IIn the vibrant yet often overlooked creative landscape of Northeast England, Zimbabwean-born writer and actor Massimba Musodza offers a refreshingly nuanced perspective on the challenges and opportunities facing Black artists today. After 15 years in Middlesbrough, Musodza has established himself as a notable voice in speculative fiction, with three novels, numerous short stories, and recognition in Jeff Ryman’s prestigious “100 African Writers of Speculative Fiction.”.
From Zimbabwe to Middlesbrough: A Creative Journey
Musodza’s creative spark ignited in childhood Zimbabwe, where he was exposed to a rich tapestry of local and international cultural influences. “We were exposed to content from around the world, and we had our own stuff as well,” he recalls. His early attempts at storytelling involved creating personal versions of favorite TV shows, and he cites Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot” as a formative influence that “fired my imagination.”
What began as childhood passion evolved into professional aspiration when, as a teenager, he discovered writing could be a viable career. Today, his creative portfolio extends beyond writing to include acting in regional television productions like “Vera” and “Dumping Ground,” theater performances, and participation in public discourse through events like London’s “Festival of the Battle for Ideas.”
The Double-Edged Sword of Arts Funding
Musodza offers a thought-provoking critique of the arts ecosystem in Middlesbrough, identifying a fundamental tension between creativity and funding requirements. “The creative industry in Middlesbrough tends to be run on funding… which is a good thing. But it also kind of pandering to certain [expectations],” he observes.
Drawing parallels to similar challenges he witnessed in Zimbabwe and across Africa, he explains how “donor-driven” creative environments can prioritize satisfying funding criteria over authentic artistic expression. The result, in his view, is a dearth of market-viable creative works that capture global attention: “You don’t see a lot of market-driven works… we’ve made a brilliant movie in Middlesbrough and the whole world wants to watch it… that never happens.”
The blackness becomes performative,
Performing Blackness: The Identity Straightjacket
Perhaps most compelling is Musodza’s examination of the additional layer of constraints faced by Black creatives. “The blackness becomes performative,” he states. “You’re limited as to what you can talk about or how you can talk about it, because the people that pay for these things have a very fixed view of how you should be Black.”
This observation highlights a profound contradiction: even as diversity initiatives aim to create inclusion, they can inadvertently enforce rigid expectations about how Black identity should be expressed. For Musodza, this “stifles creativity” and undermines authentic artistic expression.
Competition vs. Collaboration
The structural problems of arts funding create another troubling dynamic among Black creatives themselves. When opportunities specify quotas like “at least one Black person,” Musodza notes it fosters a “scarcity mindset” where Black artists view each other primarily as competition for limited spots.
“If I turn up at a pitching session and I see another Black person there, my first thought is, ‘Well, if there’s only room for one Black person, that means he’s my only real competition,'” he explains. This environment discourages the very collaboration that could strengthen and diversify creative outputs.
Redefining Black British Identity
Musodza challenges reductive narratives around Black British identity, particularly the tendency to view all Black experiences through the lens of historical slavery. “For a lot of people, especially the recent Black migrants to Britain, they are not coming from a history of slavery,” he points out, while acknowledging the historical importance of that narrative.
He advocates for a more flexible, evolving understanding of Black British identity that acknowledges the continuous cultural exchange reshaping Britain today. “We need to always allow ourselves to redefine what it means to be Black and British. It’s constantly changing,” he insists, pointing to the mainstreaming of African cultural elements like Jollof rice as evidence of this ongoing integration.
A Call for Authentic Diversity
At its core, Musodza’s message is a call for authentic diversity—one that respects individual personhood beyond racial categorization. “Yes, I am Black, but that’s all there is to it. I’m a person, same as the next person, and I insist on being treated as a person,” he states emphatically.
He rejects being someone’s “special project” or a box to tick, preferring recognition based on the quality of his work rather than his identity: “I want someone to be able to say, ‘Look, I’ve read your story. It’s a brilliant story.’ Not, ‘Oh, it’s a brilliant story for a Black writer.'”
Musodza’s perspective reminds us that true diversity isn’t just about representation in numbers but about allowing for the full spectrum of individual expression within any identity group. “Diversity for me should mean exactly that,” he says, noting that even among Black Africans, there are profound differences in perspective—”If we were all the same… you wouldn’t have so many wars in Africa right now, would you?”
Looking Forward
Despite the challenges, Musodza expresses optimism about emerging platforms like TBX that promise to foster collaboration among diverse creatives. Such initiatives, he believes, create space for talent to flourish beyond the constraints of conventional funding models and prescribed identity performances.
For creative communities everywhere, Musodza’s insights offer a valuable reminder: authentic diversity requires not just opening doors but also releasing preconceptions about who walks through them and what stories they should tell. The future of creativity lies not in performing to expectations but in the freedom to express one’s unique vision, regardless of background.
As Middlesbrough and similar communities evolve, Musodza’s perspective challenges us all to imagine more nuanced, market-viable, and authentically diverse creative ecosystems—where artists can be valued first for their work, and where difference is truly celebrated in all its unexpected forms.
