We Are Maokwo: Belgrade Springboard Company Launches With Workshops and Networking

Emerging local arts collective Maokwo is set to host its official launch event We Are Maokwo at the Belgrade Theatre next month with a day full of workshops and artists' networking opportunities taking place on Saturday 14 March.

Spearheaded by Zimbawean artist and activist Laura Nyahuye, Maokwo was founded in Coventry with the aim of shining a spotlight on the work of marginalised and underrepresented artists, particularly those from BAME, refugee and migrant backgrounds.

Since 2017, Maokwo has been building up a network of artists in Coventry, working with them to identify and understand the challenges they face. With support from the Belgrade Theatre's Springboard talent development programme, which it joined in 2019, it hopes to bring these artists together with key industry figures, in order to raise awareness of and find solutions to some of those challenges. Building on work with communities that dates back to 2007, Maokwo also aims to create opportunities for marginalised artists, and find ways of disrupting systems that may be creating barriers to better representation.

Taking place from 2pm - 4.30pm, Maokwo's launch event will celebrate and showcase work by artists from a range of different disciplines, combining workshops and discussions with spoken word performances and visual art on display. There will also be opportunities to purchase some of the artwork exhibited on the day.

From 2-5pm, the Belgrade's Weston Learning Space will host an open, drop-in art workshop, while in the Burbidge Room, visitors will have the chance to try their hand at a range of activities including drumming from 2-2.45pm, dance from 3-3.45pm and poetry and creative writing from 3-3.45pm.

All workshops will be free and open to the public, but spaces are limited, so please book in advance online via Eventbrite.

The workshops will be followed by an invite-only panel discussion titled Not Another Tick Box, which aims to inspire creative solutions for marginalised artists within the arts industry, and explore ways of working towards meaningful diversity and inclusion. To register your interest in attending the panel discussion, please email pr@maokwo.com.

Maokwo collaborator Nia Cerise said: "Maokwo's events are not simply about performing, they are about the community just as much as they are about the artwork. Her events bridge an intimate bond between the performer and audience, this is done through the intimate spaces she uses and the fasciation of dialogue between artists and audience members throughout that connect us. The role of artist and audience member becomes interchangeable at her events because performers are not hidden behind a curtain, they watch the other artists and are all allowed to be an observer."

We are Maokwo is supported by Counterpoints Arts, coordinators of Refugee Week and Platforma Arts, Refugees Network and the Belgrade Theatre Coventry as part of its Springboard programme.

Launched in 2015, the Belgrade's Springboard initiative was established to support emerging artists and newly formed performing arts companies to develop their work, offering tailored support over a three-year period. This includes advice and guidance from experienced Belgrade staff, marketing and PR support, and space to create, rehearse and showcase their work, among other benefits.

Former Springboard companies at the Belgrade have included Strictly Arts Theatre Company, whose Artistic Director, Corey Campbell, recently took up the post of Co-Artistic Director of the Belgrade Theatre for Coventry's year as City of Culture in 2021. Current Springboard Companies include Shoot Festival, Richard and Rishard, digital arts duo Gertrude, disability arts organisation Radical Body, and Underground Lights Community Theatre, which works with people with experience of homelessness and/or mental ill health.

We Are Maokwo takes place at the Belgrade Theatre on Saturday 14 March. To find out more and to reserve your place for the afternoon workshops, please visit bit.ly/WEAREMAOKWO, or for more information about Maokwo and its work, visit www.wearemaokwo.com.

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