In our penultimate episode of this series, we ask why does representation within Scotland&#39;s creative industries mattrer? You will hear different parts from a conversation hosted by podcast producer and music writer Halina Rifai with panellists Danielle Jam, Kumi McKenna and Mobo Agoro. Originally from Aberdeen, Danielle trained as an actor and now does this professionally, Kumi is an illustrator and designer and her work is primarily in print-making, and she takes a lot of inspiration from her Japanese culture and Scottish heritage. Mobo is a talent manager based in Glasgow working mainly in the genre of hip hop, he also runs the platform UP2STANDRD.

In 2022, We Are Here Scotland curated the first ever Rise Up Festival as commissioned by Aberdeen Performing Arts. It was a weekend celebrating Black and People of Colour Creatives from the North East and across Scotland. 

As part of the festival, there were a host of panels exploring different subjects. Those panels were recorded and in the lead up to this year’s festival, we wanted to look back at those conversations, listen to them in a bit more detail and explore them one year.