Winners Announced For ALTER EGO – East London's Biggest Talent Showcase For 14 – 18 Year Olds

As Hackney Empire celebrates more than 120 years at the heart of the local community, Artistic Director Yamin Choudury, Learning & Participation Producer Fatima Sheekhuna, and the whole team are pleased to announce the winner of Alter Ego 2024, East London's biggest talent showcase for 14 – 18 year olds, which took place last Friday 16 February.

Hosted by BBC Introducing's Jess Iszatt, the winner on the night was Rain. Rain is an actress, script-writer, spoken-word artist and musician based in London. Her work focuses on topics that spark conversations and encourages her audience to prioritise and embrace the community around them.

Rain said, “I'm forever grateful for the support I've been blessed with throughout Alter Ego from Yamin, Fatima, the Hackney Empire Young Producers and the outstanding fellow young Artists that I had the upmost privilege to work alongside and to see them shine within their work. Thank you to all that attended that night and I'm glad I got to share such a special moment with beautiful people.”

Finalists for Alter Ego 2024 alongside Rain included singer-songwriters Blewska, Rayanna and Yaz, rappers D1GSZ,  DDONEIT and LJ, dance group Dynamix, girl vocal group FCA and musicians Tobz & Slimz.

Alter Ego has run at Hackney Empire for over 10 years, with the aim to find London's most exciting emerging artists – singers, dancers, poets and rappers, aged 14 – 18 years old. This year's finalists received 1:1 mentoring from a team of industry professionals in the week leading up to the show, including Ivor Novello award-winning composer Renell Shaw, before they performed on the Hackney Empire main stage, alongside headline music and dance acts including DJ Teej, Mnelia, M24, Suli Breaks, Boy Blue and special guest on the night Ivorian Doll.

Fatima Sheekhuna, Learning & Participation Producer said, “Alter Ego is an incredible and vital space as a programme and as a show. Recently we've seen a rise in young artists finding themselves on massive stages after songs they've made in their bedroom explode in popularity on the internet. However, alongside this there has been a real decline in the training and artist development available to young people, and that is what this programme provides. It's a magical process watching these young artists go through the diligent training that prepares them to take on the 1200 seat venue that is Hackney Empire, and when the community shows up to support them and bring the place to life, it's nothing short of electric.”

About Alter Ego

Alter Ego is part of the Creative Futures programme, which annually engages 4,000 young people aged 12 to 25 years old. From its inception, Creative Futures set out to reframe culture by using art-forms that young people engage with, including film, stage work, acting to camera, rap and R&B music, spoken word and dance. The theatre's unique model of youth engagement has impacted on over 20,000 young lives in its 20-year history.

In total, Creative Futures provides an average of 20 hours of free youth programming each week across 45 weeks of the year. These include workshops and masterclasses alongside professionally produced training and performance programmes, and schools' outreach all of which are provided free of charge to all participants.

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