DIGITAL BLACKCENTRIC WEEK 6 - 12 November 2023
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WELCOME Welcome to Digital BlackCentric Week, a week that gives the opportunity to take part in cutting edge conversations, development and new work that utilises technology as a creative tool. The initiative forms part of the Black Digital Dance Revolution, led by Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage, in collaboration with local, national and international partners. We are delighted to bring you a programme that explores new work, thoughts and experiences by giving voice to Black creatives, researchers and academics, showing the importance of where Black leadership is needed in the pivotal development of technology. As we see the rise of technology being used within the arts from AI to gaming technology, we look at how boundaries can be challenged. Digital content and its vision allow creatives to dream, to push boundaries and explore old and new concepts, whilst forging a new language and occupying new space. Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage is proud to present Let’s Dance in the City 2023, which is an initiative that encourages artists to take ownership of public spaces, whether they are structures of power, places to gather or historic landmarks, to create a series of innovative dance films. Digital BlackCentric Week is a digital experience celebrating the African, African Caribbean and LatinX Diaspora within the world of technology and, whilst we explore and question how technology enhances performances, aids access and provides a platform for the future where race is invisible, this space allows those communities to shine. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to and supported Digital BlackCentric Week, our partners Dare to Diva and JOMBA!. We hope you enjoy this programme and also take away something valuable from this week. Pawlet Brookes MBE CEO and Artistic Director Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage
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DIGITAL BLACKCENTRIC WEEK: ONLINE
BLACK BRITISH DANCE ON FILM Monday 6 November 2023 10:00am GMT - Films available to view from this time 4:30pm GMT - Q&A with filmaker Cayla Mae Simpson
LET’S DANCE IN THE CITY Let’s Dance in the City is an initiative that encourages artists to take ownership of public spaces, whether they are structures of power, places to gather or historic landmarks, to create a series of innovative dance films. LET’S DANCE IN THE CITY 2022 Tia-Monique Uzor dances in the rain at Leicester’s clock tower, as members of the public look on. Jessica Walker responds to the history and spirit of Bishop Street Methodist Church, and Helder Delgado moves across the city. Tia Monique Uzor Choreographer and dancer Tia Monique Uzor Commissioner Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage Filmmaker Panoptical Time 3 minutes Jessica Walker Choreographer and dancer Jessica Walker Commissioner Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage Filmmaker Panoptical Time 2 minutes 40 seconds Helder Delgado Choreographer and dancer Helder Delgado Commissioned by Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage Filmmaker Panoptical Time 2 minutes 28 seconds 4
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LET’S DANCE IN THE CITY 2023 Let Freedom Ring City Leicester Choreographer and dancer Djoe Tomlake Commissioner Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage Filmmaker Cayla Mae Simpson Time 6 minutes 50 seconds 28 August 2023 marked the sixtieth anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a Dream” speech. The piece reflects the passion heard in King’s voice, as he calls for civil and economic rights. It explores an artistic fusion of dance forms from ballet, contemporary dance and hip-hop forms electric boogie/body popping, which reflect on the artistic generic expression of personal character. Sisterhood City Leeds Choreographers and dancers Francesca Matthys and Georgia Thompson Commissioner Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage Filmmaker Cayla Mae Simpson Time 5 minutes 39 seconds There are threads that keep us together, that tie together, regardless of past, regardless of heritage. There are threads that tie together our sisterhood, that tie together our connection, that allow us to be stronger than we have been. Sisterhood is an observation of connection in the modern day, an observation of sisterhood and the multiple facets that come with navigating sisterhood and friendship as Black women in the ferocious world of today. The Residue of a Stagnant State City London Choreographers and dancers Georgia Thompson Francesca Matthys Jemima Tawose Kendra Chiagoro-Noel Commissioner Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage Filmmaker Cayla Mae Simpson Time 7 minutes 24 seconds The Residue of a Stagnant State was born from the questioning of inheritance versus experience, how and where the remains of an empire live on in the London we inhabit today. As a team they pondered what amount (if any) of our past is carried into our present, be that experiential or ancestral. In this film the group consider the role of stillness in a moving world. They contemplate its capacity to facilitate reflection and re-ignition, as well as breeding a stagnant condition. At what point do we admit that movement isn’t action?
