Talkaoke Skills Lab is a unique artist development opportunity piloting a new approach to intercultural dialogue, collaboration and skills exchange by bringing together in a virtual and hybrid space artists, creatives, cultural practitioners and change-makers from Uganda and the UK.

The programme is provoked by a 1970s ‘social sculpture’ theory by the artist Joseph Beuys, who proposed that everything is art and that every aspect of life could be approached creatively. Beuys believed that everyone has the potential to be an artist and can shape their environment on a local and global scale. We ask: what does a creative and socially engaged practice mean within the global community, where technology plays an ever increasing role?

Talkaoke Skills Lab builds on The People Speak 25 years experience of creating participant-led, emergent and interactive formats such as Talkaoke – a hybrid pop-up talk show and KQ’s experience of collaborative art and activism initiatives. We invite the project participants to explore new ways of future-proof, cross-border collaboration using technology, resulting in creating and piloting their own interactive hybrid format in London and Kampala.

Talkaoke Skills Lab is supported by the British Council Cultural Exchange programme, which supports cultural organisations, festivals, artists, and creatives between the countries of SSA* and the UK to create art, build networks, collaborate and develop markets and share artists’ work with audiences.

What to expect

• 8 online sessions via Zoom using Talkaoke – pop-up talk show format, where we will cover: key points of The People Speak methodology, including: facilitation and creation of non-hierarchical spaces and participation structures, use of digital / hybrid technology; 
• Participant-led discussions exploring current themes and issues; co-creation of interactive learning structure where participants decide on the skills they wish to develop and share; 
• 1 public facing hybrid event co-created by the participants in two cities, taking place in venues in London and Kampala
• Mentoring and individual support with artistic and professional development by The People Speak, KQ Hub and a wider network of creative collaborators 
• Technical support in how to get the best out of online platforms

Key dates

Monday 6 December 2021  –  Programme and artist call out announcement
January 13th 2022  –  Talkaoke Online – an information session for applicants
Tuesday 1st February  –  Artist application deadline
w/c 14th February  –  Interviews with shortlisted candidates
w/c 28th February  –  Exact date TBC, Programme start, sessions every 2 weeks via Zoom
July  –  Exact date TBC, Culmination event
August 2022  –  Exact date TBC, Reflection session and follow up

Who can apply

The project is open to up to 20 artists of all disciplines [eg. writing, performance, visual arts, dance, making], art producers, cultural venue programmers and anyone who describes their practice as creative. You would have interest in or already existing socially engaged practice. We are most keen to hear from people aged 18-35 based in Uganda or the UK. If your age or location differs – it is still worth you getting in touch as we may be able to accommodate you. We welcome applicants with additional access needs and have allocated a budget to provide reasonable support to make it easy for you to take part. There is no fee to participate in Talkaoke Skills Lab.

How to apply

You can apply using an online form here. We ask you to describe your creative practice and reasons for wanting to be involved in the programme. You will have a 350 word limit or 3 minute video limit on your application.

Deadline for applications Tuesday 1 February, midnight East African Time [Uganda], or 9.00pm Greenwich Mean Time Time [UK]

If you have any questions 

We will run an online Talkaoke information session on Thursday 13th January at 12pm [GMT] / 3pm [EAT] where you can get a flavour of the format and ask any questions you may have about the programme. Register for the session following this Eventbrite link.

Feel free to drop us a line on TalkaokeSkillsLab@gmail.co.uk

The People Speak is a London [UK] based group of international artists, academics and arts practitioners with world-class expertise in getting people to understand each other. We have 25 years’ experience of using performance art, multi-media and technology to stimulate discussion, ideas, and actions in engaging, interactive and fun environments, pushing the boundaries of what a conversation can lead to. Our formats include: Talkaoke – our flagship pop-up talkshow, Segue – a generative instant film-making factory; Who Wants To Be – a direct democracy game show, The Slice Is Right – pizza-making under different political systems, Inverse Apprentice – a participant-led creative entrepreneurship programme provoked by the TV show ‘The Apprentice’. We have delivered projects in partnership with most of the UK’s national cultural institutions and museums – all Tate Galleries, National Theatre, Southbank Centre, Science Museum, V&A; universities and academic institutions – Queen Mary University of London, Goldsmiths University, Natural History Museum, The Francis Crick Institute, many UK festivals, such as LIFT, Shambala, The World Transformed; many social and youth charities. We have collaborated with partners in the US [Genomics Festival, Boston], Australia [The Street, Canberra], Norway [ice-9].

