The SupaJam Stage will once again be an extremely popular corner of our land in 2022 and we’re proud to announce the artists who will be performing this summer. Find out more about Supajam at Black Deer, here.

What is Supajam?

SupaJam Education in Music and Media is an award-winning unique educational provider for students aged 16-19+ with Special Educational Needs and Educational Health Care Plans. Supajam’s mission is to help vulnerable young people who have previously fallen out of formal education engage, achieve and progress in a unique and inclusive learning environment. With 80% of SupaJam students having some form of social, emotional or behavioural challenge to overcome, the organisation gives them a safe home to reignite their desire to learn and grow.
 
 

Black Deer & Supajam

The relationship between Black Deer and SupaJam is like no other. “The Black Deer extended family has always supported our vision and our students, whose numbers have grown from a class of six in 2013 to nearly 200 across our bases in Swanley and Canterbury today,” says founder David Court.
 
“To be able to give students the opportunity to work alongside a festival like Black Deer is genuinely priceless – it’s after they spend the weekend being supported in their work experience that they often realise what they want to do for the rest of their lives. That’s invaluable and provides them with a genuine desire to succeed.”
 
The Supajam Stage has traditionally been where students have gained practical work experience and worked behind the scenes… but this year the students are also coming from behind the curtain to perform, alongside emerging artists from the surrounding areas curated by Tunbridge Wells’ Local & Live. “Black Deer’s ethos of showcasing new music acts every year certainly gives many new artists an incredible opportunity to perform at what is undoubtedly the UK’s premier Americana festival,” says L&L trustee Pete Taylor. “Given the strength and depth of the local scene in Tunbridge Wells and the relationship between Black Deer and Local & Live, look out for the local names performing across the weekend.”
 
 

Who’s performing on the Supajam Stage?

The full list of artists performing on The Supajam Stage in 2022 is The Orange Circus Band, Franky Perez, Dan Clews, The Paul Dunton Orchestra, Luke Jackson, James Kirby, Alexander Mckay, Dull Knife, Hobo and the Hippies, Matthew Falloon, Izzie Yardley, Coney Island Maybe, The River Flows, RJ Ellory and the Whiskey Poets, Ava’mae, Richard Sharp, Rattlesnake Hearts, Jazz , Phil Hooley, Red, Green and Blue, David Mumford and Supajam School.
 
“We have been proud mentors to the students of Supajam since the inaugural festival in 2018. They work alongside our industry veterans for months in advance to curate their own SupaJam stage and work tirelessly at the festival managing the stage, learning technical productions skills, photographing artists and forming part of the journalism team blogging live from a field.
 
This experience, which is an integral part of our festival each and every year, helps the students understand more about their future careers and, most importantly, start to really believe in themselves and everything they have been able to achieve through hard work and determination. It’s been an incredible journey to watch so many of the students grow in confidence over time and we are proud to see what this opportunity has meant to them. See you at the Supajam Stage!”

– Gill Tee & Deb Shilling, Black Deer co-founders.