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Back Garden Joy City London Choreographers and dancers Jade Hackett and Jennifer Grey Commissioner Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage Filmmaker Cayla Mae Simpson Time 4 minutes 13 seconds London. The concrete of all jungles and I currently live slap bang in the middle of it. Grey walls, concrete floors and blossom-less trees. Consuming these elements all day through the windows to my soul can begin to grate on one’s heart, making London’s tenants hard, grey and dim like the very bubble we get locked in at times. Whenever I feel like this, my mother’s back garden brings clarity, joy and love into my life. Remembering and understanding that this place is so pivotal to my upbringing. My childhood. Even shaping the very person I am today. I continuously have the urge to pull myself back to the land whenever I feel spiritually low. Invisible Power City Newcastle Choreographers and dancers Igor Tavares and Lauryn Pinard Commissioner Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage Filmmaker Cayla Mae Simpson Time 9 minutes Invisible Power is a piece exploring the effects of mental health from a Black intersectional perspective. You are invited to follow the two dancers moving across the city of Newcastle persistently seeking their own quiet moments, unleashing their quest for rest across the architecture of the city. LDIF23 Dance Films Closer to My Dreams City Leicester Choreographer Chad Taylor Commissioner Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage Filmmaker Cayla May Simpson Time 3 minutes The journey of two young Black brothers, Chad Taylor and Ziggy Taylor from inner-city Hulme, describing their trials and tribulations to pursue their artistic dreams. Will they succeed with the odds stacked against them? With hip hop choreography, poetry and rap, Closer to My Dreams is a playful, heartfelt and unique take on family and friendship. It explores universal questions of how we respond to the trials and tribulations that life throws at us, what path to take, when to hustle and when to let go.
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Dance Inside the Music Composer Soweto Kinch Choreographers and Dancers Freddy Houndekindo Cameron McKinney Lee Payne Annette Walker Commissioner Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage Filmmaker Cayla May Simpson Time 8 minutes Commissioned by Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage, Dance Inside the Music explores the kinship between dance and jazz music with specific reference to the traditions of hoofing - tap dance in its most percussive form - and contemporary movement. This is the place where the music moves and the movement makes music. This short film encapsulates the spirit of Dance Inside the Music as it premiered at Let’s Dance International Frontiers 2023 to launch the festival and celebrate International Dance Day (29 April) and International Jazz Day (30 April).
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INTERNATIONAL VIEWINGS
Tuesday 7 November 2023 10:00am GMT - Films available to view from this time 1:00pm GMT - Q&A with Pe No Mundo Dance Company JOMBA! CONTEMPORARY DANCE EXPERIENCE Celebrating its twenty-fifth dance festival with their curatorial provocation “(in)tangible heritages”, JOMBA! explores work through both live and digital performances, workshops and artistic encounters, to interrogate a series of dance offerings that negotiate the intersectional trajectories that have allowed us to arrive at this place as critical dance makers. Their digital platform, OPEN HORIZONS, is where several African dance artists showcased their work responding to this topic using choreography and videography. Exorcism Choreographer and dancer Tshediso Kabulu City Durban, South Africa Time 3 minutes Third Place for JOMBA! Open Horizon “EXORCISM” is a deeply personal film around spiritual cleaning and African rituals that honour the ancestors. A lone male figure sits at the ocean and begins to face up to his ‘calling’ eventually stops the fight and enters the scared water to cleanse himself. When Time Stops Creative Director and dancer Maulid Owino Director Heri Choreographer Dance Unites City Nairobi, Kenya Time 3 minutes Second Place for JOMBA! Open Horizon “When time stops” is a jolt into the frenetic urban landscape of Nairobi and the bustle and hustle of contemporary life, offset by a lone male figure who is trying to find a way to get time to stop in order to breathe and find freedom. Not From Here Director Oscar O’Ryan Choreographer and Art Direction Louise Coetzer Dancers Farnel Smart Lee Koteze The Inspirations Youth Dance Company City Cape Town, South Africa Time 3 minutes First Place for JOMBA! Open Horizon 8
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“NOT FROM HERE” is filmed in the South Africa’s Karoo and is a startling journey into ideas of home, belonging and where we come from. It is a confluence of dance, fashion, film and a deeply insightful look at stories of origin. PÉ NO MUNDO DANCE COMPANY OUT OF THE BOX Choreographers/ directors/ dancers Cláudia Nwabasili and Roges Doglas Filmmaker Osmar Zampieri City São Paulo, Brazil Time 23 minutes In this project covered by the PROAC LAB notice – an award for history of achievement in dance - we carried out a choreographic intervention at the Artium Institute during the Felice Varini exhibition. OUT OF THE BOX is about being outside the black box, outside the stages and occupying different spaces, but it is, above all, outside the box in the sense of breaking with stereotypes that place us in some places and remove us from so many others. For us, the main reflection of this work is: what will be the Brazilian classic in the future? By dancing, we are (re)visiting our stories and (re)knowing our past. So, we launch our arrows into the future. This film will be followed by a Q&A, please see further details at serendipity-uk.com
