Who You Know: Tanya Vital

Tanya Vital is her own 'northern powerhouse' - launching 3 separate digital content series’ during lockdown, she is on a mission to represent and showcase what Northern England has to offer to the creative industry.

Firstly tell us a bit about yourself & your career journey.

I'm an Actor, voiceover artist, writer & digital content creator. I’m a RADA graduate & alumnus of the National Youth Theatre and have worked for almost 20 years in the industry on many award winning shows. My screen work includes Blockbuster movie Red Sparrow, Pennyworth and many other UK shows.

I have worked extensively, co-producing countless micro-short films which have garnered various film festival nominations and critical acclaim. In 2011 I produced & launched the very first Leeds MonologueSlam event.

I trained as a playwright with Madani Younis (Bush Theatre/Southbank Centre/The Shed) and Ola Animashawun (The Royal Court Theatre) & I am also the Founder & host of a new digital arts platform with 3 live-streamed monthly shows, all developed under lockdown:

• For T' Culture: An arts & culture showcase that empowers under-represented creatives.

• FTC Chats: An interview show that highlights the experiences of northern under-represented Entertainment Industry Professionals.

• Tanimaniacs: An anime & alternative culture podcast

Additionally, I produce the podcast Dominican Dad & teach digital art activism and screen acting.

What inspired you to create For T’ Culture?

I’ve been working digitally for around 10 years. With Chicken Shop Shakespeare, our content was 90% digital. I’ve always wanted to create a digital platform for my community but before Covid, traditional arts bodies shied away from the digital world or miscategorised the work as Film/TV. I even pitched an early idea of For T’ Culture to Red Bull Amaphiko but my pitch was terrible.

It was Covid that forced me to focus and birth this baby after losing a year’s worth of theatre work and subsequently my home. I moved back to my home town and knew instantly that, as theatres and production companies scrambled to make cuts and survival decisions, our already marginalised artists and communities would be the worst hit and sent straight to the back of the queue.

For T’ Culture was both my way pushing back against that, highlighting the amazing talent here, giving us a voice and a place to come together and support each other. It began as a weekly live-streamed arts and culture showcase and has grown into 3 stand-alone shows and gaming segment, which means we are now in the middle of rebranding but since April we have had approximately 20 live shows, featured over 60 creatives, all with protected characteristics and most of them being Black and Asian northerners.

You state that For T’ Culture is a platform for under-represented creatives, do you think it can sometimes be harder for creative’s outside of London to get their work seen?

Absolutely! If you are Black and not from London, you simply do not exist. Now this is not the fault of Black artists in London of course. It’s the fault of a continued false narrative and repeated stereotypes that the arts industry has perpetuated over time. Look how long it took for Manchester and Birmingham’s music artists to get their recognition. If you (the audience) think of Black British characters, they are almost certainly not from Yorkshire but, we do exist and as my slogan states; our art is valid!

We almost want to insert a voice note of you pronouncing the name properly! How important do you think it is to represent where you’re from in your content?

So phonetically it’s “Fut Culture” as we Yorkshire folk famously never use the word “the”.

Because of my acting job I pretty much live out of a suitcase. I’ve lived in London off and on my whole career but, oh god if you could hear my accent! Not even drama school could get rid of it. I am what we refer to as a true Yorkshire pud. I bleed white roses. I’ve been banging this Black Yorkshire drum for as long as I’ve been in the industry because it is so important to me to be able to tell our stories and to elevate my community.

I’ve written so many blogs and articles. Put on events. Done everything I can to try and diversify the Black British narrative and by no means am I alone but it is so hard. It’s not that others don’t want to listen, or we are being actively silenced by the rest of Black Britain. We just have a smaller community and much, MUCH less resources/access/support. We all know representation is important and we have so many talented artists doing amazing things, it’s a crime they don’t get the recognition they deserve.

On that note, can you tell us about any individuals or organisations that you think are also doing great work for creatives in Yorkshire?

Amanda Huxtable who has now taken over as Artistic Director of Eclipse Theatre is my absolute hero. She is another person who has been fighting for us for the longest and I know she will do amazing things with the company.

@AmandaHuxtable

Freedom Studios have always been amazing. Since Madani Younis ran the company, to now with Alex and Aisha. They have been true beacons of hope for all marginalised artists in the city.

@Freedom_Studios

Bradford Producing Hub is new but we are expecting good things from them.

@bdproducinghub

Funnily enough Bradford Council have also been incredible in lockdown. They were the first to create funds for artists in the city to create work in lockdown and are continuing to do so on a level I’ve never seen from any other city council before.

What was your experience growing up as a black woman in Yorkshire?

Well I definitely didn’t grow up on a farm, let’s just get that out there lol! Bradford is one of the most multicultural cities in the UK but it’s also one of the poorest and those two elements together create a massively vibrant artistic culture as a means of escapism.

We grew up with influences from the West Indies, Pakistan, India, Irish Travellers and England. We’ve always had a vibrant underground arts scene but it’s nice that the art is now being taken seriously and some even becoming mainstream, like with Common Wealth Theatre for example. The arts are one of the only ways out of poverty for us. Not that being an artist pays well as you all know but, it liberates in many other ways.

Black females don’t necessarily come to mind when thinking of the gaming world. What has your experience been like trying to build a following in that space?

Revealing my age here but I’ve been a ‘gamer’ since the very first Commodore 64. My Mother and Uncle were into computers so I started very early. Then life took over, so I had many years out of the scene and have recently been able to jump back in but it’s actually a big community and growing each day.

I’ve been learning a lot from communities such as Black Girl Gamers, Brown Girl Gamer Code and Nne Saga. We all have community friends all over the world and it’s such a great feeling to know that there are people like you, who look like you and like the same things you do.

Of course there can be trolls and discrimination. It is a predominantly straight, white, male scene but we are out here and we have the most fun so nobody ever has to feel alone.

Since the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, gaming companies and developers have been pledging their alliance and have been taking steps to make it a more inclusive industry. There is still much more work to be done but, some seem to be quite serious about doing the work, which is a start.

You also provide digital content creation workshops, what’s one piece of advice you would give to aspiring content creators?

Just make it! Whatever your idea is, just make it. Whether it’s a short film, or a song, or a live-stream channel - whatever. Don’t worry about perfection or trying to ‘get it right’. There is no right and perfection comes from experience, from doing it and making mistakes. There are so many free apps now you can download to your phone. 90% of the videos/marketing clips I make are done on an iPhone.

Which creative black British females inspire you?

Oh wow there’s so many!

Again (I’m not trying to get a job honest) Amanda Huxtable. She was one of the few people who saw something in me and actually gave me a chance. And she has been a wonderful mentor ever since. She’s literally Wonder Woman.

Sam Fray is a Film and TV manager who is doing extremely important work at Screen Yorkshire to try and diversify our terribly lacking screen industry up here.

Stephanie Ijoma (Creator of Nne Saga - Gaming & Entertainment Platform). Since the murder of George Floyd and the protests around this, the way she just gathered the community up and said “we’re gonna be alright!” She’s been leading the way, holding many digital companies to account and providing so many opportunities for us all. She’s incredible.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Just to say thank you for noticing the work and asking me to interview, it is appreciated. I won’t stop until I put us all on the map so, expect us!