Historical Background

2004 marked 25 years as a constituted organisation for the Yaa Asantewaa Arts and Community Centre based in 1 Chippenham Mews, London W9.

The YAA opened to the public initially as the Factory in 1978 under the governance of the Maryland Neighbourhood Association. In 1979 the association received charitable status and ushered in a much-needed community resource within North Westminster. Spearheaded by the late local Councillor Jill Selbourne, Sean Bain and others, The Factory was a meeting place for the multicultural local community and home to a diverse group of artists and organisations including the Paddington Print Workshop (now London Print Studio), Paddington Dark Room, Soucouyant Carnival Club, and the Paddington Youth Steelband, which won many of the early pan competitions in Notting Hill. Some time later the Black Theatre Co-operative (now NITRO) founded their base within the Factory armed with a mission to establish a Black company for the development of Black plays and created opportunities for Black actors and actresses to develop their skills. Writers such as Mustapha Matura, Caryl Phillips and Farrukh Dhondy found a platform to write new works portraying the Black experience. Actors like Malcolm Fredericks, Norman Beaton, Oscar James, Victor Romero Evans and other spearheaded the co-operative. The first production of BTC was Mustapha’s “Welcome Home Jacko”.

During the late 70’s and early 80’s, the Factory was the place to see Black Theatre, hear one of London’s finest steelbands, explore the arts of Carnival through costume and music, and develop skills in photography and printmaking. In 1986, the Centre changed its name to Yaa Asantewaa and focussed on Black Arts development. This change fitted well within the policies of the statutory bodies of the time such as the Greater London Council (GLC), ILEA and the Arts Council, who were keen on giving recognition and prominence to the cultural contributions of Britain’s growing multicultural society and the impact of Black Arts on the British cultural landscape.

Today YAA remains a champion for Black Arts existing in the spirit of our name Yaa Asantewaa, queen mother of the Ashanti people whose spirit of resistance prevented the British governor to retire their cherished ‘golden stool’ to the British museum.  YAA is the official home of the London Calypso Tent, where British based Calypsonians share the stage with international Calypsonians. Spearheaded by the Association of British Calypsonians, the London Calypso is still the only such event of its kind in Europe that contributes to sustaining the traditions and culture of Caribbean music. The Centre has contributed to the development of arts and educational programmes directed at young people. These include Youth Empowerment, After School Club, Holiday projects in Carnival Arts, The Young Carers project and The Paddington Youth orchestra. Driven by SRB 5, New Life for Paddington funding, the Centre became a funding conduit to deliver much needed capacity building grants to local BME artists and organisations resident or working in North Westminster.  Since 1997 YAA produced a season of One Act plays and during that time a total of over 30 short plays from diverse groups, including international participation from New Zealand and Australia. Our Carnival programme are the most outstanding to date and include international involvement by artists from Trinidad and Tobago. In 2002 YAA launched it first Carnival Theatre tour YAAAFRIKAN that toured nationally and Europe. The YAA Carnival Group led by a collective, now includes the Paddington Schools Carnival Band. In 2003 we launched an accredited training programme for Carnival Artists that provided them with the necessary capacity to deliver training. The group are 2003 winners of the ‘Battle of the Bands’ competition produced in Aalborg, Denmark and is one of the major bands at Notting