Author's note — 02.09.2026
After four editions of the programme, (Algo|Afro) Futures has come to an end.
We started the programme in 2021 as a way to address the lack of diversity that myself and co-founder Alex McLean had noticed within the UK live coding scene.
I’m happy to launch (Algo|Afro) Futures, a mentoring programme for early career Black artists in the West Midlands who want to explore the creative potential of live coding.
Live coding is a performative practice where artists and musicians use code to create live music and live visuals. This is often done at electronic dance music events called Algoraves, but live coding is a technique rather than a genre, and has also been applied to noise music, choreography, live cinema, and many other time-based artforms.
(Algo|Afro) Futures was a mentoring programme for early career UK-based Black artists interested in exploring creative coding and live coding. The programme ran over four editions between 2021 - 2025.
Live coding is a performative practice where artists and musicians use code to create live music and live visuals. This is often done at electronic dance music events called Algoraves, but live coding is a technique rather than a genre, and has also been applied to noise music, choreography, live cinema, and many other time-based artforms.
The awesome folk at Ludic Room have announced that they are now running a Fellowship programme for their Random String event. If you’re interested in incorporating digital technology into your practice then read on. I’ll be one of the mentors on this programme.
The Random String Fellowship is an opportunity open to artists and practitioners from any discipline, including visual arts, music, literature and performing arts, who are interested in embarking on a technology-focused creative enquiry.
From 5th - 11th August I was a mentor for Young Rewired Art, which is a newly devised offshoot project from the same people that run the Young Rewired State Festival of Code. The project, which ran alongside the main festival, had very similar aims in the way that it explored the potential of digital technology:
[Young Rewired Art] will explore how digital media can influence our next generation of musicians, visual artists, dancers, producers & actors etc and enable young people to showcase and develop their creative practice online. It would also enable young people to use technology creatively and explore the relationship it has to mainstream arts and culture.