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Aspiring artists from the Black, Albanian and Asian communities in the West Midlands are about to showcase their talents across the county, after training for a year with arts professionals.

The artists are from various walks of life including an off-license owner and an Arts officer from Sandwell Metropolitan Council.

Joey Boy

The shows they've produced will form the Evolved Festival; an initiative set up by a West Midlands based arts consortium r:evolve which supports and develops local talent from black and minority ethnic backgrounds.

The stories written and the shows produced are all quite different, but very compelling. They'll be showing at the Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton, Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) in Birmingham and a number of other Black Country Touring venues from 4th - 15th March.

Festival highlights

Highlights include 'Joey Boy', produced in conjunction with Nu Century Arts, it's a 19th Century black musical featuring a professional and community cast.

'If Only The Dead Could Listen' written by Gezim Alpion explores an asylum seeker鈥檚 demise within a new system.

And 'A Story On Every Corner' is a family show full of world stories gathered locally and re-told by two animated storytellers Peter Chand and Chris Lowe.

Peter Chand and Chris Lowe

Developing artists shine

Work by developing artists will also be included in the Evolve Festival, including Vimal Korpal's 'The Bench', featuring three lost and disturbed characters.

Ulfah Arts Collective's tale of female super heroes 'Danger! Gulaam Fatima' will be supported by popular female poet Shamshad Khan and the much-acclaimed vocal talents of Black Voices.

"r:evolve is about making more theatre by minority communities. We're very excited by the Evolved Festival and are very much looking forward to sharing it with audiences," said Bobby Tiwana听the Project Manager for r:evolve.

For full show details, tour dates, venues and ticket information log onto the r:evolve website.