About Nu Century Arts

NU CENTURY ARTS IN THE NEW MILLENIUM

Nu Century Arts is a dynamic resource for new writers, musicians, directors and actors, Providing an umbrella for the development of the arts within Birmingham’s African Caribbean community and beyond. The details of the latest dramatic events and productions can be found in the Theatre section of this site. The Live Box is our regular live music event that platforms the latest talent from around the country, and includes a popular jam session.

Nu Century Arts in its theatre and live music combines established world-class names with the new and unknown. We are always looking for new talent in every area and encourage people to get in touch. Please check out our multi purpose feedback form

ABOUT NU CENTURY ARTS - "MAKING A LASTING DIFFERENCE"

Since being founded in 2000, Nu Century Arts has established an international reputation for producing ground breaking and influential work of a global standard. Based in the Handsworth area of Birmingham its mission statement is to ‘make a lasting difference’ to the expectations and opportunities of African-Caribbean artists both at home and abroad.

Nu Century Arts is dedicated to the development and promotion of performing arts in the African-Caribbean community. Based in Birmingham, UK the organisation embraces an interdisciplinary approach to arts and education. The company’s work encompasses a professional theatre group, organising a regular live music event ‘The Live Box’, literature in the shape of ‘Wired Up’ magazine and a broad range of education work, from jazz workshops, to youth theatre and group trips as far a field as South Africa and the United States.

Established in summer, 2000 by a small yet committed team, Nu Century set out to facilitate the creative plans of Birmingham’s black artists and meet the challenges faced by a new millennium. Run initially from the organisers’ homes, the organisation grew steadily to take on large scale music and theatre commissions, forge partnerships both in Britain and internationally and inhabit a key place within Birmingham’s diverse communities.

Given Birmingham’s location within the United Kingdom and the breadth of talent within the city, Nu Century Arts has maintained that its artists should not be marginal, but play a central role in the cultural direction of the country; have access to the fullest possible range of skills; and produce the highest quality work. Moreover, it seeks to provide a consistent base and a framework promoting new African Caribbean work, irrespective of political/ cultural trends and fashions.

The fact that theatre, music and literature are interconnected in the organisation is what makes Nu Century Arts unique. Additionally, its commitment to alternative forms of black expression from jazz music, to poetry and theatre, frequently sets it apart from convention: its continual advocacy of these forms and pursuit of excellence has made it a valuable resource to all communities.

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LANDMARK EVENTS

2000

• Nu century Arts established
• First Live Box event held at Bellefield Inn, Winson Green

2001

• Nu Century Theatres’ production of “Coming Up for Air” – involving National Tour
• The Live Box moves to Julio’s Wine Bar, Soho Hill
• Youth Theatre’s production of “Mizundastud” and international tour, to South Africa

2002

• Wynton Marsalis makes guest appearance at The Live Box
• Professional Theatre’s production of It’s Just A Name

2003

• The Live Box is awarded a ‘Collide’ commission
• Larger Live Box showcase @ The Drum, Aston Featuring Soweto kinch, DJ Biznizz, TY and Steve Williamson Julie Dexter’s first performance with the Live Box
• Live Box first commission for Birmingham Arts Fest, CBSO centre

2004

• Live Box performance in Symphony Hall, Birmingham with teenage jazz group ‘The Waves’
• Live Box performance at Birmingham Arts Fest Main stage, Centenary Square
• Live Box launches first program of workshops at South Birmingham College
• Launch of new Live Box program @ The Drum. Supported by Arts Council of England, and Birmingham City council. Program includes prominent national jazz, hip hop artists.
• Youth Theatre visit to Johannesburg and Pretoria, South Africa

2005

• Live Box performance at Birmingham Arts Fest Main Stage, Centenary Square
• Launch of second year @ The Drum
• Theatre production of Mother of Rain at the Grahamstown festival, South Africa.

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THE LIVE BOX

The Live Box has become synonymous with pioneering live jazz, poetry and acoustic Hip Hop in Birmingham. For close to 6 years it has been a premier jam session spot for regional musicians as well as attracting larger name national and international artists; and has consistently broken down boundaries between ‘high art’ and ‘street culture.’

