project was delivered through the kind support of The Museum of Wales, Arts Council Wales, and Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
The exhibition will be open for public viewing till 31st January 2025.
30 Oct 2024 — Bleak Fabulous and Jukebox Collective launch their editorial series and zine exploring Welsh heritage as envisioned through the creative lens of young people in Cardiff. Shot around Butetown and Cardiff Bay, home to one of the UK’s oldest Black communities, the project celebrates a modern-day Wales that connects tradition with diverse cultural identities.
The project led by Charlotte James and Clémentine Schneidermann involved a series of creative workshops with students from Jukebox Collective’s Academy, a programme supporting the next generation of Welsh creative talent. The students, ages 7 to 16 and primarily from Black and ethnic minority backgrounds, took part in workshops on costume design, styling, photography, illustration, and art direction. These sessions encouraged an exploration of Welsh pride and identity, where students gained new creative skills like moodboarding, styling, and customization, leveraging their heritage as a guide for expression.
Inspired by the iconic Welsh hat, dating back to the nineteenth century, the project used this national iconography as a creative launching point. Working with Welsh costume designer Ffian Jones, the students engaged in a hat creation workshop, modernising the traditional item by imbuing it with their unique creative and cultural influences. They also incorporated other elements of Welsh national dress into their costumes, such as the red woollen cloak, paisley shawl, and Pais a Betgwn.
Schneidermann photographed the finished outfits in Butetown and Cardiff Bay, while James oversaw the creative direction. The images reflect the playful nature of the participants’ self-exploration, combining social documentary, fashion, and formal portraiture. The costumes’ rich colours set against the subtle greys and whites of Butetown’s homes serve as a reminder for the evolving identities within these communities: old, diverse and full of life against its post-industrialised past and emerging present.
Notes to editors
Welsh national dress emerged in the nineteenth century, responding to a surge of interest in the increased use of the Welsh language and the desire to create a sartorial identity. It consists of a red woollen cloak, a paisley shawl worn around the shoulders, the Pais a Betgwn, a puffy petticoat-like skirt, a Betgwn, a white classically woollen bedgown, and a tall black hat, an elongated version of a bowler hat, known today simply as the Welsh hat. And additional elements such a cotton or linen mob cap, plus an apron and stockings.
Bleak Fabulous
Bleak Fabulous is a photography-based creative studio that combines youth work, creative workshops, and documentary photography. It is led by French photographer Clementine Schneidermann and Welsh creative director Charlotte James.
They work with professional artists, communities, and youth workers to deliver workshops to young people living in underfunded areas. The workshops are centred on costume making, photography, set design, and creative writing. The workshops allow the young people to collaborate and be a part of the image-making process as well as introducing them to new creative skills.
For enquiries, please contact
Jukebox Collective
Lauren Patterson
Strategic Director, Jukebox Collective
Samandal Sidig
Marketing Coordinator, Jukebox Collective
Samandal@Jukeboxcollective.com
For social media, please tag,
Twitter | @Jukebox_Collect
Facebook | @JukeboxCollective
Instagram | @jukeboxcollectiveagency
Bleak Fabulous
Charlotte James
Clémentine Schneidermann
clementineschneidermann@gmail.com
For social media, please tag,
Jukebox Collective partners with SSAP for Jamii 2, curating a series of creative workshops around health and wellness for African communities in Cardiff.
These workshops will be open to all ages and engage with music, poetry, movement, and our relationship with nature and each other.
‘Jamii’ means community; our sense of togetherness and the mutual support and strength we draw from each other.
The approach of this project builds on the African concepts of ‘Ubuntu’ or ‘Harambee’. Both phrases embrace the concept of cooperation and working together as a community. This sense of community and collaboration extends from cultural and communal activities to economic, health and emotional support.
Sub-Sahara Advisory Panel (SSAP) was formed in 2009 when a number of African diaspora groups in Wales met to consider how they might collectively advance their common interest in local issues affecting African communities in Wales as well as those in Africa. They apply lived experience, skills, capacity and knowledge found within Welsh African diaspora communities.
Jamii 2 is funded by The National Lottery Community Fund
Spaces will be limited for each workshop, and we expect them to fill up quickly. To be the first to hear about when sign-ups open subscribe to our mailing list here
£4000 to develop your dream project! open to creatives across all disciplines, fund supported by Morning Studios
more info: drive.google.com/…/1xWIuB1w1b
Short film fund from First Flights x Kodak
Open to global filmmakers more info: first-flights.com/short-film-fun
Next Level Awards from Help Musicians, opportunity open to emerging musicians.
