Subira Joy

• Fellowships contribute to important conversations about race and inequality in culture and society. 
• Sussex-based Subira is spoken-word performer, writer and activist. 
• Subira will perform at this year’s Brighton Festival as part of the University of Sussex’s Festival of Ideas programme. 
   

Subira Joy, a Black, trans, queer spoken-word performer, writer and activist, has been announced as the 2024 Stuart Hall Fellow at the University of Sussex. 

The Stuart Hall Fellowship, a partnership between the Stuart Hall Foundation and the University of Sussex’s School of Media, Arts and Humanities, sees Fellows connecting with other artists and scholars, contributing to the ongoing conversations about race and inequality in culture and society. Since the Fellowship was established in 2018, past Fellows have included multi-disciplinary creative and activist Erin James; multi-media artist, activist and curator Susuana Amoah; photographer and Turner prize nominee Ingrid Pollard; and investigative journalist Rebecca Omonira-Oyekanmi. 

Subira, who is based in Sussex, is an interdisciplinary theatre maker interested in the role of art in activism and social change; their work ranges from spoken word to performance art, dance, playwriting, drag and cabaret.  

Stuart Hall Fellow, Subira Joy, said: 

“I'm keenly aware of the privileges that I'm afforded stepping back into the academic world with access to academic resources. The Stuart Hall Fellowship is a thrilling opportunity to nurture radical decolonial creative work and thought, and I'm excited to make the most of this!  

“I've already been writing, researching, connecting, and dreaming, and I've got some great things brewing for the Radical Remembering event in the Brighton Festival - I can't wait!” 

As part of their fellowship, Subira will perform at this year’s Brighton Festival, on 22 May, of which the University of Sussex is the official Education Partner. The event, Radical Remembering, will be held at the University’s on-campus arts centre, the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts. Described as an evening rooted in histories of resistance, through a lens of creativity and performance, it forms part of the Festival of Ideas, a collaboration between the University’s School of Media, Arts and Humanities and the Brighton Festival that harnesses the transformative power of the arts and humanities to fashion new ways of thinking about the past, present and future.  

Professor Liz James, Dean of the School of Media, Arts and Humanities, said:  

“The University of Sussex is delighted to support the work of the Stuart Hall Foundation and its talented fellows. In the School of Media, Arts and Humanities we are hugely excited that Subira Joy’s event, Radical Remembering, is part of the Festival of Ideas.  

“Subira’s work inspires and challenges us around questions of how and why we hold our histories. Their exploration of queer and Black activism, archival research and radical lineages aligns perfectly with the Foundation's commitment to public education and addressing the urgent questions of race and inequality in culture and society.” 

As part of the partnership, the University of Sussex also offers opportunities to students including the Stuart Hall MA Scholarship with a tuition fee discount of £5,000 and two funded Stuart Hall Foundation PGR Studentships.

Professor Nasar Meer, Chair of the Stuart Hall Foundation’s Academic Committee, Professor Roshini Kempadoo, and Dr Ruth Ramsden-Karelse said:  

“We look forward to welcoming Subira Joy to the Stuart Hall Foundation’s network of Scholars, Fellows and Artists. Subira’s interdisciplinary work on police violence towards Black and queer and trans people, focusing on erased, overlooked, and internalised histories, is pertinent and important. Subira's creative projects foster a collaborative, generous, and socially engaged culture of learning and communication – something that Stuart Hall championed throughout his career.”  

The Stuart Hall Fellowship at the University of Sussex was established in partnership with the Stuart Hall Foundation in 2018. The Foundation is committed to promoting cultural diversity and understanding through the arts. Each year as part of its pledge to support new artists, the Fellowship is awarded to a local artist to help develop their skills and gain valuable experience to work with academics in their chosen field.