The Culture Catwalk callout has officially closed; we’re confirming the artists from an incredible longlist; time is ticking away ’til the Birmingham Weekender kicks off on the 22nd September; the buzz and excitement is too real! Whilst the Southside Producers team bring the Culture Catwalk stage to life, we thought we’d fill you in on the excitement and introduce you to the Marketing and Contents team.
Q. What is the best thing about being in your department?
A. We get to be the most creative of the departments! It’s up to us to introduce Culture Catwalk to the world and we have the responsibility to decide and define how we present ourselves as the Southside Producers team. It’s a big responsibility but it is refreshing to have that kind of freedom. It’s great to be the first to meet you guys and find out exactly which types of people are eager to interact with the Culture Catwalk.
Q. What do you want to accomplish as a team?
A. Our ultimate aim is to raise awareness of the Culture Catwalk and Southside Producers, and to make sure that we provide great exposure to artists in Birmingham – that said, we want to make sure that the Culture Catwalk not only satisfies, but surpasses all expectations. We’re working really hard to reach out to a wider variety of artists in order to incorporate more than spoken word artists and singers, to make sure that the event is as creative as it possibly can be.
Q. How are you planning to make this year’s Culture Catwalk even better than 2015?
A. Our social media approach is even bigger this year. We want as many creatives involved as possible. We have already started working on our social media approach with the launch of our #BeingABrummie campaign which saw many of you letting us know what being a being brummie means to you. We don’t want people to just stumble across our Culture Catwalk stage, we want people to be anticipating our stage, be familiar with our artists, and know how to reach them on social media beforehand. The Culture Catwalk is a massive an opportunity to shed light on Birmingham’s creative scenes and artists. More than this, we are really passionate about getting Birmingham’s talent on a stage and showing off the everyday creativeness of the city.
Team Profiles:
Seunfunmi Tinubu
Fun fact: I have lived in America, Nigeria, and now England.
What is you artistic practice/passion? I am a writer and a spoken word artist.
What are you most excited about for the Culture Catwalk? The different types of talent that the West Midlands has to offer.
What are your expectations? I am expecting a great turnout because this is a very artistic region and I believe that people are going to come from all over to see what’s in store.
Favourite thing about Southside Producers? The camaraderie. It’s a great group of people who enjoy having fun and laughing. It’s a fun environment and I’m glad to be a team member.
What does #BeingABrummie mean to you? #BeingABrummie means having to hear people from all over make jokes about Birmingham accents.
Social Media: Twitter: @TinubuTweets / Instagram: @SET94 / Medium: @iamSET
Jaz Morrison
Fun fact: Introvert.
What is your art/craft/passion? The written word.
What are you most excited about for the culture catwalk? Seeing a manifestation of Brum talent.
What are your expectations?: A great turnout and increased awareness of what Brum has to offer.
Favourite thing about Southside Producers?: The rapport.
What does #BeingABrummie mean to you?: Being the best of both worlds.
Social Media: Twitter: @jazkanata
Amara Ranger
Fun Fact: I was born on my mother’s birthday.
What is your art/craft/passion?: Story-telling. Through poetry, playwriting, journaling and photography.
What are you most excited about for the Culture Catwalk?: I’m excited for the anticipation around the event. As part of the Marketing team, we have been thinking of so many creative ways to make the Culture Catwalk experience a really unique one.
What are your expectations?: I have expectations for myself and expectations for the Culture Catwalk team. For myself, I expect to grow as a producer and learn about other areas of production that I am good at and enjoy. I hope the experience will inspire ideas & events and develop my existing ones. My expectations for us collectively is based on our ability to listen. Having worked with the team on Culture Catwalk for some time now, I expect us to pay close attention to ourselves, our audience and our creative goals to produce something that is beyond us.
Favourite thing about SSP: I like the ethos, how you are encouraged to celebrate others and their ideas and your own. I think SSP specifically has proved to be a space for me to balance practicality and quality without compromising on my vision. It is a perfect balance of creativity with logicality so far.
What does #BeingABrummie mean to you?: As a Londoner turned Brummie, it means having really irregular public transport.
Social media: Twitter: @Amara_Ranger / Instagram: @amara.amaryah
Look out for the rest of the Southside Producers team’s profiles, coming throuhgout August and September.
Written by Southside Producers
Southside Producers are a collective of young emerging producers aged 16 – 25 formed by a partnership between Beatfreeks and The Old Rep.