Tobi Kyeremateng is a BAFTA award-winning cultural producer, working across film, theatre, live events and community engagement. Her endeavours to showcase the experiences of Black British people across the diaspora has helped open up previously exclusionary spaces. How has she achieved this? What steps has she taken to get here?
Growing up in a Nigerian-Ghanaian household in South London, Tobi felt drawn to the creative arts. Her house was filled with music. Her father constantly took photos that adorned their walls, and her mother always told stories. Despite this, as a teenager, her options to get involved were limited to drama and music classes in school.
She didn’t feel connected to performing but saw it as her only route into the arts, so she did a performing arts BTEC at college with the intent of going to drama school.
Her teacher warned her away from this, leaving her uncertain and at a loss:
“I didn’t know what to do, so I just googled apprenticeships at theatres in London.”
This proactive move paid off, as she ended up getting an apprenticeship at Battersea Arts Centre in 2013.
“The opportunity I got at Battersea really gave me the space to explore all of these different ways of making art through music, storytelling, and poetry. I could experiment with these different ways of expressing myself and the stories I wanted to tell and put them onto the stage.”
From there, Tobi built her career in the theatre industry, swiftly becoming a trailblazer within the creative arts space.
She was offered the role of Junior Producer in 2016 and was part of the Runner-up team for the JMK 2017 Award before she became Executive Producer at Bush Theatre in 2018 as part of the UP NEXT initiative. Here, she co-created the BABYLON Festival, a celebration of Black and Brown people’s influence on London culture.
Yet, she was never about limiting herself to one particular role or venture. In 2018, she founded the Black Ticket Project, a bridge organization and initiative that connects independent youth workers, schools, charities, youth organisations, and cultural institutions, increasing access to the arts for young black people.
She has helmed various masterclasses and workshops, including the National Theatre’s How to be a Producer course, delivered talks, keynote speeches and panel discussions, including TEDxSussex University, and produced and programmed British talent at cultural events such as AFROPUNK London, gal-dem women’s international weekender, Brainchild Festival, and #MERKY Books Live.
It was then through her collaborative work with others in the creative arts industry that she began investing her time in film; other poets and artists were experimenting with working across different art forms, including short films, and this was how she began producing for the screen.
“I started producing these films for them, but it was all a huge collaborative learning process. We were all figuring it out together.
“We’d each come from different backgrounds, had different areas of experience, but we learnt what we were doing day by day, and we supported each other.”
Her first ‘proper’ short film, Blue Corridor 15, was produced for the BBC and was her first piece of screen work that wasn’t ‘super-experimental’. Screening at the Sundance Film Festival in 2021, she took off in the screen industry from there.
Although she’s worked in the arts since 2013, Tobi has had early success since transitioning into film.
“I’m still new on the scene. It feels unreal that I’ve achieved such recognition already, but I’m also still learning so much whilst feeling as though people expect me to know it all already.
“People seem fascinated by the route I’ve taken to get here. I do think I’m quite driven, yeah. I’ve worked persistently for a lot of the opportunities I’ve been given.”
But as a woman of colour, she feels limited in the space to make mistakes or experiment as someone still fresh to the industry.
“It’s a strange feeling when people presuppose what I might do next. It feels as though I’m expected to produce specific kinds of projects.
“And I’m always aware that I can’t be seen to fail because I just won’t be afforded the same liberties as a Black woman – I might not get to try again.”
Directing her debut docu-film, ÓWÀMBÈ, she really felt the effects of being the person that a team looks to.
“As a director, you’re the person people come to. You’re supposed to answer the questions. This was my project. These were my decisions, and making this film really forced me to believe in my vision and trust myself.
“If you’re not going to believe in your ideas, you’re not going to convince anyone else to.”
Reaching new levels of success in 2023, Tobi was included as one of 15 participants in BFI’s Network@LFF professional development programme, and How To Be A Person, which she produced, won a BAFTA.
Read more about award representation at Cannes
This year, Tobi is part of the latest cohort of Film Forward, a ScreenSkills initiative designed to change the UK film industry by supporting Black and Asian professionals in advancing to more senior roles.
Tobi’s work to improve accessibility for black youth, tell stories which are otherwise unseen on stage and on screen, and create open spaces of art and celebration is what keeps driving her forward.
“When you start to see those stories that you can relate to, it changes you. As Black and Brown people, we are not granted space that exists constantly or continuously. We have to fight to take over spaces for moments in time.
“Telling our own stories allows us to take up space, and as I am given more and more opportunities and more leadership, I’m constantly evaluating what this looks like and what this means.”
In this industry, stories are dominantly produced by the same kinds of people, and for those that exist outside of the white, male and privileged, it’s all too easy to feel erased on stage and on screen.
Tobi wants the feeling of watching something that represents your own identity to be the standard. Working within the theatre and film industry, she wants to be part of that change so that someday, she can go to any theatre, cinema, or arts venue and see herself represented in some way.
