Affie Jam
Affiejam is a 22 year old songwriter/musician from Birmingham. With music that is typically guitar led, she combines her everyday writing with mellow tones and melodic finger-picking.
Amna Akhtar
My name is Amna. I am Founder & CEO of mOmhead & Co-Founder of Girl Dreamer. My purpose lies in the empowerment of all women through my motto EDUCATE. ELEVATE. EMPOWER. I have seen mOmhead through a start-up brand to being featured in British Vogue and had the likes of Lilly Singh wear my clothes. I have also built Girl Dreamer as an after-school club from my voluntary days as a mentor, to an organisation where I run these after-school clubs as full programmes and have now created the UK's first BAME female longboarding crew. I'm what they call a university drop-out. I'm self-taught in business and kickstarted both my companies in my attic bedroom. I've pulled all-nighters designing and building, battled through depression and I'm on the other side now where the grass is greener and the sun is blazing - just how I Iike it!
Daniel Glaser
Daniel is Director of Science Gallery London. He is a neuroscientist by training and joins King’s from Wellcome Trust where he headed up their engaging science work. Daniel Glaser was the world's first scientist in residence at an arts institution at the ICA in 2002 and was the first scientist to judge the Man Booker prize in 2014. He also writes a weekly column in the Observer Magazine.
Hannah Prentice
Hannah Prentice is a photographer and film-maker who happens to have Tourette’s syndrome, a disability she refuses to let hinder her life ambitions. Hannah is very open about her condition and aims to tackle the many misconceptions about Tourette’s. That is where the TIC – “Tourette’s Is Complex” project comes in; Hannah delivers TIC workshops to places of education/work/creativity and wants to branch out to a wider audience to spread more awareness about Tourette’s. Hannah’s talk today will focus on ‘TIC’. If you would like to keep up with Hannah she is currently busy with creative projects and volunteering within the arts for projects such as; Work in Progress, her role is The Minister of Fun, she is also a young creative a part of The Foot in the Door (FITD) an organisation which enables young people to develop skills to find employment within the Art and Cultural sector through a series of courses lead across Birmingham.
Jay Johnson
Jay Johnson is an award-winning musician and songwriter who moved to London before his teenage years and began making music from a young age. Jay’s naturally curious mind led him to start learning the cello. He then taught himself how to play the guitar a few years after. Jay started listening to artists such as Bob Dylan, Paolo Nutini, and Ben Howard from his early teens, and as a result their influences can often be seen in his original works. Jay is a resident artist at the world-famous Roundhouse venue in London, and is about to release his debut EP.
Jazmin Sawyers
Jazmin (Jazz) is a 23 year old professional long jumper from Stoke-on-Trent. A Commonwealth Games medallist and Olympic finalist, she is no stranger to high pressure situations, but is passionate about life both outside and inside of the world of athletics. A law graduate and member of Team Will.I.Am on the 2016 season of The Voice, her interests span across various fields, but all point towards her passion for getting the most out of life that you possibly can.
Kehinde Andrews
Dr Kehinde Andrews is Associate Professor of Sociology, and has been leading the development of the Black Studies Degree at Birmingham City University. He recently co-edited Blackness in Britain (2016) and is working on his next book The Politics of Black Radicalism. His first book was Resisting Racism: Race, Inequality and the Black Supplementary School Movement (2013). Kehinde is director of the Centre for Critical Social Research; founder of the Organisation of Black Unity; and co-chair of the Black Studies Association.
Key Infinity
All Styles Crew originating from Birmingham, UK. Key Infinity is a collective of dancers and entertainers that specialise in a range of street dance styles. all 8 members share a strong passion for dance but it is our drive to become better across all arts that brings us together. With years of performance and teaching experience, Key infinity is ready to share their passion and knowledge to the public and continue to grow the Key Infinity family.
Kioko .
KIOKO are a group of like-minded, multicultural musicians who have embarked on a journey to bring people their own brand of pop. Having performed with a diverse array of acts, including Tinie Tempah, The Wailers, The Specials and Lee 'Scratch' Perry. KIOKO have a wealth of performance experience and are set to win over audiences old and new with upcoming nationwide shows and E.P 'Let's Be Frank'.
Michael Conroy
Michael Conroy has worked in Secondary and Adult Education for nearly 20 years. In recent years he has worked alongside A CALL TO MEN UK, an organisation that aims to end male violence towards women and girls by engaging boys and young men in reflective dialogues around what it means to 'be a man'. This work sees Michael coaching directly with boys and young men in high schools, exploring social and cultural messages around 'masculinity' as well as helping train other professionals to do this work in Education, Sports, Youth Justice and Social Work settings.
Michael Sani
Michael Sani is one of the U.K’s leading social entrepreneurs who specialises in purpose-driven engagement. Under his leadership Bite The Ballot has grown from a lunchtime club in one school to a national movement. He has led world record breaking voter registration campaigns and driven changes in policy and legislation to increase civic engagement.
During the European Referendum Michael was called into Downing Street to support the Prime Minister's call for all the largest UK tech companies to ensure their audiences are registered to vote. Bite The Ballot activated a nationwide voter registration drive across key digital platforms including Tinder, Twitter, Facebook, Uber and Deliveroo. This resulted in over 1.1 million young citizens registering to vote. During the campaign an estimated 1.85 million citizens applied to register to vote and crashed the Gov.UK portal with the last gasp efforts to ensure they could participate in the referendum.
