Works Archive - Jukebox Collective

Content Box

On October 26, we hosted and curated the Future Creatives Link-up, connecting over 100 Welsh creatives and industry leaders across the emerging intersection of fashion, music and art in Wales. The event, which took place at Rhostio Café in Cardiff was hosted by Liara Barussi and Cherrelle (Coco) Tucker, sounds from DJ Dan Willow, and guest performances from music group Source.

Content Box

The event was an opportunity to introduce the Future Creatives plans for 2024 and to open channels for creatives to reach out for collaboration and partnership. We facilitated networking activities by inviting creatives to join groups and answer postcards with questions they would like to ask each other.

Guests were greeted with arrival cocktails, designed for the event in collaboration with Rhostio, inspired by Cardiff, the Caribbean and West Africa. As well as authentic appetisers from Jamaican local street food pop-up, The Real Ting.

The event was curated and produced by Jukebox Collective, with funding support from Arts Council Wales and Vans. Local collaborators included Cherelle Tucker (TalktoCoco), Naomi Ferne, Pierre Gashagaza, Joe Andrews and Tom Swindel.

Content Box

This event was delivered as a part of our Future Creatives project. The project began in 2021 through a community investigation into the experiences of young black and minority creatives’ in Wales, and has since grown into a highly collaborative and supportive network. The project highlighted a need for more inclusion of creatives in decision-making, community-led initiatives, and tangible long-term support for artists. In response, we have made a commitment towards curating events, and opportunities for this network in 2023. And launching a major event in collaboration with St Fagans museum in 2024.

Content Box

In Feb 2023 Artistic Director Liara Barussi and Strategic Director Lauren Patterson visited Nairobi on a scoping trip in partnership with SSAP Wales.

Content Box

In December 2022, our creative director, Liara Barussi, revisited Ghana through the WAI fund. Liara attended conferences and events, including AfroNation, a pan-African festival celebrating the art and cultural experience of black people across the globe. As well as the Black Star Line festival, an intercontinental collaboration committed to fostering connections between people of African descent globally.

Content Box

Founded by Vic Mensa and Chance the Rapper, the Black Star Line festival is a week-long series of events, including panel discussions, fine art exhibitions and nightlife events culminating in a large-scale concert at black star square in Accra.

The festival featured artists, intellectuals and influential individuals from around the world for an international celebration of global Blackness. A radical diasporic intersection of music thought and creativity at a moment when the African identity is evolving rapidly, with Ghana serving as a gateway to the continent.

Content Box

This trip was part of our Future Creatives initiative, connecting Black Welsh creatives with a Pan African network of change makers.

Content Box

HOMECOMING is a movement; igniting new cultural conversation and creative development across Africa. The festival empowers the continent’s young generation with the knowledge and resources they need to inspire and enable future innovation and growth.

Jukebox Collective’s Liara Barussi, and Gabin Kongolo attended the festival in April 2023; a 4-day cultural exchange that brings African creatives and creativity back to Africa, and gives them what they need to take their vision to the world.

Content Box

“I see the opportunity to galvanise the incredible creativity of this young generation and share it with the world,” says HOMECOMING founder GRACE LADOJA. “HOMECOMING exists to ignite a celebration of cultural heritage and creative exchange, through the lens of music, fashion, sport, art and education.”

Content Box

From explosive live performances by the world’s most exciting African and International stars, to a Streetwear Pop-Up where local and global designers release world-exclusive product collaborations, HOMECOMING presents the best of contemporary culture through the lens of Africa’s trend-setting creative generation.

“African fashion and music is happening now,” said Joey Lit, the founder of streetwear brand Free The Youth. “It’s about time that the Western world embraced young talents from Africa,”

Content Box

2023 saw the return of another programme packed with art tours, panels, pop-ups, performances and even friendly celebrity football matches, Homecoming 2023 brought together Lagos locals and the wider diaspora for an extended weekend of activities to inspire and cultivate these powerful creative exchanges. Tiwa Savage, NSG, Cruel Santino and dozens more joined the festival’s legacy of exciting line-ups that have always championed emerging and established talent from its inaugural show headlined by Skepta and Wizkid to early co-signs of Pa Salieu, Rema and Central Cee in previous years.