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DIGITAL DIALOGUES Wednesday 8 November 2023 10.00am Carol Leeming 11:15am GMT - Kevin J Brazant 12:30pm GMT - Vidal Montgomery
Serendipity invited Black researchers, academics and creatives to present new thinking, with digital technology at its core. Presentations will take place throughout the day, followed by a Q&A. Recordings of the presentations will be made available to view at the end of the day. Futher speakers to be announce. Disrupting the Discourse: Exploring Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a catalyst for creativity and Problem-solving through digital content creation. Kevin J Brazant Kevin J Brazant is a University Teaching Fellow and Certified Leading Practitioner in Learning Development. He is a senior fellow with the Higher Education Academy and a member of the Association for Learning Developers for Higher Education. “Disrupt the Discourse” explores the interdisciplinary approaches adopted to tackling issues of race and racism using digital technology and co-creation as part of teaching and learning in higher education. Afro-Futurism Pan African Futurism Black Futurism Carol Leeming Carol Leeming is a multi-award winning, multi-disciplinary artist in literature, performing arts and digital media, a singer-songwriter, musician, composer, actor, director, curator, visual artist, and publisher. Using Black Futurism as a starting point, she explores the concept of an intersectional framework required for imagining a Black Futurism that is Pan African, inclusive of a range culturally diverse groups, which is not patriarchal and heteronormative. “Metadata as Blaxonomy” A Study of How Black People might use Web 2.0 For Critical Creation, Conversation, Curation, and Classification Vidal Montgomery Vidal Montgomery recently completed the MA Global Black Studies, Decolonisation and Social Justice at University of West London. He is editor for the Jazzreloaded Project, the first Digital Afropean Jazz Blog in the UK. Vidal helped establish Code Untapped, a digital skills accelerator for marginalised and minoritised people, and Udome a Black Start-up geared towards remittances for self-employed people. His presentation is concerned with the historic and potential use of “web 2.0” internet protocols and technologies and methods of articulating and contextualising the imperative of Black people and a method of taxonomy for Black digital artefacts on the internet.
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CHANGING THE LENS, CHANGING THE GAZE Thursday 9 November 2023 10:00am GMT - Films available to view from this time
Interpretations – Siren Calls to an Illusive Journey Language English Country United Kingdom Genre Documentary Creative Producer Pawlet Brookes Choreographers Thomas Prestø and Monique Jonas Composer Philip Herbert Commissioner Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage Time 34 minutes Commissioned by Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage, Siren Calls: To an Illusive Journey was a performance piece, commissioned to honour the Windrush generation and crystallise their experiences. Composed by Philip Herbert with two independent choreographic interpretations by Monique Jonas and Thomas Talawa Prestø, both encapsulate the strength, tenacity and spirit of adventure into a new world, whilst the fluidity of the music for string quartet considers echoes of the past, hopes of the future and the density of the middle passage. Inside I Will Dance Language English Country Sweden Genre Dance FIlm Choreographer Freddy Houndekindo Cinematography Thomas Zamolo Music Camille Prieux Commissioner Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage Time 3 minutes A response to the question “can dance change the world?” Freddy Houndekindo reflects on the purpose dance has played in his own life, from challenging taboos to embracing the complexity of identity. “Dance is the practice that taught me to welcome the foreign within me. Dance hosts the plurality under my own skin.”
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ACCESS AND ACCESSIBILITY
Friday 10 November 2023 10:00am GMT - Films available to view from this time The Silent Beat: A Haptic Conversation Country United Kingdom Creative producer Pawlet Brookes Choreographer and dancer Antoine Hunter Composer Soweto Kinch Digital Programmer Tonderai Ratisai Commissioner Serendipity institute for Black Arts and Heritage Time 6 minutes The Silent Beat: A Haptic Conversation celebrates technology as it embraces dance exploring how haptics can be used as a creative tool. Pawlet Brookes, creative producer, brings together Antoine Hunter and Soweto Kinch in collaboration with Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage and De Montfort University and programmer Tonderai Ratisai, to present an experimental work investigating the ways in which haptic technology can be used to relay music in new ways and the practical applications this might have for Deaf dancers and choreographers. Originally performed live for Let’s Dance International Frontiers 2023. Antoine Hunter - Uncovering the Dance Within: Origins and Authenticity Country United Kingdom Presenter Antoine Hunter Time 3 minutes 6 seconds
Through his conference talk for LDIF23, Antoine shares his exploration and celebration of the intersectionality of identity. Providing an insight into what it means to be Black, indigenous, Deaf, disabled, two spirit and a human being.