Website https://thepeoplespeak.org.uk
Twitter @ThePeopleTweet 
Instagram @The_PeopleSpeak
Facebook @ThePSnet 

KQ Hub Africa is a Uganda based  artist collective, creative agency and future consultancy working across visual, digital and performing arts — to produce meaningful culture programs, facilitate creative capacity building, and create platforms for skills and knowledge sharing, including the production of monthly networking, knowledge sharing experiential and imaginative events like creative talks, artists exhibitions, workshops, concerts, film labs + screenings, fashion and design incubators among others.

Website https://kqhubafrica.com/
Twitter @kq_hub
Instagram @kqhubafrica 
Facebook @kqhub 

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We build connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and other countries through arts and culture, education and the English language. Last year we reached over 80 million people directly and 791 million people overall including online, broadcasts and publications.

Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body. We receive a 15 per cent core funding grant from the UK government.

Twitter @SouthernAfricaArts, @ugbritish
Instagram @SouthernAfricaArts , @eastafricaarts
Facebook @SouthernAfricaArts.British @britishcounciluganda

Welcome to our micro-blog series where we will introduce some of the recent members of The People Speak team.

“Ploughing our furrow”

It’s not every day that you get to take part in a first, but the highlight of 2020 for me was collaborating with The People Speak in my favourite part of East London: Hackney Wick. For someone keen to see how travel can be a transformational experience even close to home, it was the perfect opportunity to try something new in an old familiar place.

Over the Covid summer of 2020 I had been getting a lot from The People Speak’s online versions of their established Talkaoke format. Discussions covered anything from Brexit to Futurology to how the arts can reach people amid a pandemic. So when the enterprising Margot rang from The People Speak, to suggest we apply for Creative Enterprise Zone funding to bring people together, I jumped at the chance.

As Hackney Tours, I’ve traditionally ploughed my own furrow, absorbing what I’ve experienced over a decade of exploration places like Hackney Wick to share it later with curious locals, academics and foreign visitors alike. I’ve attended community meetings there, engaged in activism and had countless conversations with people about the ongoing changes.

As a tour guide, I’m often asked to inspire students and organisations by giving my own take on the processes at work along the Hackney Cut, one of the canals that gently flow through this former factory town. But Wick Speaks! was a chance to see how The People Speak operate and to work in a very different way.

Along with the team at Aberfeldy Street, we recruited two local freelancers to go into the Wick and ask people on the street what they thought a tour should be comprised of. This time I was facilitating others, rather than the one talking – and highly rewarding it was too. My own journey has seen me increasingly move away from ‘telling it how it is’ to inviting people to collaborate in the creation of something new, unique and co-owned.

The work of The People Speak is also about bringing in others, connecting and sharing. With this ’emergent’ style, it wasn’t possible to know the end result, we had to trust the process. But sure enough the people of Hackney Wick didn’t let us down. The result was a first: a grassroots unscripted tour voiced by people who live and work in the Wick, shared on multiple platforms in the format of a live TV show. That’s the thing with experiments and working with others, you never know where you might end up.

You can watch Wick Speaks! Tour video here.

Simon Cole founded Hackney Tours in 2012 as a way to really connect with his own backyard, using carbon-free, deep, slow travel. He’s drawn to lesser heard stories, like Hackney’s role in social justice struggles past and present, or the complexities of gentrification and sustainable cities. Can social enterprise tours change the world? How does street art help us interrogate our environment in the era of fake news and alternative facts? From women’s history running tours to the Wick Speaks! collaboration with The People Speak, he tries to innovate. He believes in the power of curiosity and that the biggest journey of all – to be fully in the world – starts with a little local adventure.

Check out Hackney Tours on www.hackneytours.com