From gaming and hip hop, to vlogging, film and much more, we’re especially interested to hear from young people about what role pop culture might play in making social change around migration and displacement happen.

In the room will be artists, activists, media makers, cultural actors and young influencers. We have deliberately invited a rich mix of people who might not have previously worked together but who are (ideally) open to new ways of connecting, collaborating and co-producing.

Animators

Awate // Corey Brotherson // Florent Maurin // Hisham Hasan // Mo Afridi (Rize Up) // Momtaza Mehri // Paul Bonham (Music Manager’s Forum) // Samuel Kalejaiye // Sashwati Mira Sengupta // Shay D // Nike Jonah, Dijana Rakovic, Tom Green & Salma Ibrahim (Counterpoints Arts)

PopChange is a pioneering project from Counterpoints Arts exploring how the power of pop culture can be harnessed for social change — shifting the way we talk, think and feel about migration and displacement.

Participants

Amina Atiq

Ally

Amina Atiq is a Yemeni- Scouse writer, a performance artist, facilitator and activist. Amina is currently developing a spoken word monologue wit DadaFest, inviting the audience to a 1970’s Yemeni-British household, untangling what it means to belong.

Almir Koldzic

Ally

Almir is the Director and Co-Founder of Counterpoints Arts. The main focus of his work so far has been on developing creative strategies and national networks for arts and refugees; building long term collaborations with leading inter/national arts, cultural, advocacy and philanthropic organisations; and curating and producing a wide range of commissions and programmes relating to displacement, diversity and social justice.

Awate Abdalla

Ally

Awate Abdalla is a critically acclaimed Eritrean writer based in London, focused on stories at the intersection of race, class and surrealism - with a dose of humour. He has produced a wide range of commissioned multimedia works mixing music, film, theatre and visual art.

Bumi Thomas

Ally

Bumi Thomas is a British Nigerian multidisciplinary artist based in London whose work explores transcending cultural boundaries using photography and music, telling stories about movement, displacement, joy and humanity

Carlijn Metselaar

Ally

Carlijn Metselaar is a composer, music teacher and choral conductor.

Charisse Chikwiri

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Charisse Chikwiri is a Writer, Creative Consultant & DJ whose work focuses on using a variety of creative and curatorial skills as vessels for conversation and social change.

Charlie Scarrot

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Charlie Scarrot is a passionate musician who writes and records his own songs which he shares online with a small but loyal number of followers.

Corey Brotherson

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Corey Brotherson is an award-winning writer, editor and creative consultant, who has worked within the games industry since 2001 as a journalist, critic and content producer for some of the medium’s biggest brands, including Sony PlayStation, King and Apple.

Ellena Tesfay

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Ellena is the Founder of a social awareness project called Coffee Stories.

Fabien Soazandry

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Fabien is an award-winning Filmmaker Artist of Malgache descent, raised in London.

Florent Maurin

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Florent Maurin graduated from journalism school in 2002 and worked for Bayard Presse for ten years, as a reporter & editorial manager for Bayam. He then created The Pixel Hunt, a video games studio with a focus on reality-inspired games. The Pixel Hunt works for media (Lemonde.fr, France Télévisions) and public institutions (the Mucem, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France). In 2017, The Pixel Hunt launched its first independent game, the critically acclaimed Bury me, my Love.

Halima A

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Halima Azan Hassan is a writer and editor from West London with an interest in theatre and film.

Hesham Hasan

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Hesham has international professional experience within the design industry and an MA in Visual Communication

Jake Lee

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Jake is a social justice lawyer who worked in London, the US and the EU. After lockdown he now travels mainly between the fridge and his desk. Jake & Unbound are long term supporters of Counterpoints and the important work it does.

Jerioluwa (Jeri) Bada

Ally

Jeri Bada is a passionate musician who writes, records and produces his own tracks.

Laura Aiton

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Laura Aiton is a producer for Burnt Orange Theatre and is also a producer-curator for FemFringe.

Liam Rickard

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Liam Rickard is a musician and artist from North Wales. He performs multilingual, novelty alt-pop & pan-global folk under the name Worldwide Welshman. He has collaborated with musicians from every continent and is a regular participant of JMI’s Ethno-World camps.

Marcia Chandra

Ally

Marcia is Creative Producer at Counterpoints Arts, working on the PopChange Initiative where she develops commissions, partnerships and network events around gaming, storytelling and narrative change. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts.

Matthew Page

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Matt is a keen musician and artist who has been drawing for as long as he can remember.

Mohammed Afridi

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Mohammed helped set up The World Transformed, the UK’s largest festival of progressive politics and arts. He went on to become the head of fundraising for Jeremy Corbyn’s election campaign and the lead for finance and operations at Momentum.