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ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS AND TECHNOLOGY AND THE VISUAL ARTS
Saturday 11 November 2023 10:00am GMT - Films available to view from this time 11:00am GMT - Q&A with Fabienne Viala, Jean-François Manicom and Pawlet Brookes System of Systems Directors Fabienne Viala and Jean-François Manicom Time 22 minutes This film is available in English, French and Spanish In a world of climatic and social chaos, the protagonist, a woman in her 40s with Caribbean origins, looks back at her past and reflects on her future. She feels that the life-long struggle for racial and gender equality in which she embarked since a young age might have made her miss the urgency of climatic justice when it was still time to avoid the worst. M ap repoze m (I am resting) Photography and videography In collaboration with, performed and spoken word Commissioner
Lauryn Pinard Latisha César and Holly Francis Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage
M ap repoze m (I am resting) is a series of photographs and short films exploring the concept of rest as creative practice, alongside the body as an archive featuring a cast of Black women. Drawing from the imagery of Haitian, lwa ezili and the work of Tricia Hersey (the nap ministry), the project locates Black women in decaying sites of colonial power, placing commodified bodies alongside commodified natural materials. The work invites you to pause and contemplate while imagining alternative ways of being beyond colonial constructs. You are invited within their space. In their own time. At their own pace. In their own terms.
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PODCASTS Digital BlackCentric Week provides the opportunity to listen back to episodes of Black Manifesto! and A Dialogue With Masters. Two episodes will be shared each day. Black Manifesto! the 10 Commandments: Black Women Speak Out In the wake of global pandemic and “Black springs” everywhere, nora chipaumire asked herself what she could do to be generative and contribute. She offered a manifesto!; On how to breathe and live in revolutionary times. Hosted by Pawlet Brookes, the Black Manifesto! podcast brings together voices of Black women from around the world as a collective conversation, making the invisible visible. Each guest discusses one of nora’s commandments, offering their interpretations and insights on how we can work to reshape a new world in which Black women are seen and heard. Guests include Anita Gonzalez, Cynthia Oliver, L’Antoinette Stines, Project X, S Ama Wray, Gladys Francis, Maya Taylor, Yinka Esi Graves and Annabel Guérédrat.
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HOW TO ACCESS DIGITAL BLACKCENTRIC WEEK ONLINE 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Visit www.serendipity-uk.com Sign up for Connect membership* or join us for a week with a full access ticket Save the link sent to you on email New content is available at 10am from 6 - 12 November Watch and re-watch until 5pm GMT on Sunday 12 November
*Serendipity Connect Membership Connect is our membership scheme that offers a range of exclusive benefits for those who are passionate about Black arts and culture. As a member, you will have access to a range of events, exhibitions, and workshops, as well as discounts on tickets and merchandise. You will also receive our regular newsletter, which features news and updates about our latest projects and collaborations, as well as interviews with artists and other cultural figures. Join us from £6.50 a month
SERENDIPITY CONNECT MEMBERSHIP JOIN OUR CREATIVE COMMUNITY! Serendipity Connect is our membership scheme that offers a range of exclusive benefits for those who are passionate about Black arts and culture. As a member, you will have access to a range of events, exhibitions, and workshops, as well as discounts on tickets and merchandise. You will also receive our regular newsletter, which features news and updates about our latest projects and collaborations, as well as interviews with artists and other cultural figures. Membership benefits include: • • • •
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Priority booking Access to festival programmes and tickets before official release Discounts 20% off all performances, 15% off all masterclasses and screenings Free Subscription to Vanguard e-magazine Our bi-annual magazine exploring diversity in the arts and heritage sector along with industry news, opportunities, reviews and a showcase of emerging talent International Dance News Share news with fellow members and keep up to date with industry news with our e-newsletter
FREE ACCESS FOR CONNECT MEMBERS
Become a member from £6.50/month
Sign up online: serendipity-uk.com/connect By becoming a Connect member, you will be joining a vibrant community of artists, art lovers, and cultural enthusiasts who are dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusion in the arts. You will have the opportunity to attend exclusive members-only events, meet like-minded people, and support our work in promoting Black arts and culture.
