Artist Commission: Afri-Co-Lab

We are delighted to announce a new commission and performance premiere in Hastings for 2024: When The Day Met the Night And The Night Met the Day conceived by Afri-Co-Lab and led by artist Anna Maria Nabirye and choreographer Darragh O’Leary.

Using the streets and landmarks of St Leonards and Hastings as their stage, the artists will collaborate with a variety of community groups and local residents to create a one-of-a-kind performance that will reflect the diversity, beauty and spirit of our town.  

The work will be brought to life through the use of immersive audio technology enabling the audience to experience St Leonards and Hastings in a whole new way – discovering places, sounds and stories they never knew existed.

“We are thrilled to be collaborating with Home Live Art on this new site-specific performance. Learning and building from our sold out promenade performance as part of Hastings Last Thursday in 2022, we are itching to start this new collaborative adventure. Digging deeper and further afield into our surrounding communities this performance will not only create a fantastic opportunity to showcase the talents of our community but ensure a memorable experience for local audiences who will get to see the town through the eyes of its residents.” Anna Maria, Afri-Co-Lab

Afri-Co-Lab will be seeking local participants of all ages and skill levels to join the creative process of making this performance. Workshops exploring performance, movement, costume and set making will take place throughout 2023 building a community of makers ready for 2024!

Keep an eye out on Home Live Art and  Afri-Co-Lab’s websites, or join the Afri-Co-Lab newsletter to find out how you can get involved and help create a performance that truly represents the community of St Leonards and Hastings.

When The Day Met the Night And The Night Met the Day was first developed as part of Hastings Last Thursday in March 2022 

More information on the artists

Afri-Co-Lab: Co-founded as a creative community dreaming space in 2020 by Nabirye and her sister Lilly Babirye as a direct response to the racial inequities highlighted by the covid-19 pandemic. Afri-Co-Lab showcases and supports the work of local artists with an emphasis on Black & poC artists. Emerging from their ethical upcycling brand AfroRetro, between both entities they have had partnership projects with Black Cultural Archives, Royal Court, V&A, Southbank Centre, Brighton Museum, De La Warr Pavilion and awarded Yinka Shonibare’s Guest Projects Africa residency. Afri-Co-Lab holds workshops, talks, residencies, creative away days, classes and space to gather in community. 

Anna Maria Nabirye is a multidisciplinary artist and director working across performance, visual arts, social practice, theatre, film, TV and fashion. Anna Maria was recently commissioned by Cements Fields for the Whitstable Biennale 2022 and is under commission from the De La Warr Pavilion for a full exhibition of her on-gong work ‘Up In Arms’ February 4th to May 21st,2023. As a director she has created performances and taught programmes for Edinburgh Fringe, Brighton Fringe, LAMDA, Mountview Academy and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Her acting credits include The National Theatre, Shakespeares Globe, Almeida, BBC1, BBC2 and Film4. 

Darragh O’Leary  is a choreographer and movement director of theatre, ceremonies and live events. Darragh has worked with a diverse range of professionals, volunteer performers & young people on projects such as the Ceremonies of the Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games of London 2012, Glasgow 2014 and Sochi 2014. Other highlights include work on a number of productions with Sheffield People’s Theatre, the intergenerational community theatre company of Sheffield Theatres, Pimlico Opera’s production of West Side Story with the prisoners of HMP Erlestoke and most recently on The Key Workers Cycle at The Almeida Theatre – a cycle of nine plays performed by a company of professional actors, local community participants and key workers.

Here in Hastings, Darragh recently choreographed Beauty and the Beast at the White Rock Theatre and also runs Darragh Dance, a dance class for all abilities.