The Live Box started in August 2000, based on the need to have a regular space to develop new music and performing arts. There were only a few sporadic occasions to try out experimental ideas and fewer still for jazz musicians to jam and improvise collectively. The early sessions based in the garage and later the upstairs room of an old pub in Winson Green (The Bellefield Inn) were far from salubrious. Despite only basic, improvised P.As, the events gave its main musicians (Soweto Kinch, Fitzroy Coward and Miles Levin) a vital opportunity to play regularly and to cut their musical teeth.

The outstanding quality of the music, sustained the event and kept demand growing from audiences and jazz musicians across the city.

The event itself has retained its own signature style of delivery. Every Sunday evening, starting with a performance of rehearsed material from the main artist, it opens up to members of the audience to participate in the jam session. Whilst jazz has underpins the majority of Live Box sessions, a unique feature is that impromptu poetry recitals sit comfortably alongside straight-ahead jazz and Hip Hop emcees feel as at home as reggae musicians. The meeting of alternative genres has encouraged many exceptional performances, and defied stereotypes.

For the audience as well artists, the relaxed and informal atmosphere; the uncompromising art; and spontaneity has brought people from all ages and diverse ethnic backgrounds together.

The Live Box has witnessed three major areas of growth since its inception. Firstly, it has attracted luminary musicians and performers from around the world. Beginning with a visit from modern jazz giant Wynton Marsalis, The Live Box has drawn major international artists, as well as local enthusiasts. Whilst maintaining its roots in experimental work, it has expanded to include performances from the likes of Ty, Jean Toussaint and Eska Mtungwazi.

Secondly, it has taken on more demanding projects in larger and unusual venues. Moving to Julio’s Wine Bar in 2001, and then to the Drum Arts Centre in 2004, it has become more able to facilitate world-class performances still retaining the warmth and intimacy of the early sessions. It has also begun to be seen as a mobile concept and has been staged at radically unusual sites. In February 2003, it took to the streets of Handsworth, with a 5 hour performance in the middle of Soho Road!

Finally, The Live Box has cemented partnerships with a number of key organisations, dedicated to similar work. Birmingham Jazz (see www.birminghamjazz.co.uk) has been a keen supporter of Live Box events and collaborated on several occasions. Tomorrow’s Warriors have also been key in connecting The Live Box with the best new talent in Jazz nationally (www.tomorrowswarriors.org).

Through these links we have extended our support base and become more effective in recruiting fresh interest.

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THE ORGANISERS

Don Kinch

Barbados born Don Kinch has been a respected playwright and director for over twenty years. Having established Staunch Poets and Players in London, Don moved to Birmingham in the late 1980’s in search of fresh creative ground, working with young local talent and The Arts Council he developed the Third Dimension Theatre Company and African Peoples Theatre. The great void in Black artistic expression during the middle and late 1990’s led both him and Soweto to create Nu Century Arts.

Don describes the personal effects of Nu Century Arts as liberating, “I have managed to combine a career as a lecturer in performing arts with my writing. This has rescued me from the perils of the freelance black writer seeking opportunities in an ever changing landscape of trends, arts funding policies and the see-saw interest of theatre and TV producers.”

Driving towards a truly unique artistic voice, his theatre company has benefited from with kindred institutions yet still maintaining strong creative autonomy, “Working within a structure such as Nu century Arts has afforded me the great privilege of working consistently around specific themes and trying to find the whole in a sea of fragments.”

Soweto Kinch

The Live Box is lead and often hosted by saxophonist/MC, Soweto Kinch. Since his debut album release “Conversations with the Unseen” in 2003, he has picked up a string of awards including; BBC Radio Jazz Award for Best Instrumentalist and Ensemble (2004); Urban Music Award for Best Jazz Act (2004); a MOBO for best Jazz Act (2003); and a Mercury Music Prize, ‘Album of the Year’ 2003. For further information see, www.sowetokinch.com, www.dune-music.com.

