Go Back and Get It: Exploring Sankofa

About

As part of their city and festival-wide We, Generate programme, Lighthouse’s Future Creative Leaders are curating a day of activity within the two-day youth-led takeover of Brighton Dome Studio Theatre.

What happens when the people usually talked about become the people doing the talking?

We, Generate. is a youth-led takeover of Brighton Dome, produced by the Future Creative Leaders at Lighthouse - a collective of young creatives, thinkers and community builders reimagining what culture looks like when it starts from the ground up. The day unfolds in two acts.

Part I - Go Back and Get It: Exploring Sankofa

Led by researcher and cultural strategist Dr Fez Sibanda, this is a facilitated inquiry into what happens when a generation chooses to look back - not with nostalgia, but with purpose. What wisdom has been left behind? What tools already exist? And what does it mean to activate hope, not just hold it?

Joining the conversation: Mikaela Loach, activist, author and campaigner for climate and racial justice; Joycelyn Longdon, environmental justice technologist, writer and founder of Climate in Colour; and local storyteller and community leader, Naiya. Together with young voices from Brighton's grassroots creative communities, they'll explore inheritance, imagination and the courage to reimagine - live, in dialogue with the room.

Through audience contribution and collective writing, the conversation will produce a living manifesto: a declaration of intent, shaped in the moment, by the people in the room.

The writings will be on the wall. Literally.

Learn more about Part II - Celebrating Humanity, Hopefully

Presented by the Future Creative Leaders at Lighthouse. Part of Brighton Festival 2026

Meet Lighthouse’s Future Creative Leaders

Casey Galt - Championing neurodivergent voices through inclusive, colourful multidisciplinary creative practice.
Elsa Monteith - Telling thoughtful, narrative-driven stories that spotlight emerging artists and grassroots culture.
Dr. Fezile Sibanda - Exploring race, coloniality and marginalised experiences to reshape education systems.
Jed Wright - Building offline, grassroots creative communities through events, poetry and collective exchange.
Kaia Allen-Bevan - Reimagining education through bold anti-racist leadership, entrepreneurship and joyful political creativity.
Levvy - Using music, film and design to creatively communicate mental health and reach young people at scale.
Lucia Comaschi - Blending digital design and traditional storytelling to amplify underrepresented voices and identities.
Megan Lee - Creating accessible, gentle creative spaces that nurture wellbeing, connection and joy.
Molly Taylor - Championing young people’s lived experience as a superpower for collective action and systems change.
Naiya - Transforming lived experience into immersive, multidisciplinary storytelling rooted in growth and self-belief.