︎INFO
︎Breaking Barz
Born out of our annual Drink for Len Johnson; an influx of young creatives performed their poetry and music inspired by the anti-racism work of Len Johnson, we realised there was an appetite and need for more events like this so we offered them their own platform. Lamin Tourey, Rootz, Tilly Tillz, Lashimba & Renee have complete creative freedom and we support the event financially and with our event and production experience. We were successful in receiving Heritage funding this year to run a Len Johnson Day Festival which included the Len Johnson play, a panel, poetry slam and Breaking Barz.
We have champion genres such as grime, drill & hip hop; Which in the past would have been targeted unfairly by the police and licensing. Due to the the messaging and marketing of the event we have been successful in creating a safe space for young BAME musicians to express themselves, working closely with Len’s family, activist, Moss Side Boxing Club and local youth groups to make this event the success it is.
2022 see’s the launch of the Breaking Barz cypher, a digital platform allowing musicans to get futher reconigtion of there work through colloboration.