Read more here helpmusicians.org.uk/…/next-level
Open to performance artists and scholars from the Thea Barnes Legacy Fund
More info here: theabarneslegacyfund.org
Career and talent development for emerging Welsh musicians in this joint opportunity from Arts Council Wales, PRS Foundation, Creative Wales, and Beacons Cymru
More info here forteproject.co.uk/forte10
The photography foundation awards 2024
Apply here:
photographyfoundationawards.co
Two week paid residency at Tin Shed Theatre
Apply here tinshedtheatrecompany.com/jobs
Mentoring for creatives in this opportunity from Creative Access and ITV
More info here: opportunities.creativeaccess.org.uk/…/creative…
Have your work showcased and sold creative opportunity from It’s Nice That x DROOL
More info here:
itsnicethat.com/…/its-nice-t…
Mentorship opportunity for minority writers and journalists from Shado Mag
More info: shado-mag.com/mentorship-pro
Apply for a bursary to develop your creative career! opportunity from Creative Access
more info here: opportunities.creativeaccess.org.uk/…/creative…
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Drop us an email, we’re happy to help you get started or give some feedback on an ongoing application. We’ve worked with creatives to develop grant applications for performance, music, literature, dance, community projects and so much more!
Cover image: Ana Margarita Flores
Excerpts from the article,
In Motion: Of Us
Connecting movement, migration stories and water symbolism in South Wales, Liara Barussi honors Tiger Bay as one of the UK’s oldest Black communities
Connecting ancestral legacies and the thread between body and memory, Liara Barussi directs and choreographs short film Of Us, honoring the legacy of the UK’s Black diaspora through movement. Commissioned by Dr Aleema Gray for the British Library, and produced by Jukebox Collective, the film pays homage to Tiger Bay in Cardiff, South Wales as one of the UK’s oldest Black communities, reflecting on the Atlantic Ocean and its place in the history of the Black diaspora.
“Of Us journeys into the whispers of our seas, intertwining stories of migration with the universal symbolism of water – an homage to the untold stories that lie beneath the surface of the waves, waiting to be heard and remembered. We wanted the dance to feel organic and narrative-driven, rather than choreographed.”
Shooting in South Wales, Barussi sought to mirror the rippling and expanding legacies connected to its coastline, working with a young cast reflecting the region’s diverse diaspora, all students from Jukebox Collective’s Academy Programme. Guiding the cast to reconnect with their ancestry, Barussi developed the choreography around dance traditions from communities with strong connections to water – from water drumming, or liquindi, performed by the Baka people of Cameroon, to the ocean-inspired movements of the Ekombi Dance among the Efik people in Calabar, Nigeria.
Translating stories through these movements, rooted in everyday life and the emotions and histories we inherit, Barussi constructs Of Us as a celebration of heritage and preserved traditions, grounded by the rugged beauty of Wales’ coastline, and the collective memory carried by the ocean beyond.
“Beyond the Bassline” at the British Library is the first major exhibition documenting five centuries of the musical journey of African and Caribbean people in Britain. Curated by Dr. Aleema Gray and Mykaell Riley, the exhibition explores the people, spaces, and genres that have transformed the landscape of Black British music.
Through a rich display of sound archives, artefacts, performances, and multimedia presentations, the exhibition delves into the impact of Black British musicians, creatives, and entrepreneurs on popular music since the 16th century. Divided into five chronological spaces, each offering a visually and acoustically distinct exploration of this multifaceted musical journey. These spaces are Ocean, On Stage, The Frontlines, In the Record Shop, and Cyberspace. Between each, visitors encounter Interruptions, transitional areas curated by community partnerships.
The journey begins in the Ocean space, which explores the traditions of the early forced arrivals in Britain between the 1500s and 1870s. The Atlantic Ocean is placed at the heart of this narrative, symbolising a shared vessel carrying memories and stories from Africa and the Americas. Featured here are some of the earliest known Black musicians, including George Bridgetower and John Blank.
Surrounded by deep blue curtains and marine sounds, visitors are guided into the first Interruptions space. This area presents a layered textile installation Of Us (2024), a Jukebox Collective production commissioned by the British Library. Directed and choreographed by Liara Barussi, and filmed in South Wales, the film pays homage to one of the UK’s oldest Black communities, based in Tiger Bay, Cardiff. Through dance and movement, Of Us reflects on themes of migration, identity, and the enduring ancestral connection between body and memory.
“Of Us journeys into the whispers of our seas, intertwining stories of migration with the universal symbolism of water. Echoing concepts of the Black Aquatic and Tidalectics, the film juxtaposes the fluid with the fixed,” says Liara Barussi, Artistic Director of Jukebox Collective.
Next, the exhibition enters On Stage (1880s-1960s), a period marking the growth of Black creativity and its influence on popular music with the emergence of jazz and swing. Here, archival footage and sound collections from notable clubs around the country are showcased, along with musical instruments such as a double bass belonging to Gary Crosby, founding member of Jazz Warriors, and a 1950s steelpan on loan from the Horniman Museum.
