About Christopher Samuel

Christopher Samuel is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice is rooted in identity and disability politics.

Often echoing the many facets of his own lived experience as a Black disabled man, his work tells stories, highlighting the often unseen experiences of his day to day life and those of others in similar circumstances.

His practice includes small detailed ink drawings, film, print, audio, research, and large installations. Samuel works alongside galleries, museums, archives and other institutions to address missing representation in our cultural spaces.

About Akshay Sharma

Akshay Sharma better known as Mr Shay, is a Leicester based Poet & Rapper. He was titled Leicester’s first Poet Laureate, in September 2025. Shay is influenced by social topics such as cultural heritage, immigration and identity. His poetry is a melting pot of intricate rap flows fused with Indian classical roots. Shay also works as a community arts practitioner, leading poetry, rap and music workshops with young people across the UK.

Some of his poetry commissions include, Future Pathways (Thames Water), From Ratae to Leicester (Jewry Wall Museum) and Golden Mile (BBC Radio Leicester), which was nominated for an Out-Spoken Prize for Poetry 2022. He has performed on stages across the UK including, Soul Revolution Festival (West Midlands), The National Justice Museum (Nottingham), Brighton Fringe and Shambala Festival’s iconic, Phantom Laundry Stage (Northamptonshire). Shay’s solo poetry show titled, Brown Paper, featured a collection of original poems narrating his family’s journey through immigration, his up-bringing and his relationship with his home city. He was the lead writer & poet for The Cosmopolitan Spectacular Band (part of Cosmopolitan Arts Festival) from 2016 – 2024.

About Anisha Parmar

Anisha Parmar is a UK-based artist, jewellery designer, and cultural practitioner working at the intersection of adornment, identity, and the divine feminine. Her work is rooted in her diaspora experience, drawing from South Asian heritage and the complexity of living between worlds. Through jewellery, curation, consultancy, and workshops, adornment is the golden thread that runs through everything she does, a way of exploring resistance, belonging, and the stories we carry in our bodies.

About Ty'rone Haughton

Ty’rone (tuh- rone) Haughton is a poet, arts leader and campaigner whose work explores identity, social justice, and lived experience. Born in Jamaica and based in Leicester, he is the founder of Literati Arts and currently serves as Associate Artistic Director at Apples and Snakes.

An exponent of spoken word, Ty’rone is known for blending powerful storytelling with activism. His acclaimed poetry show Made You Look challenges perceptions and celebrates Black identity. He has been commissioned by organisations such as The Trussell Trust, Deliveroo, and the Police Violence Reduction Network, and is working with Art Not Evidence to campaign against the use of rap lyrics as legal evidence. His work has been studied and performed at the University of Vienna, and he has collaborated with The Poetry Society, BBC: Contains Strong Language, and The Birmingham Opera Company.

A long-time producer and organiser of live poetry events and development projects, Ty’rone plays a key role in nurturing new voices and growing the UK’s spoken word scene. Named one of BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Future Figures, he also uses his lived experience of growing up in care to advise fostering services, schools, and charities including Become and Barnardo’s.

Through poetry, advocacy, and leadership, Ty’rone Haughton is driving cultural and systemic change.