Projects
Realising JazzWitch
Realising JazzWitch
Realising "JazzWitch" into the pioneer of the Afro-mystic genre of surrealist story-telling and music performance.
JazzWitch is a live hybrid show incorporating song, herstory, and poetry — all set to Jazz and Blues. Radikal Queen guides audiences on a virtual journey through time and space, to showcase the stories and the art of the BlacQueer Jazz and Blues pioneers of the USA who have been historically vilified, ostracised… and then colonised.
This journey takes everyone back to the present, in order to examine what has and has not changed over time. In Radikal Queen's ancestral Ways, the community storyteller acts as medicine, and as the medium that allows audiences to travel into other dimensions. By infusing immersive theatre into JazzWitch via the ever-expanding possibilities of AR, VR, XR, and gaming, she aims to build on her culture's Indigenous African, surrealist, storytelling legacy: to pioneer the Afro-Mystic genre for the modern era.
Explore
£5,000
Aims of the Project
The areas I want to explore include:
- Learning about the tech and methodology needed to project immersive sounds and images during a live show, and how to directly control their deployment.
- Learning how to use gaming technology within story-telling, to enrich live and virtual performances.
- Studying the research revealed by organisations such as IEN, the RSC, and DAN, in order to curate online interactive platforms containing historical and cultural resources, to engage with audiences before and after gigs.
- Consulting Black trans and non-binary artist pioneers of immersive theatre.
- Learning from creative teams that have incorporated several layers of accessibility and inclusion into their shows.
I am a multidisciplinary artist working with poetry, music, multimedia installations, and theatre. I aim to bridge my current knowledge gap with respect to immersive theatre practice, in order to enhance my genre of Afro-Mystic story-telling.
As an Indigenous African non-Binary woman, I come from a lineage of what are known in the west as “Griots”, meaning that my Ancestors transported audiences to alternate dimensions of consciousness and reality via esoteric spiritual creative technologies.
I aim to use modern immersive technologies to communicate the mysteries of my heritage, and my creative ideas.
I am looking for interactive and immersive ways to involve audiences directly as not just spectators, but as co-conspir-Actors. I coined this term to describe how audiences can become a part of the Resistance culture I present onstage.
This project would also equip me with the practical industry protocols necessary for successful communication with production teams and venues. I aim to take my work out of the margins and onto the world stage, without losing my connections to authenticity. By weaving accessibility into my practice, I would create the opportunity to share all of this with other marginalised communities.
Meet the artists
Afidi Nomo Ongolo
Lead Artist
She/they/Queen
Radikal Queen is a revolutionary multidisciplinary artist based in the UK. A Black spoken blues poet, musician, cultural activist, and vintage diva, she has been a defining and pioneering voice in the Northeast since 2013.
With a liberatory ethos of “bringing the margins to the centre,” her work has spanned festivals, schools, and touring productions. She has won awards across the UK, USA, and Central Africa. A co-founder of grassroots collectives Jus’ Come, Spirit Sisters, and Collective Identity, she also mentors Black MaGes (People of Marginalised Genders) using creativity for social change.
Adrienne Gravish
Team Member
Adrienne Gravish is a creative consultant specializing in neurodivergent-inclusive storytelling and accessibility. An ex-founding member of the first all-deaf-staffed media consulting agency in the U.S., she advises creatives and organizations on strategies that integrate technology to create immersive, multisensory art experiences, engaging communities in dynamic ways.
