Unmute and Reclaim, held on May 16th at the Criterion Theatre in Earlsdon as part of Springboard Festival 2025, marked a meaningful milestone in my journey as a producer—and my first independently curated event. It was both a creative and personal challenge: to honour the ethos of the festival while bringing something new, urgent, and deeply rooted in care to the table.
This night was a grassroots, heart-led spoken word and performance event centring the voices of queer and trans people, people of colour, and individuals with lived experience of disability and mental health. These are the communities whose truths are too often pushed to the margins—whose stories are either unheard or told by others. With Unmute and Reclaim, I wanted to create a platform where those voices could speak freely, boldly, and on their own terms.
What made this night especially important to me was the venue. The Criterion Theatre, while an incredible and welcoming space, has traditionally attracted predominantly white, middle-aged audiences and memberships. I saw an opportunity to bridge a gap—between the theatre and the rest of Coventry, between underrepresented communities and the spaces they deserve to occupy. I wanted to open the doors of the theatre to those who may not have previously felt invited in—and also to those who didn’t even know the theatre existed, despite living nearby. Too often, these spaces feel hidden or out of reach, but this event was about making the theatre visible, accessible, and usable for all—showing people that they, too, could see it as their platform.
The performers were all young people and young adults, and because of them, a younger, more diverse audience stepped into the theatre that night. It shifted the atmosphere—brought a new energy, a new rhythm, a new sense of belonging. Through poetry, music, and storytelling, each performance became a moment of reclamation: of space, of voice, of presence.
After HerStory Collective Night, I knew I wanted to keep creating spaces where art is more than just expression—it’s transformation. Unmute and Reclaim wasn’t just a night of performance. It was a gathering of truths, a soft rebellion, and a reminder that Coventry’s stages must reflect the fullness of its people. And that night, we did just that.