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DIGITAL BLACKCENTRIC WEEK PARTNERS Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage’s mission is to centre perspectives from the African and African Caribbean Diaspora by embedding them in cultural experiences for all. The programme includes the flagship dance festival, Let’s Dance International Frontiers (LDIF), Black History Month Leicester and the annual Windrush Day Lecture. Through this programme, Serendipity has established a legacy: hosting the Living Archive, documenting Black arts, heritage and culture, publishing the voices of Black artists and community activists, nurturing artists to create high quality new work and mentoring young people as they navigate the industry. Serendipity’s strength as a Black-led organisation is in working in partnership with artists, venues, educational institutions, museums, producers, directors, promoters, media companies and agencies, both in the UK and across international forums. Black Digital Dance Revolution is a nationally significant project working with regional partners: Serendipity (Leicester), Northern School of Contemporary Dance (Leeds), Dance City (Newcastle), Dance Umbrella (London) and beyond. It draws on the dance heritage of these four cities to develop a programme of digital and physical work including dance films, workshops and artist led residencies. Black Digital Dance Revolution explores how digital technologies can be integrated to push the boundaries of how artistic work is created, documented and shared, building stronger relationships and networks across organisations in the UK dance sector and establishing a living legacy for Black dance.
Dare to Diva Carol Leeming is an acclaimed world class musician and award-winning poet performing regularly in Leicester and across the East Midlands. She performs both as a guest artist and also mounts her own work as a producer and music director. Leeming is a published writer and poet, most recently in the Oxford Academic Contemporary Women’s Writing Journal, and a regular performer in poetry and writers’ festivals such as the Surrey University Poetry Festival. In 2012 Leeming staged at Curve her first full-length choreopoem The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Diva. This staged solo choroepoem was performed by Carol as part of the Cultural Olympiad, a modern-day story of the strength and vulnerability of a Black diva who finds that all that glitters is indeed not gold. 18
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS Date
Event Type
Event Name
6 November
Black British on Film
Let’s Dance in the City 2022 – Tia Monique Uzor Let’s Dance in the City 2022 – Jessica Walker Let’s Dance in the City 2022 – Helder Delgado Let’s Dance in the City 2023 - Let Freedom Ring Let’s Dance in the City 2023 - Sisterhood Let’s Dance in the City 2023 - The Residue of a Stagnant State Let’s Dance in the City 2023 - Back Garden Joy Let’s Dance in the City 2023 - Invisible Power LDIF23 - Closer To My Dreams LDIF23 - Dance Inside the Music
7 November
International Viewings
Exorcism - JOMBA! Open Horizons When Time Stops - JOMBA! Open Horizons Not From Here - JOMBA! Open Horizons Out of the Box
8 November
Digital Dialogues
Digital Dialogues: Call for Papers presentations
9 November
Changing the Lens, Changing the Gaze (Heritage)
Interpretations- Siren Calls to an Illusive Journey
10 November
Access and Accessibility
The Silent Beat: A Haptic Conversation Antoine Hunter – Uncovering the Dance Within: Origins and Authenticity
11 November
12 November
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Environmental Awareness and Technology and the Visual Arts
System of Systems M ap repose m (I am resting)
All Content Available
FREE ACCESS FOR CONNECT MEMBERS
Organiser
Time
Venue
Price
Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage
10:00am GMT - Films 4:30pm GMT - Q&A
Online
Included in £25 ticket
JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience
10:00am GMT - Films 1:00pm GMT - Q&A
Online
Included in £25 ticket
Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage
10.00am - Carol Leeming 11:15am GMT - Kevin J Brazant 12:30pm GMT - Vidal Montgomery
Online
Included in £25 ticket
Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage
10:00am GMT - Films
Online
Included in £25 ticket
Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage
10:00am GMT - Films
Online
Included in £25 ticket
Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage
10:00am GMT - Films 11:00am GMT - Q&A
Online
Included in £25 ticket
Until 5:00pm GMT
Online
Included in £25 ticket
Pé no mondo Dance Company
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Serendipity Institute of Black Arts and Heritage 21 Bowling Green Street Leicester LE1 6AS T: 0116 482 1394 E: info@serendipity-uk.com W: www.serendipity-uk.com Twitter @SerendipityInfo Facebook @SerendipityInstitueUK Instagram @SerendipityInstituteUK Serendipity Artists Movement Limited Company Registration number in England and Wales 07248813 Charity Registration Number in England and Wales 1160035 Please note all details were correct at the time of going to print. Whilst every effort will be made to keep to the announced programme, it may be necessary to make changes without notice and in line with current government guidelines. Refunds or exchanges will only be made at the venue or organiser’s discretion, please see terms and conditions for further details. For information about access, transaction fees and other ticket related queries, please contact the venue or organiser.
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