Always on
This project successfully funded on 27th August 2023, you can still support them with a donation.
The Sankofa Project
London, Greater London, United Kingdom
Aim: The Sankofa Project is a show & digital archive that celebrates the experiences of being part of the Ghanaian Diaspora - coming to West End!
Thank you for visiting our Crowdfunder! We really appreciate your support. Read on to find out more about Sankofa and The Sankofa Project Archive.
Presented in association with Seven Dials Playhouse. 4th - 30th September
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Hello! We are Acquah&co, a Black-led theatre company headed by Nicole Acquah. We have the incredible opportunity to bring our new show, Sankofa, to Seven Dials Playhouse in the heart of the West End for a month in September. Rehearsals are due to start in August and we are unfortunately behind on funds.
Sankofa is a show I (Nicole) wrote to raise the profile of West African stories being told on British stages, and especially to raise the profile of British Ghanaian stories.
I wrote the play during lockdown, after a search on Wikipedia taught me my grand-uncle was also a playwright and he helped shaped the modern landscape of Ghanaian theatre. I was inspired to write about artistic legacy, culture, faith and identity. The script was then shortlisted for Women's Prize for Playwriting and one of six plays that saw me selected for entry into The Bush Theatre's competitive Emerging Writer's Group, which was amazing!
I would love the opportunity to bring this show to a wider audience (previous but smaller iterations of the Sankofa Project have been really successful and now we have the opportunity to reach an even wider audience). We have an incredible team attached and I would love to reimburse them all fairly for their hard work. The show involves live pottery making, and devised music played live by two musicians, reflecting and inspired by Ghanaian music.
Alongside this, we are creating a digital exhibition, connecting Ghanaians from around the world to create new art for audiences, all reflecting on the theme of Sankofa (a Ghanaian word meaning to 'go back and get it'. i.e. Learn about your roots and your culture and where you come from). With your help, we can launch this online Archive.
Your support would help me achieve the milestone of performing in a lovely west end-venue for the longest period of time to date. My long-term goal is to grow relationships with Ghanaian theatres, and with your support I see this show going far!
Find out more and get tickets here!
How your support will help:
- To cover the costs of marketing and PR to ensure our show reaches it's audiences
- To purchase clay and pay for pottery workshops, developing our team's skills and supporting other artists
- To pay for drumming and storytelling workshops, letting us build Ghanaian traditions into every aspect of the performance
- To allow us to donate tickets to The Black Ticket Project, to be gifted to young Black theatre-goers
THE ARCHIVE
The Sankofa Project Archive will be an online archive of artistic responses from Ghanaian and West African artists - wherever they're based in the world. These could be monologues, poems, songs, paintings, short stories, photography... in short, any creative response to their personal experiences being Ghanaian, being part of a Diaspora, or the idea of sankofa - how going back into your past shapes your present and future. Our aim is to connect members of the Diaspora, and to have a place to showcase the creativity and culture of Ghanaians worldwide. A place to come together and share experience.
One of the inspirations for the archive came from performing an earlier iteration of the show, and hearing feedback from audiences who had (unbeknownst to us!) been inspired by the show to go and unearth their own histories and stories that they previously didn't know. We had people dig up old letters and photographs and undergo revelations about their history. We realised there was a need for this connection and a space for people to share their experiences.
The Archive will be hosted on our new website, completely free for audiences to view and for artists to contribute to. It will be a place where artists can platform their work, and audiences can discover talent from across the world that they may otherwise have never been able to find. We hope that this will lead to new opportunities for our artists, and to audiences getting to see their experiences represented, or learn about new perspectives.
How your support will help:
- To pay for a bespoke website design to create a platform that both looks great and is accessible, aesthetic and easy to use!
- To pay for digital marketing to make sure the Archive reaches the right people
- To commission some of our favourite artists to kickstart the Archive collection
ABOUT THE SHOW
Weaving together live music, storytelling, and traditional pottery, Sankofa is a semi-autobiographical show by Nicole Acquah exploring legacy, heritage, and what it means to belong as part of the African diaspora. Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Playwriting.
san - to return
Nicole's grand-uncle, Asiedu, was a playwright, one who shaped the landscape of Ghanaian theatre. Nicole doesn't know this. She also writes plays, thousands of miles away in London.
ko - to go
Discovering her grand-uncle's work sets Nicole on a journey to learn more about her lineage. Touring her own work around Europe, she is faced with the significance of her heritage, her blackness, her art. Is there something connecting her and Asiedu - something stronger than culture, than bloodline even?
fa - to fetch
Before she returns to England, Nicole will have to learn what it truly means to go back into the past in order to move forward into the future.
We really appreciate any support that you are able to offer - and want to offer thanks and rewards of our own - as you can see in our rewards section!
If you have or represent a business or organisation and would be interested in advertising with us - online and via social media, and/or in our show's programme, please feel free to get in touch at [email protected].