New Narratives
New Narratives is a British Council programme strengthening connections between young people across the countries of Africa and the UK, through arts, culture, and education.
Caerbladon was selected by the British Council to oversee a series of commissions for young African creatives based in the UK. Our aim has been to offer new insights based on lived experience which challenge dominant narratives about Africa and the UK. This showreel includes extracts from the four commissioned projects, introduced by the artists.
Background
The New Narratives project is about opening up a future facing dialogue between young creatives and representative organisations in Africa and the UK to build stronger cultural connections between those living in the four UK nations and on the African continent. The project is looking for fresh perspectives, new insights based on lived experience and which challenge dominant narratives about Africa and the UK, including those relating to the UK’s colonial past and oversimplistic and negative representations of Africa and its diverse peoples and cultures.
https://www.britishcouncil.org/society/new-narratives
As part of the New Narratives programme, Caerbladon offered four digital content commissions targeted at young creatives aged 18-35, in the nations and regions of the UK. A parallel programme is being run for young creatives in the African countries participating in the programme. Each commission comprised a £1,500 award to include artist fees and production costs. The focus of each commissioned artist project was on amplifying new narratives or demystifying existing myths and stereotypes, and short documentaries presenting new stories about contemporary African experience in the UK.
The Open Call, selection and oversight of the commissioned projects was managed by Caerbladon (acting as Executive Producer), with Tatenda Jamera and Cynthia MaiWa Sitei as our project advisers and guest selectors.
Please see below details of the four selected artist projects, and the creative content they produced.
Artists
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HAM
Ancestral Futures
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Kemi and Esohe
I Am Because I Am
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Kialy
Toghu
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Mosa
A Journal of Film Learning
Guest Selectors
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Tatenda Jamera
Tatenda Jamera is a Director, producer and curator, who obtained his BA in Film making from the School of Audio Engineering (SAE) in Oxford and National Film and Television School (NFTS) based in Beaconsfield.He is the founder of Jam-era creations a company which specialises in the production of branded content, music videos and commercials. He also founded Maona, pronounced Ma-ona is a Shona word from Zimbabwe meaning you have seen. This name was chosen because we are passionate about others being able to see and experience African stories. Africa comes with an undeniable rich and exciting heritage that has yet to be experienced by UK audiences.
Instagram: tatendajamera
Facebook: Maona.art
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Cynthia MaiWa Sitei
Cynthia MaiWa Sitei is a Kenyan British visual artist and curator. After graduating with a BA in Psychology with Criminology from Winchester University, she pursued an MA in Documentary Photography at the University of South Wales. Stories played a big impact in her upbringing; they were a form of entertainment during and after dinner and a reliable method of communication in bringing people together and creating spaces where everyone was equal regardless of their age, wealth, and health. Her work integrates photography and text, and explore themes of stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination.
Twitter: @MaiWacs
LinkedIn: Cynthia MaiWa Sitei
Website: maiwacs.com
UK Project Partners
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Our mission is to develop the capacity, strengthen the advocacy voice and increase the collaborative potential of the diaspora community in Wales
Our aim is to consider and pursue the needs of Diaspora Groups in their international development work, and to facilitate the knowledge and skills of Diaspora Groups in Wales to be used to advice and support indigenous Welsh International Development Organisations.
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The South West of England’s biggest annual celebration of African cinema and culture with a programme featuring new and classic films, street art, spoken work, dance, music, food and photography at city-wide venues in Bristol
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Maona showcases in venues across the UK the best of cinema and art from Africa and African creatives from all over the world . Maona is committed to its audience to experience, enjoy and value the rich heritage and culture of Africa through the exhibition and production of the best of African cinema and films from creatives from Africa and its diaspora.
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Deveron Projects is an arts organisation based in Huntly, a market town in the north east of Scotland with a population of 4,500. Working with ‘the town is the venue’ as the framework for their approach, they create projects that connect artists, communities and places through creative work and engagement, promoting intercultural dialogue locally and globally.
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