Content Box

The trip was delivered as a part of our Future Creatives project. The project began in 2021 through a community investigation into the experiences of black and minority creatives’ in Wales, and has since grown into a highly collaborative and supportive network. The project highlighted a need for more inclusion of creatives in decision-making, community-led initiatives, and tangible long-term support for artists. In response, we’re curating events, and opportunities for this network in 2023 and beyond – forging unforgettable moments for our culture.

Photography Danielle Mbonu / Photography Adedamola Odetara / Photography by Gabin Kongolo

Content Box

Representing Wales at the Rugby World Cup 2023, Jukebox Collective were commissioned by Wales Arts International to develop a bespoke street culture performance.

The performance took place during the quarter finals of the Rugby World Cup in
Marseille. Performing on the streets of the Old Port at the Marseilles Official Rugby Village
on the 14th of October, as part of the Wales in France Culture Programme.

Content Box

Andrew Ogun, Changemaker at Arts Council of Wales added:

“It’s very exciting that Jukebox is offering opportunities for young people from Cardiff to
work and experience France. Breaking connects with people across the world as both an
art and now an Olympic sport and it’s great to connect young Welsh talent with the
opportunities ahead whilst also sharing the history of two port cities whose cultures have
been shaped by migration. I’m excited to see what relationships come out of this visit and
how relevant breaking and hip hop in Wales is internationally.”

Content Box

For the launch of Spotlight on Culture UK/France 2024 ‘Together We Imagine’ Jukebox Collective was commissioned to represent Wales with a Breaking performance directed by Liara Barussi.

Led by British Council France, the event was a celebration of artistic co-creation and cultural partnerships. With France in the international spotlight as host of the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic & Paralympic Games, and Cultural Olympiad.

The performance featured dancers Kai Easter and Youness El-Mouffaq.

@bboycri6

@bboy_.kai

Content Box

Watch here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPDTHl0S0G4

Set to a soundtrack by Future Utopia ft. Avelino and Tomorrow’s Warriors – Don’t Stop. This is no ordinary cover: Don’t Stop is a contemporary fable about being young in the world today. The song is a call to action for people worried about their future and the state of the planet, and a rallying cry for those who dream of a better tomorrow. Together we can stand up to the fossil fuel industry. Add your name now: https://act.gp/3qIN8o6

Content Box

Credits:

Film Production by: Lammas Park

Directed by: Samona Olanipekun

Executive Producers: Steve McQueen, Bona Orakwue, Anna Smith Tenser Producer: George Telfer

Production Manager: Chanel Parkinson DOP: Annika Summerson Production Designer: Jade Adeyemi

Costume Designer: Verity May Lane Make-Up Designer: Maya Man Hair Designer: Kreszend Sackey

Choreographer: Liara Barussi

Casting: Coralie Rose / Road Casting & Jukebox Collective Agency

Editor: Jack Williams / The Assembly Rooms, produced by Phoebe Armstrong-Beaver

Sound Designer: Jack Sedgwick / King Lear, produced by Suzy Macgregor

Colourist and VFX: George Kyraicou and Mark Stannard / Black Kite Studios, produced by Jade Denne

Creative Agency: Mother London

Creative Director: James Sellick Creative: Scott Anderson Title

Design: Ben McNaughton Head of Production: Anna Murray

Producers: Tommy Frankau, Nic Akinnibosun, Joseph Ogunmokun

Content Box

Jukebox Collective curated a series of performances and short films highlighting Welsh creatives for Gŵyl 2021.

Jukebox Collective worked with Jaffrin a Welsh, Bangladeshi, Muslim poet and multi-disciplinary artist living in Cardiff. Her two poems SKN & FAITH have been brought to life through poetic visuals filmed in the National Museum Wales. Directed by Liara Barussi and styled by local Welsh-Somali stylist Asma Elmi.

Content Box

SKN draws similarities from the British royal family, questioning the parallels between them and the ideologies that families from racially minoritised backgrounds uphold in order to retain a good reputation within their community. The short questions colonial narratives and how western standards of beauty have been ingrained into South Asian communities.

