Black Athena Festival launches this spring at Rich Mix and The Place

A new festival by Certain Blacks bringing live art, sound, dance, and theatre to London this spring.

This spring, Certain Blacks launches Black Athena Festival, a new programme across Rich Mix and The Place.

The festival takes its starting point from Black Athena by Martin Bernal. The book questioned the idea that Western civilisation begins with ancient Greece and instead pointed to earlier cultures such as Egypt. Black Athena Festival brings that question into the present through live performance.

The programme uses sound, movement, theatre, and live art to look at how cultural stories are formed, repeated, and challenged in the UK today.

About the organisers

Certain Blacks was founded in East London in 2015. It works across live art, theatre, music, and digital practice, supporting artists from different cultural, ethnic, and social backgrounds.

The organisation is known for building long term relationships rather than producing one off events. Many projects develop over time and across borders, often sitting between established forms.

Certain Blacks is led by Artistic Director Clive Lyttle, who describes the thinking behind the festival:

“Who decides what is considered culture? Is it contemporary ballet, dance, and music? Is it based on the ideas of ‘cultured’ men such as Shakespeare and the empires, kings and queens he wrote about? Or the themes of The Age Of Enlightenment that have been championed by Western civilisation? Black Athena challenges perceived ideas of culture. This festival presents work that highlights modern cultures and challenges norms.”

The programme

Black Athena Festival brings together artists from the UK and internationally. Each work approaches history, power, or community from a different position.

The festival opens on 13 March at Rich Mix with The Science of Dub, an immersive sound event led by Tony Tea, with Scientist and Greg Hunter. Dub is mixed live using a 360 degree sound system, treating sound as physical and shared. A daytime workshop explores live dub mixing and immersive sound practice.

On 18 March, Graffiti Bodies XV by Dam Van Huynh, created with Elaine Mitchener, fills the stage with movement, voice, poetry, sculpture, and visual elements. Inspired by Jean Michel Basquiat’s La Hara from 1981, the work responds to police brutality against marginalised urban communities. It is a new commission by Certain Blacks.

Later the same day, STÙRM by Livia Kojo Alour takes a slower pace. Presented as a live art concert, the piece explores climate anxiety and collective healing through sound, voice, and visuals. The work introduces rest as a form of resistance.

On 20 March, Nigerian theatre company Kininso Creative presents Waterside. The story follows two young men in the Niger Delta whose actions place them in conflict with their community. Using storytelling, clowning, and contemporary African theatre practices, the piece looks at tradition, responsibility, and survival.

On 21 March, Rising Mirrors / Miroirs en ascension / Kitalatala ya ntombua brings together Pid’or Tampa and Senegalese performer Dominica Maboudou. Through movement, poetry, and song, the work centres Congolese women and their refusal to be silenced. The project is co commissioned by Certain Blacks and Kimpavita and will be presented in the UK and Senegal.

The festival closes at The Place on 17 and 18 April with RONiN by Yukiko Masui. The anime influenced dance theatre work follows a female swordfighter inspired by the figure of the masterless samurai. Projection and choreography move through Japan’s four seasons, reflecting discipline and independence.

Access

Both venues offer step free access, lifts, wheelchair spaces, and hearing support systems. Rich Mix accepts CEA cards, allowing carers to attend free of charge. Audiences can contact Certain Blacks or the venues directly to discuss access needs.