The Livebox

The Livebox is a regular performance arts event, run by Nu Century Arts, embracing live music, poetry, hip hop and dance, offering both emerging and established artists the opportunity to develop and perform their work. For seven years.

The Livebox has successfully broken down barriers between high art and street culture, providing a relaxed and informal atmosphere for people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds. 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,

The Livebox offers audience members the chance to participate in the jam session. Whilst jazz underpins the majority of The Livebox sessions, a unique feature is that impromptu poetry recitals sit comfortably alongside straight-ahead jazz, and hip hop MCs feel as at home as reggae musicians. The meeting of alternative genres has encouraged many exceptional performances, and defied stereotypes.

Nu Century Arts, and its directors Don and Soweto Kinch, are dedicated to the development and promotion of performing arts in the African-Caribbean community. Based in Birmingham, the organisation embraces an interdisciplinary approach to arts and education and, since its formation in 2000, has established an international reputation for producing groundbreaking, influential work.

In addition to The Livebox, the company’s pioneering work encompasses theatre (in the shape of a professional theatre group), literature (Wired Up magazine), and education (jazz workshops, youth theatre and group trips abroad). Nu Century Arts has a commitment to alternative forms of black expression, and its continual advocacy of these forms, coupled with its pursuit of excellence, makes it a valuable resource.

Review tickets, pics and artist interviews available on request