A Social Role

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.