London Performance Studios is pleased to present Radical Rediscovery III: What Survives? 50 years since ‘The Arts Britain Ignores’, a new archival exhibition that celebrates half a century of Black and Asian theatre in the UK. 

Taking its cue from Naseem Khan’s groundbreaking 1976 report, The Arts Britain Ignores, this exhibition explores trailblazing companies and individuals, and their struggles that defined those early years of Black and Asian theatre. The exhibition traces the enduring legacy and relevance of Naseem Khan’s work, revealing how, despite lacking support from the arts establishment, Black and Asian movements transformed British theatre forever.

Naseem Khan was a pioneer — editor of a key Black Power newspaper in the 1960s, theatre critic for Time Out and City Limits, and founder of MAAS (Minority Arts Advisory Service), her career was defined by the fight for institutional support for cultural diversity, integrated casting, and equal access to training that her report also advocated for.

Curated by Suman Bhuchar, Tyrone Huggins, and Unfinished Histories director Susan Croft, the exhibition centers on their archives and gathered collections that recorded Black and Asian theatre histories, preserving key ephemera and stories, to share these histories with new generations. 

The exhibition shines a light on the networks and campaigns that challenged the status quo, and celebrates community activism, grassroots venues across the UK, the vibrant world of young people’s theatre, and the importance of carnival. It includes oral history interviews, theatre and historic carnival costumes, Sheila Burnett’s photographs that capture the energy of the 1980s and 1990s, and a detailed interactive chronology.