The following section, The Frontlines (1950s-1980s), shifts the focus from performance spaces to outdoor and domestic spheres, examining the relationship between music, community, and identity formation. This era explores the arrival of the Windrush generation, who brought sound systems and reggae culture with them, the rise of Carnival celebrations, and the emergence of Dancehall and Soca music. Highlighting key clubs that served as safe spaces for Black people in the face of oppressive racism, including The Reno in Manchester, the Bamboo Club in Bristol, The Reggae Klub in Scotland, and The Four Aces in London. However, the standout item here is the Peacock costume, designed by Hughbon Condor for the Leeds West Indian Carnival and worn by the crowned Carnival Queen in 2019.
Arguably the most visually captivating part of the exhibition, The Record Shop (1960s-1980s) immerses visitors in towering structures displaying record covers from the era. With headphone stations scattered throughout the room, visitors can listen to oral histories, testimonies, newsreels, TV footage, and music. Among the artefacts is King Tubby’s Hometown Hi-Fi scoop bin, a rare relic from the birth of sound system culture.
The journey ends in the present with Cyberspace (1990s-2020s), which examines the modern-day impact of technology and the mainstream popularity of Black British artists. This section explores urban genres like grime and jungle, the MOBO Awards, and the emergence of digital music distribution. Highlights include Stormzy’s signed setlist from his iconic 2019 Glastonbury performance, alongside the bottle of champagne he toasted with, marking the first time a Black British solo artist headlined the festival.
“The music celebrated in this exhibition is more than a collection of sounds. It’s a living history, echoing through the centuries. Our goal was to challenge the very notion of Black British music and its connection to British history,” says Mykaell Riley, guest curator and Director of The Black Music Research Unit at the University of Westminster.
The exhibition concludes with Iwoyi: Within the Echo (2024), a five-channel, 10-minute film and sound installation that explores the radical potential of Black British music to manifest reparative futures. Directed by Tayo Rapoport and Rohan Ayinde in collaboration with Touching Bass, a South London-based musical movement and curatorial platform, the film is produced by NOIR and features an original score by Melo-Zed. It delves into heritage, diaspora, and the intimate experience of Black music culture.
“The exhibition offers a timely opportunity to expand our understanding of Black British music and place it within a broader historical context. Black British music is more than a soundtrack; it has been a key part of an expansive cultural industry that has transformed British culture,” says lead curator Dr. Aleema Gray.
Beyond the Bassline offers a compelling look at the 500-year journey of Black British music and its lasting impact on British culture. Through artefacts, multimedia, and community stories, the exhibition celebrates the creativity and influence of Black artists while highlighting the deep connections between music, history, and identity.
Images Credit: Jim Stephenson
Calling all documentary producers and directors apply now for the Netflix UK documentary talent fund
More info here: netflixdocfund.co.uk
Paid opportunity for minority WELSH journalists to respond to archive material
Read more here:
inclusivejournalism.cymru/…/understand
Coaching for women working (or aspiring to) in the creative industry
Apply here: hermark.net/coaching
Learn to produce queer and inclusive events, Free 8-week course by Razecollective
Find out more and apply here: docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSf8
Apply now for this round of the open fund for music creators by PRS Foundation
Find out more: prsfoundation.com/…/the-open-f
Scholarship for YA and children’s fictions writers of colour by Curtis Brown Creative
Apply here: curtisbrowncreative.co.uk/…/breakthrou…
Art residency for digital artists in collab with arebyte Goldsmith University
Find out more: arebyte.com/digital-art-re
Training mentorship and funding for 3 emerging Welsh promoters by Beacons Cymru
Find out more and apply here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScLKmbzm18chS2galc3q1jY1V10aPhfSN0z6cr8NFDuZRmL2g/viewform
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If you’re feeling lost about an application, drop us an email! we’re happy to help you get started or give feedback on your progress
Cover artwork credit: Sinalo Ngcaba
This year we took part in the Cardiff Food & Fun 2024 programme, teaching street dance and hip-hop music sessions to primary high school students across the city. Collaborating with 12 schools and delivering sessions to over 900 students.
Food and Fun is a school-based education programme that provides food and nutrition education, physical activity, enrichment sessions and healthy meals to children during the school summer holidays. Starting as a pilot by Cardiff Council in 2015, it has developed into a national, fully funded Welsh Government programme administered by the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA). In 2023, 175 schools delivered the programme and provided over 11,150 places for children each day that it ran.
“It went really well and everyone took part. Also It was a good opportunity for those students who aren’t that keen to perform as a group.” says Sadaf Kazemian of St Mary’s the Virgin Church Primary School.
2024 is our third year of taking part in the programme. It provides a great opportunity to connect with young people, helping them explore their creativity through dance and music, and sharing a bit of what we deliver all year round in our community classes
“It was something new and challenging to the students, so I think because of that, they really enjoyed it” shares Karim, a Jukebox dance leader
Shoutout to our amazing tutors Darnell, Tarina, Cas, Kai, Joel, Akelah, Teagan, Blessing and Karim for their hard work. And thank you to Welsh Gov, Cardiff Council and all participating schools for organising.
If you would like Jukebox Collective to deliver a workshop at your school or institution, head over here to read more about the different bespoke workshops we offer, and how to get in touch.