Muna Ruumi
Muna Ruumi is a rap and grime enthusiast, radio presenter and budding curator. Born in Zoetmeer, Netherlands and raised in Newtown, Birmingham, Muna has a show on Birmingham’s Newstyle radio, has collaborated with SBTV on their #0121radio project and is developing her own music platform, BHX, which is set to take Birmingham by storm. Muna’s passion for Birmingham, the arts, equality and freedom of speech sees her platform BHX Movement focus on supporting Birmingham’s emerging talent and encouraging change to the infrastructure of the music culture in the city.
Rogue Play
RoguePlay are Birmingham's Highly Physical Theatre Company. We use aerial and ground-based circus skills, acrobatics, poetry, and dance as tools to produce original, innovative theatre work for national and international audiences, to appeal to all ages; from short 5-minute acts to 90 minute shows. As well as our fully accessible, family friendly theatre work, we run weekly classes for all ages in aerial skills at our centre in Digbeth and we recently finished a summer tour of our brand new show Taking Flight, ending with a successful run at Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Saffiyah Khan
Brummie activist Saffiyah Khan went viral in April, 2016 when she a photographer snapped a picture of her defending Saira Zafar from a group of far-right English Defence League supporters at a demonstration in Birmingham - being hailed as a symbol of hope for not just the city but the world. Following the media frenzy, Saffiyah continues to use her platform as to reduce islamaphobia and racism. This year will see Saffiyah launch her first solo photo exhibition, TEDxYouth@Brum talk and many more adventures where she will get to explore important stories to inspire a new generation.
Sarah Maple
Sarah Maple is an award winning visual artist known for her bold, brave, mischievous and occasionally controversial artworks that challenges notions of identity, religion and the status quo. Much of Maple's inspiration originates from being brought up as a Muslim, with parents of mixed religious and cultural backgrounds. In 2015, Sarah was awarded a Sky Academy Arts scholarship from Sky Arts which included funding, mentoring and a Sky Arts documentary. With this scholarship she created her new solo exhibition 'Not My Cup Of Tea' at New Art Exchange, Nottingham.
Steffan Zachiyah
Amongst being transgender, Vegan and a fitness junkie, Steffan is a creative film director who loves to produce movies, getting into filmmaking at 19. He then spent 2 years at BCU doing a HND in media, communication and production, quickly developing a passion for moving image and production. "Filmmaking to me is important because I believe the way that technology is evolving at our fingertips, people are more inclined to click on a video than open a book. Although a large percentage of the world still read paperback books the mass majority prefer to watch a visual that can stimulate their imaginations twice as much." As an introverted rebel expressionist, filmmaking is the platform that Steffan uses to outwardly tell stories that society refrains from discussing. "I love to challenge the notion of what we deem "normality" and bring awareness to sensitive topics we tend to shy away from. At times we find it hard facing reality’s reality but the messages that I tend to put out in my film projects are simply stating to be who you want to be without seeking validation from outside sources. This is often met with resistance because we aren’t entirely comfortable with ourselves never mind what we face with our oppositions on a daily basis."
Stephen Greene
Stephen has spent his career focused on youth engagement. He believes that any young person can change the world – if given the respect, tools and opportunity to do so.
CEO and co-founder of RockCorps, he has worked to deliver volunteer platforms in 10 countries around the world; including 50 volunteer-exclusive concerts, featuring artists such as Pharrell, Lady Gaga, Maroon 5, Rihanna and over 100 more.
In November 2012, Stephen was appointed by then Prime Minister, David Cameron to be the founding chair of the NCS Trust. NCS Trust is responsible for the management and delivery of National Citizen Service (to date over 400,000 graduates). Cameron said “I am delighted that Stephen Greene will be supporting this endeavour, as the founding Chairman of a new organisation to help deliver NCS. As the CEO of RockCorps, Stephen brings a wealth of experience in unlocking the power of young people and connecting them to opportunities to do good in their communities.”
Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan
Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan is a 22 year old Muslim woman and third-generation Pakistani in the UK. Born in Bradford, raised and state-schooled in Leeds, graduated from a history degree at Cambridge University, studying Postcolonial Studies at SOAS 2016-2017. She writes and speaks about politics, race, gender, feminism, Islam, being visibly Muslim, Eurocentric academia, decolonising minds/bodies and more. The aim of this blog is to create space. Space for her voice and space to be able to think.
The Choir With No Name
The Choir with No Name runs choirs for homeless and marginalised people. They're a diverse bunch of folks; all genders, all colours, all sizes, all ages - everyone is welcome. They have four choirs: two in London, one in Birmingham and one in Liverpool. Each choir gets together to rehearse every week (with a decent dinner at the end of rehearsal!) and we perform regularly. Founded on the premise that singing makes you feel good; it distracts you from all the nonsense in life and helps you to build up your confidence and abilities.
Toby Campion
Toby Campion is an award winning British writer and spoken word artist, born and raised in Leicester. Placing second in the UK at the National Poetry Slam Championships 2014, Toby has won first runner up at the BBC Poetry Slam Grand Finals for the past 2 years running, placed runner up at the Roundhouse Poetry Slam Finals 2015 and represented the UK at the Capturing Fire International Poetry Summit 2015 in Washington, DC.
Trewin Restorick
Trewin Restorick is Founder and CEO of the award-winning charity Hubbub UK which transforms the way environmental messages are communicated by bringing people and organisations together as a force for good. He is also Chair of Student Hubs. Previously Trewin created Global Action Plan the UK’s leading environmental behaviour change charity. Before starting Global Action Plan, Trewin was Director of Fundraising at Friends of the Earth where he created PaperRound London’s leading community recycling business. Prior to Friends of the Earth, Trewin worked at Plymouth City Council and produced a youth TV programme for the BBC called Something Else.