Mollie Davidson

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Mollie works for the BBC local radio as a freelancer creating content and producing for a wide variety of shows. She is the Marketing Assistant at Live & Local Rural and Community Touring, where she promotes and helps to produce shows in rural areas of the Midlands. Mollie studied English at the University of Sheffield and is currently based in f Coventry.

Momtaza Mehri

Ally

Momtaza is a Somali poet, essayist and meme archivist. She is the co-winner of the 2018 Brunel International African Poetry Prize.

Naima Khan

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Naima is Co-chair of the trustees of Counterpoints Arts and Director of Inclusive Mosque Initiative, an intersectional feminist charity. She is a writer and broadcaster contributing on topics including arts, faith and feminism.

Nike Jonah

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Nike Jonah is the Executive Director of the Pan African Creative Exchange (PACE) and a Visiting Research Fellow at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Nike was Creative Producer at Counterpoints Arts and led the development of the PopChange initiative from 2018-2021.

Nyrose Kardasi

Ally

Nyrose hopes to embark on a degree in law once she has completed the University Entrance Diploma – the University of Kent’s alternative to A-levels. She is an incredibly committed student, having moved across the country to be able to take the course. Of dual British and Libyan descent, Nyrose has spent time living in both Libya and the UK having moved back to London most recently in 2019.

Paul Bonham

Ally

Paul leads the Music Manager Forums individuals programme Accelerator, supported by YouTube Music. This project empowers emerging multi-genre music entrepreneurs through business and leadership skills.

Paulette Amadi

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Paulette is Manager of Grants Management and Compliance at Unbound Philanthropy.

Pauline Blanchet

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Pauline is a SOAS Graduate in Linguistics and International Development. Her dissertation focused on the representations of migration in graphic novels. In the past, Pauline has used podcasting and radio to raise awareness of mental health. Pauline's interests also lie in photography and film.

Salman Toheed

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Salman is a songwriter from Norwich. He is a Youth Ambassador of Music in Norfolk and helps young musicians to find places to perform, build their confidence and write their own songs.

Samuel Kalejaiye

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After graduating with a Master in Management from Keele University, Samuel started a successful Facebook page focused on political activism. He is now the Social Media Lead for Momentum, a progressive political organisation preparing to fight the next election.

Sandy Abdelrahman

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Sandy is a creative entrepreneur, filmmaker, an activist and the founder of Skaped

Mira Sengupta

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Mira Sengupta is an arts & culture curator, producer, DJ and musician. She has worked as a music curator for Refugee Week at Counterpoints Arts and has contributed to programmes including the Mayor of London's Eid Festival, Who Are We? at the Tate Modern, Celebrating Sanctuary and Platforma.

Shay D

Ally

Hailing from the stomping grounds of North London Shay D’s upbringing and Iranian heritage remains at the core of her sound. An innate wordsmith, her hustle, passion and drive for music are reflected through her DIY attitude.

Tayyibah Mota

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Tayyibah is a Senior Youth Engagement Officer at Positive Youth Foundation (PYF)

Thenjiwe Phillips

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Thenjiwe is a 21-year-old Motswana Law graduate and is interested in all types of art expression. At university, she joined the Creative Arts Society and found a love for poetry.

Thomas Tegento

Ally

Thomas was born in Gonder, Ethiopia, and has lived in Eritrea, Sudan, Egypt and Yemen. Since living in the UK, Thomas has been working and studying performing arts. He self-published his first book called “The Seventh Neck” and is currently assisting drama training for KRAN Fam at the Gulbenkian Theatre.

Tom Green

Ally

I’ve worked at Counterpoints Arts since 2012, with a focus on artist and organisation support and network development. I produce our biennial Platforma festival and oversee our work relating to comedy including the No Direction Home stand-up collective and the But Is It Funny? podcast.

Tyler Luke Cunningham

Ally

Tyler is a highly accredited actor, singer, dancer and practitioner of performance education. His work so far includes: Spider Man Far From Home (Marvel), I May Destroy You (HBO/BBC One), Boy Meets Girl (BBC), Flack (UKTV) and Holby City (BBC).

Will Sommerville

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Will is Director of UK Program at Unbound Philanthropy. He also works part-time as a Senior Policy Analyst for the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), and is a Visiting Professor at the University of Sheffield.

Yossi Goodlink

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Yossi is a poet, performer and practitioner of performance education. Yossi’s unique style of poetry has led him to perform and speak at venues such as BAFTA, Tate Modern and the British Museum. As a poet Yossi has worked in partnership with organisations such as MTV and his videos have accumulated over 200,000 views online.

PopChange X Platforma Youth Retreat 2019

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Call for Applicants for youth-focused PopChange Retreat

Video: Bridgit Antoinette Evans from Pop Culture Collaborative

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