Founded in 2010, Stand and Be Counted Theatre, the UK’s first theatre company of sanctuary, has transformed countless lives across Sheffield and beyond. At the core of their work is one simple message: art has the power to change the world. 15 years on, and SBC continues to provide a staggering array of creative opportunities, workshops and empowering projects, reflecting the strength of community to overcome barriers to access. To celebrate their anniversary, Exposed’s Ruby Deakin took a front row seat to hear their story.
Stand and Be Counted Theatre works with refugees and asylum seekers across the north of
England to empower self-expression, bringing together arts, culture and social justice to
ensure equality of opportunity for all. Their co-creation work includes live music, workshops,
exhibitions, physical performances and digital arts, ensuring that those with lived
experiences are at the heart of all their projects.
To celebrate their 15th anniversary, SBC’s Soap Box Collective teamed up with streetwear
brand Among Good People and London Fashion Week designer Kanza Asker to create two
limited edition football shirts. The campaign represents their commitment to championing
diversity and solidarity, echoing football’s enduring power to foster identity and a deep sense of belonging among its fans.
Stand and Be Counted’s work has been unashamedly political since its inception. Through
its initiatives and productions, the organisation not only provides quality arts training for its
members, but aims to champion art as a crucial form of activism that empowers social
justice and change-making.
Rosie MacPherson, Artistic Director and Founder of SBC, said: “[Art] is such a useful tool
because it’s about feeling, and it’s about the things that we share and the things that connect
us. It feels like an increasingly important tool in the face of harmful rhetoric around
immigration, particularly.”
The Soap Box Collective, an SBC co-created programme, holds weekly sessions aiming to
boost confidence through creativity, discussing how theatre and arts can make the world
better for everyone. The workshops are often led by creative professionals with lived
experiences of seeking sanctuary, providing a relaxed space to facilitate creative work and
conversation.
Levi Udeh has been a member of the Soap Box Collective since it launched three years ago.
“Every Thursday, no matter what, you always have somewhere to go,” he said. “It has not
just added creativity, but it has also added confidence to our lives. We go out there and
whenever we see challenges, we know that we can utilise what we’ve learnt.”
The idea to create football shirts to commemorate the anniversary was a no-brainer.
Throughout the year, members of the Soap Box Collective and SBC leaders workshopped
various ideas for badges and crests to appear on the shirts. The Collective collaborated with
Sheffield local Kazna Asker, known for her political activism through fashion design and her
involvement in multiple community projects. Together with Among Good People, a brand
committed to working with campaigners and charitable causes, two symbolic shirts were
launched.
The collection premiered at Fabric of the World, an alternative fashion show held in Leah’s
Yard as part of Sheffield’s Migration Matters Festival, which took place in June.
SBC’s Digital Director, Smart Banda, was instrumental in bringing these designs to life. “We
have a lot of people in our group who love football, so the idea of creating a football t-shirt
felt very natural,” he said. “We embarked on that journey of what it would look like if we
brought a piece of everyone’s world into this fashion show, a piece of their hearts. That’s
where these wonderful ideas of ‘fabrics of the world’ came from.”
Levi added: “‘Fabrics of the world’ are things that collect us together – people who come
from different backgrounds, religions and cultures. For something to come to life, there has
to be several people who can have their input.”
The final shirt designs represent the shared experiences of those seeking sanctuary, both
locally and globally. The blue and yellow ‘sanctuary’ shirt signifies the colours of Ukraine,
and the black and white home shirt includes green and red details, a nod to the flags of
Palestine and Sudan. The home shirt design also features the word ‘peace’ in both English
and Arabic.
“It feels really good for a piece of culture, a piece of solidarity, to be embedded within these
t-shirts,” Smart said. “As soon as somebody wears this, it feels like they’re carrying a bit of
those values.”
Since the launch of the campaign, stars, writers and actors including Ian Kershaw, Julie
Hesmondhalgh and multi award-winning comedian Aisling Bea have expressed their
support, sharing their shirts on social media.
“It’s very exciting when somebody that you’re a fan of starts cheering about the work,” said
Rosie. “This is another great example of how we’re all in it together. It’s been lovely, through
this shirt, to be able to have conversations with different people who have different
audiences, and reach a far larger set of people than we typically would be able to reach.”
She added: “I’m really proud of our charity and all of the people for making the decisions that
they make every day.”
Find out more about the company by following @sbc_theatre and shirts are available at sbctheatre.co.uk.
