A personal journey of creating spaces when you can't find them, a story of resilence, adversity and the fight for a more representative city with artists as cornerstones of the community. Amahra Spence is a Birmingham-based artist, playwright, curator and creative producer. With over 12 years of experience in the creative industries; and a stint in corporate event management in between; she is passionate about sustainability, particularly for marginalised identities. In 2013, Amahra set up MAIA, a non-profit exploring how artists live, work and contribute in society through artist-led interventions.

The group's most recent project is an artist-led hotel, project space and community hub, that will serve as a training and development ground for artists and young people.In collaboration with Tobi Kyeremateng of BAMWorks, a nationwide resource-sharing network for BAME producers, MAIA recently hosted a meet-up at Impact Hub Birmingham for Creative Producers of Colour; to learn, exchange ideas and piece together solutions with a regional focus.

www.maiagroup.co
@amahra_ | @MAIACreatives This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx