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"A once in a lifetime experience A revolutionary and radical spin on education. UU inspires students to embrace courage within a culture-driven ecosystem rooted in reflection, dreaming, experimentation and a commitment to social justice"

Imwen Eke
Student of The University of The Underground

"My experience with the University of the Underground summer program was a profound educational experience. UU is unique in its ability to attract such a diverse array of multicultural thinkers from every background imaginable to investigate, deconstruct, and build anew such heady concepts like the nation-state and internationalism. Only here could I join a heterodox class of micronation ambassadors, diasporic artists, and international students and with some of the most brilliant minds in their respective fields. The lessons we learned continue to reverberate well after our program ended, and I hope that others can enjoy as well"

Lawrence Wang
Student of The University of The Underground

"University of the Underground ignited the confidence within me to trust in myself to pursue the cocreation of new worlds with collaborators I respect and know I can grow exponentially with. University of the Underground has fortified the way I curate and perform in my international transmedia cultural practice and grounded me in centering the decentralization of institutional resources in order to uplift the sustainability of my global comrades, peers, and kin."

Mango, Mirrored fatality
Student of The University of The Underground

"The best thing about the program was meeting people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives who openly accepted each other."

Ehsam
Student of The University of The Underground

"University of the underground inspired me to think differently about how I move through institutions and introduced me to many amazing lecturers, artists, activists, and spectacular people! I love the unique approach to learning that the university of the underground provides and the freedom to make alot of choices about where I direct my time and energy to and the questions that I want to ask. Many institutions do not give the same space to be fluid in creating and are very rigid so being in an environment that encourages growth and inspiration was really good"

Samar, Mirrored fatality
Student of The University of The Underground

"The University of the Underground was an amazing mind opening experience, it helped me delve deeper into new ideas and expand my pereception of reality - and it was so much fun!"

Rachel Bungey
Student of The University of The Underground

"I gained so much valuable experience as part of the UOTU incubator cohort. There was a really nice balance between creative exploration and learning to navigate the music industry as an independent musician. Thanks to the course I’ve managed to make a bunch of really great music and also I have also been able to give back to my local transgender music community passing on important information I learnt about industry bodies, licensing and performing which has helped a few people out (im very much in the dressing room telling people to join the musicians union!"

Asmodessa
Student of The University of The Underground

"University of the Underground gave me the opportunity and skills to start writing music that weaves radical theory into its very being. The lectures were given by a selection of experts from a wide variety of fields and gave me so much food for thought. To be given the experience to learn to create in a space as radical and pluralistic as the University of the Underground was deeply inspiring! It was also life-affirming to know that there are non-institutionalised spaces such as this that allow for knowledge to be shared and transmitted in ways that rupture hegemonic ways of thinking. "

Rosa Theodora
Student of The University of The Underground

"University of the Underground was a wonderful space for play, exploration, research and collaboration. It was participatory and plural, and took me right out of my comfort zone, pushing me to expand my knowledge and experience with others. The valuable connections I made at UU have lasted me many years and continue to fuel my research, work and practice in a vital way."

Anjali Prashar-Savoie
Student of The University of The Underground

" Through hosting the practical and theoretical exploration of what music and making can be as well as how it brings people together, the University of the Underground was instrumental for me in crystallising my identity as a musician and affirming my confidence as a creative. Over a year later, I feel blessed to know such inspiring artists, thinkers, and musicians each with their own unique story. I'm still reeling from the experience! "

Sidney Jones
Student of The University of The Underground

With plurality at its core, Nelly Ben Hayoun Studios founded the University of the Underground in 2017, a tuition-free charity supporting youth training and decolonial practices, which counts Pussy Riot, Noam Chomsky and Massive Attack as board members. In 2021, following a nationwide competition, Nelly Ben Hayoun Studios was commissioned to produce a free UK-wide festival, which they called Tour de Moon- It was celebrating nightlife and youth countercultures.

For Nelly Ben Hayoun Studios, purality is organising communities of free thinkers and doers working together across different perspectives to imagine and experiment with alternative futures. Plurality is bringing together collective immersive experiences and radical imagination whilst actively resisting oppressive power structures and authoritarian regimes.

All our public programmes look to extend education activities in terms of scope, scale, public and methods of engagement towards architecture, installations, immersive environments, social systems, performances, experiences, and narratives as events. 

In everything we do we look to:
Inspired by activists like Frantz Fanon, we understand that oppression is ultimately intersectional and systemic in the UK and beyond. Our commitment to Equity, Diversity, racial and social justice, and inclusion are all encompassing. Exclusion and discrimination is multi-layered and so must our approach. We recognise and understand the unequal realities and trauma caused by racism, classism, sexism, ableism, ageism, and sexual orientation in the UK and across the world. We believe in radical imagination and collective experiences as a means to acknowledge our past and develop new ideals. We advocate for queer ecofeminist approaches. We learn how to co-exist in places from non-human animals and non-living worlds. We centre indigeneity and we re-imagine all human interactions with water, the living and nonliving. We see communities who have traditionally had ties with water as experts. We work from a community-focused lens on lineages, ancestries, and histories.
As a part of our commitment to racial and social justice, we develop open calls and projects which actively support decentralised models so as to best redistribute wealth.
We platform the lived experiences of the people that face marginalisation and systemic oppression. This is with the idea that we must contribute to the validation of people’s lived experiences - and recognise and platform these truths.
We engage, work and co-create with local young people and emerging early career, creatives, makers, nightlife artists, and performers across all programmes.
With a diverse team shaping and creating a plurality of voices, we have set goals to reach diverse people from BIPOC, LGBTQ, disabled, and working-class communities.
We aim to reach out and work with people who typically do not engage with public cultural offerings and programmes through addressing barriers and inclusive approaches.
We aim to provide transferable skills development and experience that improve personal and professional developmentWe aim to provide transferable skills development and experience that improve personal and professional development
We are committed to introducing, debating and designing economic systems that support and encourage a responsible relationship with our environment.
We communicate with openness, transparency, and integrity. We uphold the principles of freedom of thought and speech.

Projects

University of the Underground
Nelly Boum Show. Radio show on worldwide FM
Hannah Arendt Center for politics and humanities
International Space Orchestra
Decolonial practices in space at the International Astronautical Congress
Experiences department at the SETI Institute
Moon Press
Non-linear, immersive and multidisciplinary research seminars, A/D/O Brooklyn
Moon Cinema at the British Film Institute.
Expeditions (Chernobyl, Baikonur Cosmodrome etc...)