“Growing up, skin colour was a regular topic of conversation in my family and I was often encouraged to stay out of the sun because my skin would get darker, implying that it would make me less desirable.”

Content Box

Casting for the latest Greenpeace campaign featuring dancers, Sharifa Butterfly, Haseeb ‘Chilly’ Hearn, Duran Abdullah, Mikael Rivieri, Patrick Gabco, Ellie Harlulow. Movement direction by our Artistic Director Liara Barussi. Watch here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPDTHl0S0G4 Set to a soundtrack by Future Utopia ft. Avelino and Tomorrow’s Warriors – Don’t Stop. This is no ordinary cover: Don’t Stop is a contemporary fable about being young in the world today. The song is a call to action for people worried about their future and the state of the planet, and a rallying cry for those who dream of a better tomorrow. Together we can stand up to the fossil fuel industry. Add your name now: https://act.gp/3qIN8o6

Content Box

The poem draws from Jaffrin’s personal experiences, including a trip to India where she was faced with the unnerving reality of the country’s devotion for Queen Victoria. This narrative became even more obvious when a news article broke about Meghan Markle breaking royal protocol by crossing over her legs rather than sitting with a slant. Something which was similarly frowned upon in her own family, and inspired part of this poem, “is that what happened when we adopted their ideology”, she asks.

Content Box

Credits: Film Production by: Lammas Park Directed by: Samona Olanipekun Executive Producers: Steve McQueen, Bona Orakwue, Anna Smith Tenser Producer: George Telfer Production Manager: Chanel Parkinson DOP: Annika Summerson Production Designer: Jade Adeyemi Costume Designer: Verity May Lane Make-Up Designer: Maya Man Hair Designer: Kreszend Sackey Choreographer: Liara Barussi Casting: Coralie Rose / Road Casting & Jukebox Collective Agency Editor: Jack Williams / The Assembly Rooms, produced by Phoebe Armstrong-Beaver Sound Designer: Jack Sedgwick / King Lear, produced by Suzy Macgregor Colourist and VFX: George Kyraicou and Mark Stannard / Black Kite Studios, produced by Jade Denne Creative Agency: Mother London Creative Director: James Sellick Creative: Scott Anderson Title Design: Ben McNaughton Head of Production: Anna Murray Producers: Tommy Frankau, Nic Akinnibosun, Joseph Ogunmokun

Content Box

Jaffrin says, “I have felt alone in my skin and my soul so many times and I know that is a very relatable thing – I just want people to feel comfort in relating through my work and to understand they are not alone.

Content Box

FAITH draws heavily on Jaffrin’s own experiences, exploring religion, rituals and the battles between ‘deen’ and ‘dunya’ (religion and real life).

Content Box

Gŵyl 2021 was a collaboration between Festival of Voice, FOCUS Wales, Other Voices Cardigan and Aberystwyth Comedy Festival. Together they assembled some of today’s most urgent and exciting voices, from Wales and beyond. The result was a digital experience like no other: a heady mix of cutting-edge comedy, thought-provoking talks, energetic showcases and jaw-dropping headline sets.

Content Box

Watch the full films on our Youtube:

SKN

&

FAITH

Content Box

Reggae & Riddim Festival is an incredible celebration of Jamaican culture, heritage and music held in Newport, Wales. Hosted by @urbancircle alongside collaborators including the Rastafari Indigenous Village and the IRITS Alliance Project JA.

Jukebox Collective agency produced the opening performance with a line up of professional dancers as well as youth from Jukebox Academy and G Expressions.

Content Box

~ Performance produced by @jukeboxcollectiveagency

~ Choreographed and directed by @reuelelijah

~ Featuring a line up of proffesional dancers @gx_wales @itstalieh @bulletproof876_chukkky @notnicegram @kush_taylorx

Visuals by Naomi Ferne

+ our community dancers joined us on stage for their first festival performance –
Jukebox Academy and @gx_wales ✨

The performance took the audience on a journey through Jamaican dancehall @dingdongravers 🔥

Content Box