Natalie Ibu, Artistic Director and Chief Executive of tiata fahodzi, the UK’s leading British-African contemporary theatre company, is to step down from her role to take up a new position as Artistic Director and Joint CEO at Northern Stage. The tiata fahodzi board of trustees comments, Natalie has been visionary in her leadership of tiata fahodzi, interrogating every aspect of the company’s work and asking vital questions about the relationship of theatre to the wider culture and community. Her support and mentorship of the next generation of theatre-makers, both on and off stage, has been outstanding. We are delighted that she has shared this part of her creative journey with us and wish her well as she moves to new challenges and opportunities at Northern Stage: they are very lucky to have her. Recruitment for Ibu’s replacement will take place in early September, with full application details to be announced on the company website. Alongside their Artistic Director recruitment process, tiata fahodzi will also be looking for new trustees.
Following the COVID-19 cancellation of their spring 2020 production of Mel Pennant’s debut play seeds, tiata fahodzi has played a key role in the advocating to ensure that diversity and representation is central to any recovery plan in the sector. They were part of the letter from Black, brown and ethnically diverse leaders to Oliver Dowden in May, they sponsored Black artists Xana and Matilda Ibini to be part of the Freelance Taskforce initiative, they distributed 21 ‘We Got You’ no questions asked first-come first-served grants for freelancers across all disciplines and also published 13 commissioned blogs from Black writers.
tiata fahodzi exists to tell stories for the Britain of today and tomorrow and is re-imagining its digital identity with a new website launching at the end of the summer. This new website will host the film of Arinzé Kene’s good dog which premiered on 1st August. Natalie Ibu’s adaptation for screen was commissioned by The Space and co-produced by tiata fahodzi and Artemisia Films and directed by Natalie Ibu and Andrew Gilman. Since its launch, the film has been watched over 30,000 times in four days. good dog is a clear human voice which tells those important intimate stories in a troubled landscape.
See the company website for more information.
