The b.supreme Festival for Women in Hip Hop Sponsorship Pack

Founded in 2005, b.supreme is the only UK festival and all-female celebration of women in Hip Hop. Voted Time Out Magazine’s Best Dance Event in 2009 it is an amazing and empowering event that brings together female breakers, dancers, musicians, MC’s, film-makers, DJ’s and Hip Hop pioneers from all over the world presenting polished performances and raw dance battles side by side.

Each year the festival has evolved to include new concepts, new training

initiatives and new artists. The demand for this unique festival is seen in it grow a 7,000+ fan base (facebook & Twitter) and advance box office sell out at

the Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room every year.

Hip Hop has become the voice of young people, breaking down

racial, ethnic, gender, class, language and regional barriers and has emerged as the great cultural bridge for our times.

Hip Hop is more prominent now than ever before and plays a

hugely important role in giving people across many age and

demographic groups a platform for expression. b.supreme have

contributed hugely to the UK Hip Hop movement.

The b.supreme Festival

The History of b.supreme

Since 2006 b.supreme has been held at the Southbank Centre taking over the Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Living Room and Clore Ballroom spaces. The Festival is recreated

each year involving performance, battles and workshops with

sell-out audiences of 300 each night in the Purcell Room to

over 2000 each day on the Ballroom floor

Since 2006, b.supreme has showcased 817 professional

artists from the UK, America, Russia, Italy, Holland, France, Japan, Hungary, Spain and Brazil and have engaged more than

500 young women in intensive education initiatives, which have lead to high profile performance opportunities all over

Europe

The b.supreme festival premiered at London’s Southbank

Centre in 2006 as the first and (still) only, festival dedicated to bringing together the best female talent within every Hip

Hop discipline. Since then, the festival has collaborated closely with an impressive international line up Including:

The original Bgirl and hip hop icon Rokafella, UK Female

sensation Kymberlee Jay, Mercury Award winners Speech Debelle & Soweto Kinch, UK MC Ms Dynamite and World

Female Beatbox Champion Bellatrix.

Following exciting discussions with the Southbank centre, the festival was booked into the 2006 programme and there began b.supreme Director Holly McCartney’s quest to dispel the stereotype of women in hip hop being all but lap dancers in hot pants. A year, 4 countries and a whole lot of begging later, the b.supreme festival was born. Featuring an international line up of solo artists and companies formed from the removal of their male counterparts, the festival received hoards of press and public interest based mostly on curiosity. Were women in hip hop ever going to be as good as men? Yes. Could women really spin on their heads? Yes, they most certainly could. Needless to say, the festival sold out weeks in advance and was signed up on the spot for the following year. Six years on, b.supreme doesn’t have to hunt for female companies as there are now many amazingly talented all-female dance companies and music artists all over the world due to the resurgence of hip hop and the platform that was created by independence. There have been many highs and lows along the b.supreme journey but one thing Independence are most proud of is that b.supreme has successfully disrupted the preconception of woman in hip hop. Any person who has been to a b.supreme event will leave knowing the depth of quality and passion within female hip hop artists. It is the women in hip hop who are truly representing the balance and collectiveness that hip hop culture was founded upon. It is women who can truly bring the hip hop art forms to the mainstream in the UK.

b.Supreme is produced by South London dance charity Independence who began in 1998. Specialising in the development of Hip Hop dance and joining up dance access, education, training and performance, independance provides an uninterrupted pathway for young dancers and performers who want to extend and develop their skills.

Following a particularly disastrous hip hop Dance tour in 2005 which featured misogynistic male dancers, Independance Director Judi McCartney decided to investigate the possibility of an all female hip hop event with the hope that in bringing the women of this exciting culture to the foreground Independence could inspire young women and platform positive female role models.

“b.supreme can be summed up in one word…Empowerment!” Hattie Collins, The Guardian

The Four Strands of b.supreme

UK’s Festival for Women in Hip Hop

Throughout the year, b.supreme are asked to perform at outside events

and festivals, (Big Chill) award shows (Tedx London) or community

functions (Barbican Street Festival) When working on a one off event we create projects which target specific groups and devise programmes to fulfil most briefs. We set up both

performances and education outreach initiatives like dance

workshops, DJ training or Beat Box workshops which can be delivered

over several weekends and introduce young people to inspiring workshop

leaders.

Whatever the activity, b.supreme always inspire and provide positive

female role models.

Since its inception, education has been a crucial element to the b.supreme programme, and in 2008 we partnered with the County Sports Partnerships programme to launch an initiative called Dare2Dance, specifically targeting young women aged 14-24years.

In the last four years we have put on 4 competition events and worked in Partnership with 19 London Boroughs and schools in Surrey and Kent.

The D2D project has been a phenomenal success and aims:

To increase participation in physical activity of young women and girls through dance

To widen access to dance by reaching and engaging priority groups including disabled young women, those from lower socio-economic groups, those less engaged at school and from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities.

To provide outstanding headline events that showcase the artistic development of the urban dance genre and for inclusion within the 2012 Olympic Games ceremonies.

To develop a defined, accessible progression, structure for gifted and talented dancers.

Set up in 2011, Studio b. is South London’s hub for hip hop dance

training.

Studio b. is dedicated to providing the highest quality hip hop dance

classes from our unrivaled network of world class teachers, for students of all levels in every style of hip hop

dance.

Studio b also run an Artist Development programme which provides free studio space for a

number Female dance companies needing support.

Press and Media Coverage

b.supreme has enjoyed a huge amount of press coverage and interviews with The Guardian, Metro,

Time Out, Evening Standard, The Times, The Guide, The Big Issue, BBC1Xtra, Kiss100 Radio, BBC6 Music, many

dance publications as well as various French, Dutch and Arabic media channels

In 2010 b.supreme featured on Blue Peter when presenter Helen Skelton was set the challenge of

learning how to dance, showcasing her new talents in the International Bonnie & Clyde Battle with child

dancer Akai

In 2011 b.supreme Director, Holly McCartney, was invited to speak about women in hip hop at London’s

TEDx conference, taking a dance company along to perform at the Bloomberg Centre

Sponsorship

In 2012, b.supreme will be moving to a new venue in East London which will be reflective of the urban nature of the Hip Hop art form.

In 2013, As well as the 3 day international festival, b.supreme will be

embarking on it’s first UK tour

In this new phase from 2012 onwards, b.supreme is seeking a Title Sponsor. The festival offers the opportunity to be Title Sponsor of this unique a festival held in a Central London venue which empowers the

female role within Hip Hop and continues to inspire young women throughout the world within this fabulous art form

As Title Sponsor, you will receive:

•Name featured in any press coverage, Marketing or Social Media as ‘b.supreme festival sponsored by…’

•Name on Tickets •Logo/Image Graffiti art on the wall of the venue on a busy EC2 Street

for festival duration •Tickets and private area at the festival

•Signage/Banners at the venue •Logo featured on stage

In exchange, we are seeking financial support to put on the main

festival and support it’s ongoing development.

Contact Information & Links

For more information about the b.supreme Festival or to arrange a meting. Please contact

Holly McCartney Festival Director

+44 (0) 7903 740 626 holly@bsupreme.co.uk

To get an idea of the festival, please view these links:

b.Supreme 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGjskZRaT2c&feature=autoplay&list=UUscMim6kn-

vh7k0KAtbcvdg&lf=plcp&playnext=1

b.Supreme 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y5o2e1An-Q