Soweto has chosen to remain grounded in Birmingham; disproving the idea that little of international artistic merit can be produced from the city’s black communities.

Rather than simply replicating the current trends and fashions from the U.S. Soweto has honed his own unique style of Hip Hop and Jazz, and skills of stagecraft whilst performing at The Live Box. Whilst he continues to tour as widely as The United States, Armenia, South Africa and Tanzania, The Live Box is the space where experimental work is tried and tested, and he has his strongest support base.

“The Live Box has provided the best possible experience, in leading a group and finding my own voice” he argues, “and its certainly given me the confidence to try my more unconventional ideas out on audiences.”

The intentions of the Live Box mirror his own, proving that jazz music is immediate, universally appreciated and as relevant as any other art form in the new millennium. Equally, his own brand of Hip Hop has found legitimacy, its organic, live style going against the grain of commercial pre-packaged music – which one audience member described as, “the difference between a fine hand cooked dish and a microwave meal.”

Soweto goes on to describe, “The fact of human interaction, audiences conversing with performers, conversing with each other, will always give the Live Box the edge over just sticking on a CD, or listening to DJs.”

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THE FUTURE DIRECTION

Changes in the city and Nu Century’s own growth presents the company with new opportunities to develop; evaluating its beginnings and considering what future roles it should play.

Nu Century through The Live Box and the Young People’s Theatre seeks to play a key role in turning a pessimistic tide of cultural life in African-Caribbean areas. Newtown and Lozells continually receive bad press for gun crime and race riots and Birmingham’s ethnic communities are widely perceived as violent and disparate. Employment prospects for young Black and Asian people also look bleak: according to the 2002 Labour Force Survey, employment amongst ethnic minorities was only 46.1% compared with 72.9% for whites (15% lower than the national average). As Birmingham moves towards becoming a majority ethnic city by 2010, this marginalisation and disenfranchisement seem in stark contrary motion to the idea of the city being a diverse and harmonious environment.

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A SOCIAL ROLE

Nu Century ”An explosive example of theatre’s social role” – The Guardian

By being vocal about its presence in B&ME areas, NU Century Arts presents a real antidote to the despair often publicised in the media. Rather than protest marches, or anti-gun lobbying, The Live Box, along with the wider activities of Nu Century Arts creates hope and opportunities amongst African Caribbean youth and is an active source of racial cohesion.

Primarily, Nu Century seeks to make role models of talented and successful artists from these communities. It has a commitment to a quality of arts that celebrates the highest in Black culture, instead of bemoaning the worst.

Secondly, it aims to heal perceived rifts in audiences. More senior attendees feel at home the jazz programming, (often frequented by Birmingham’s jazz and blues veterans such as Papa Sax and Dr John). Younger audience members are equally drawn by the new standards set by the Live Box in Hip Hop, and Soul. By drawing audiences from all generations, and from across the country to areas such as Handsworth, Newtown and Lozells it challenges the fiction that these areas are hopeless places of class/ethnic division.

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ARTISTIC ROLE

“Aubrey and Don are forging a new theatrical language” – Pretoria News

“Mother of Rain is mind blowing” - CUE

Nu Century’s Theatre is constantly seeking to find contemporary expressions both in form and content whilst retaining links with the traditions of Black British Theatre companies such as Temba, Dark and Light Theatre, L’Overture, Talawa, Double Edge, Black Theatre Cooperative, Staunch Poets and Players and writers such as Edgar White, Caryll Phillips, Mustapha Matura, Winsome Pinnock and Jamal Ali.

The Live Box consistently stretches the bounds of the jazz idiom. Whilst retaining its connection to the heritage, playing ‘the standards’ and encouraging youngsters to investigate jazz and blues history; The Live Box is also forward looking and challenges stereotypes about musicians and audiences.

Far from being mutually exclusive, innovative cross-genre performances sit comfortably alongside a classic jazz quartet performance. It aims to be at the forefront of a community both inside and beyond the city, who defy impersonal, mainstream and music-video culture, and prefer their art ‘Live,’ immediate and challenging.

