Born and raised in West London, JaJa Kisses (aka Lil Intro Vert) is one of the few emerging female artists to fuse dark and experimental trap beats with soft and soothing vocals. Her debut project Young Fashioned takes listeners on a journey of R&B, progressive rock and neo-soul, with her haunting harmonies drifting throughout.
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PLUGGED IN: Revolutionary and Radical Relationship-Building for Young Creatives
7 Feb 2018
Join us for an evening curated by GUAP Magazine, Design for Disability and A New Direction for young creatives aged 18-24 and cultural organisations to connect, debate and revolutionise the way they work together.
The evening includes live performances from Yiigaa and JaJa Kisses, as well as practitioner-led workshops and talks from founder of All Here Sereena Abbassi, Hannah Owens from Livity, founder of Urban MBA Kofi Oppong, founder and CEO of Sour Lemons Sade Brown (Banks) and Jack Donlon, creative assistant for A-COLD-WALL.
We are exploring the way young creative Londoners work with cultural organisations by igniting conversations and actions. Together we respond to some of the big questions we face in the cultural and creative industries, such as:
- Why do young Londoners and arts and cultural organisations want to work together?
- What do we each get out of it?
- What does authentic collaboration with young creative people mean?
- What can we commit to doing that could change the way we work together - to be more inclusive, diverse and to share power equally?
- What does inclusive work with, by and for young people/adults look like? And what can we do to embed this in our work together?
GUAP Magazine is the world's first video magazine – a revolutionary magazine dedicated to discovering emerging creative talent. It seeks to redefine the norm by presenting the world with a new and unique way to recognise the untold, unseen and unforgettable young talent within music, fashion, arts and business globally.
Founded by Jide Adetunji and Ibrahim Kamara, it is the only platform in the UK profiling young urban creatives, making it a feeding ground for creative inspiration and entertainment.
Design for Disability is a young company founded by designer Jessica Ryan-Ndegwa. Ryan-Ndegwa studied product and furniture design at Kingston University and believes that good design helps people do things they might otherwise not be able to do.
Design for Disability have a focus on creating for people with impairments and disabilities, but they develop products that can be used by as many people as possible, whatever abilities they may have, designing products that suit people's personalities.
A New Direction is a not-for-profit organisation that exists to ensure that all children and young people in London can develop their creativity and play an active part in the culture and heritage of the city. They are an incubator of ideas and change. Their focus is on London and young people in London, but they work with partners across the country and internationally and are keen for their work to have an impact beyond the boundaries of the capital.
Their vision is for a London where all children and young people can thrive through developing their creativity. Their mission is to support the capacity of all children and young people to be creative and culturally aware.
Live Acts
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JaJa Kisses
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Yiigaa
With her ethereal voice, she blends old R&B with a contemporary spin, giving it new life and a fresh audience. Yiigaa (her real name is Yiga, which means 'good luck') was raised in Brixton, South London. The daughter of Ivorian musician Henri Gaobi, there was always music blasting throughout the family home, encouraging and inspiring her strong passion for music. From the early age of seven, she was writing both her own and her favourite song lyrics from the radio all over her body when she was bored, which later resulted in the accumulation of countless diaries filled with song lyrics over the years.
Growing up, she listened to the likes of Lauryn Hill, Amy Winehouse, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Frank Ocean. These are the musicians she credits with helping shape her musical tastes and direction, which can be clearly heard throughout her back catalogue. So far she has released two EPs which she describes as 'neo soul infused with a little hi-fi to create old school vibes with a modern twist.'
Speakers and Workshop Leads
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Sereena Abbassi: Founder, All Here
Sereena Abbassi is the founder of All Here, a creative hackathon, consultancy and interactive talk series which is committed to creating a fairer and more understood world. By bridging the gap between society's many intersections. Abbassi supports her clients to think more critically about our world - and the work that they create.
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Hannah Owens: Senior Account Executive, Livity
In January 2016 Hannah Owens was part of the Digify internship scheme which seeks to diversify the creative industries, providing training from the likes of Google and the MAA for future talent. Following this, she worked permanently for Engine Group with clients including NOW TV, Samsung and Amazon Fashion.
Pursuing her passion for youth culture and creating impactful work, Hannah returned to Livity and now works with Nandos, Facebook and Warner Music.
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Kofi Oppong: Founder, Urban MBA
After working as a product manager at Nike Town for ten years, Kofi Oppong had a desire to give back to the community. He went on to set up Circle Sports in Westminster and Kingsland high road, an independent sports store that since opening in 2010 has put 70 young people who were not in education, employment or training back into long-term employment.
Urban MBA (Master Business Association) is described as the university for street entrepreneurs. It empowers 18-24 year-olds to start up their own business. So far within a two year period Urban MBA has cultivated 40 young entrepreneurs, 15 of which have received UnLtd funding to grow their businesses.
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Sade Brown (Banks): Founder and CEO, Sour Lemons
In 2016 Sade Brown (Banks) launched Sour Lemons, a social enterprise that aims to address the lack of social mobility and diversity in leadership positions across the creative industries. Brown is a board member for the National Student Drama Festival and a trustee for the Tri Borough Alternative Provision (a West London pupil referral unit which she used to attend).
She is a passionate advocate for young people, social mobility and diversity in the arts and has spoken publicly at a wide range of engagements including the House of Commons, City Hall, Women's Ed and The Southbank Centre. In 2015 Sade received an achievement award from Prince William on behalf of Centrepoint in recognition for her dedication to turning both her life around and the lives of others.
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Jack Donlon: Creative Assistant, A-COLD-WALL
Jack Donlon is a multidisciplinary creative who is obsessed with idea of authenticity and a multi-channel way of thinking in pursuing any form of creative work. By looking more at the longterm impact that a creative idea can have, Donlon ignores the insecurities that social media presents to us in order to create a more 'potentcy'-based outcome. Plus the optimism that outcomes are not always relevant in the now, but in the future instead.
From what was previously a rebrand job, Donlon became the creative director of IAM Next, a platform which supported up and coming UK talent.After one and a half years, he left and became Samuel Ross's creative assistant at fashion brand A-COLD-WALL.
