JULY 22, 3-5pm Organised by the School of Performing and Digital Arts, Royal Holloway University of London

This webinar brings together diverse practitioners in the UK creative sector and students and staff at the college. Through a round table of short 5-minute presentations from assembled panellists, followed by Q & A and breakout room sessions, we hope to create a platform to air thoughts on the following:

• Journeys into professional practice
• Tips for breaking into 'scenes' and building your own networks/ communities
• What does 'diversity' mean? How helpful are labels like BAME/ BIPOC and LGBTQ+ in the arts and media sectors?
• Challenging situations, micro-aggressions and broader issues of structural racism in the creative sector?
• Is the creative sector (assumed to be) more 'woke' or 'liberal' than other sectors, and why?
• What is the role of intersectionality in this sector, when marginalities collide (eg class vs race, or gender vs ability)?
• How has COVID-19 impacted on artists and creative industry workers who are already under-represented in their fields?
• What does being a BIPOC/ BAME or LGBTQ++ Ally in the creative sector mean?
• How has the Black Lives Matter movement changed the creative sector/ our understandings of it?
• What is the role of the creative person in the time of COVID-19 and current socio-political tensions and upheavals?

SPEAKERS:

Tomisin Adepeju is a Nigerian-British filmmaker based in London, England. His multi award-winning shorts have been selected at over 150 international film festivals, these include; multiple Oscar-Qualifying festivals, Hollyshorts Film Festival & Aspen Shortsfest. His award-winning short, The Right Choice, had its World Premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and also screened as part of Sundance London, it went to screen at over 45 international film festivals. His most recent short, Appreciation was an official selection of BFI London Film Festival 2019. He is currently developing his debut feature. He is represented by United Agents in the UK & Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in the US.

Angela Chan is a doctoral researcher with StoryFutures, a Royal Holloway-led immersive storytelling lab developing creative projects for VR and AR. She has worked in the UK television industry for twenty years as a documentary maker, commissioning editor and senior manager in the broadcasters.  Most recently she was C4’s Head of Creative Diversity.  Prior to this she led on indie relations and diversity for the BBC’s Content division. As an executive producer she developed successful factual formats such as The Family (C4), Kill It Cook It Eat It (BBC Three), as well as history, business and science series.
 
Jade “JDWasabi” Leamcharaskul (She/Her) is a game music composer, sound designer and audio generalist. She has written and worked for a variety of game mediums such as console, PC, mobile, and other media such as film, animation, web-series, podcasts, audio dramas and musical theatre.

Raheem Mir is a recent double Master graduate from Royal Holloway University of London, and hopes to explore gender and social theories through his dance and academic practice. He has performed at the Southbank Centre, the West End and has a TED Talk on his work with Intersectionality and Queering Iconography; he has also choreographed national winning teams. Recently, he has been awarded funding from the National Lottery, in association with the South Asian Dance Organisation Akademi, in creating solo work for Choreogata.

Dr Prarthana Purkayastha (CHAIR) is a Senior Lecturer in Dance at Royal Holloway University of London. She is the author of Indian Modern Dance, Feminism and Transnationalism (2014).  Her research locates South Asian dance at the intersections of race, gender, sexuality and nationhood.

Emmanuel Tamunotonye Dakoru-Whyte: Hailing from diverse roots in Africa and East London, Mani has had an extended history as working in the creative industry. He’s a Radio host at a UK community radio station. He also directs Turn Up Broadcasting, a community project that serves young people in London from underprivileged backgrounds empowering them with opportunities in the creative fields. Working with the RHUL PDA school, he’s currently producing an intergenerational conversation between pioneering women of colour that share their journeys and stories.

for more information, contact shzree.tan@rhul.ac.uk

REGISTER HERE FOR THE MAIN and BREAKOUT EVENTS; choose only one Breakout Room