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THE ALTERNATIVE

In addition to programming reputable artists, the Live Box has also developed its own unique performance events. ‘The Battle in the Box’ is a Hip Hop, MC battle with a difference. Rappers perform against a backdrop of live music. Rather than giving way to usual patterns of bad language and bravado, improvising lyrics along with live jazz has brought out the comical, political and often intensely creative elements of Hip Hop which often escape notice.

The Battle in the Box, legitimately claims to be the only Hip Hop, open mic event of its kind in the city: MCs have given impromptu lyrics on Tony Blair’s foreign policy alongside comical critiques of celebrity dress sense. The rappers aren’t direct adversaries but all perform to sharpen their skills, and test their powers of improvising with the finest young jazz musicians.

Similarly, in October 2005, Griotology (an established spoken word event) combined with The Live Box to host an evening of poetry with jazz music. The fluidity of the poetry fused with improvised accompaniment from jazz musicians, has produces new art.

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EXAMPLES OF PAST EVENTS/ GUESTS

MUSIC:

International artists: Julie Dexter, Wynton Marsalis, Diane Braithwaite

UK Jazz giants: Jean Toussaint, Steve Williamson, Abram Wilson

Hip Hop Artists: Jonzi D, Ty, DJ Biznizz, Benji Reid

UK pioneers: Eska Mtungwazi, Jason Yarde, Jade Fox

Rising Stars: Femi Temowo, Rasiyah Jabari, Tomorrows Warriors

Birmingham leaders: Mad Flow, Colonel Red

Exclusive to The Live Box: Battle in the Box, Griotology +The Live Box.

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THEATRE PROJECTS:

Tours: Coming up for Air (two national tours), It’s Just A Name, Mother of Rain (International tour)

Film: Changing the Silence (Channel4 documentary), Balm Yard (BBC), In Transit (BBC documentary)

Radio: Not Quite Gospel (BBC radio 4)

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WORKSHOPS

Education, in the form of music and theatre workshops is key to the continued success of Nu Century encouraging young actors, musicians and singers to attend jam sessions, rehearsals and developing a new creative pool within Birmingham. Music workshops, using in particular jazz music at its core have proved successful in both bringing young people together, and developing fresh individual talents.

Throughout the summers of 2004 and 2005, Live Box ran ten-week programs
of workshops at South Birmingham College in Digbeth. This involved
detailed work with up to 20 musicians and vocalists, aged between 14
and 25. Involving young people from variety of abilities and background
the workshops involved:

Music theory – analyzing melody and harmony, basic notation for jazz
ensembles, and composition approaches.

‘Standards’ – learning an established classic jazz repertoire,
analyzing their lyrics and harmony, and memorising them.

Overviews – reviewing Jazz and Blues History, and expanding the musical
vocabulary of the musician and singer.

Collective Improvisation – playing as an ensemble, the skills of accompaniment, developing jazz ‘language’, developing a mature approach to soloing

Many of the attendees have gone on to lead performances at The Live Box or to further study at music colleges, for example Shabaka Hutchings (a student at the Guildhall School of Music, London).

The workshops stressed the importance of developing a signature approach and style. Rather than excluding their own musical tastes, many of the students found that it embellished their appreciation of modern R&B, Hip Hop and Garage. Additionally, it equipped them with valuable tools for finding work leading their own combos, and networking.

Again, The Live Box has stood out from other education workshops in its approach. Youth Education/Music groups have occasionally struggled to attract urban youth, often ending in patronising attempts to reel them in using turntables and M.C’ing courses. The Live Box, however has successfully seen rappers attend the jazz courses and further their appreciation of how ‘composition’, ‘dynamics’ and ‘improvisation’ further their own chosen genres.

The Live Box has taken an uncompromising approach to music notation and arranging skills, yet at the same time demands that the participants bring their own tastes, personalities and ‘ears’ into the music.

This approach, sets out to contribute positively to generations of new musicians with a completely different take on ‘Urban Music’, containing all the relevance of ‘the street’, along with the nuances and complexities of ‘high art.’

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