Jamaican actor and performing artiste Sheldon Shepherd is among a select number of creatives who have been selected to launch the online platform established by the popular Dubai-based arts festival Sole DBX.

The platform has been set up to uplift creatives at this time when events and outlets have been stymied during to COVID-19.

“In light of the pandemic, The Middle East’s largest street culture festival Sole DXB has just launched a new mixed-media platform, sole.digital, dedicated to music, fashion, the visual arts and sports from the Middle East, India, Africa, the Caribbean and their diasporas,” the festival noted on its website.

Shepherd, who is best known as part of the performance Group NoMaddz, penned a poem titled Dummy, which he also narrated for the platform.

In addition to his work with NoMaddz, Shepherd also has screen acting credits under his belt. Most recently he appeared in Yardie, the British-Jamaican film based on the novel of the same name by …. and which marked the directorial début by actor Idris Elba. He also starred in Storm Saulter’s Betta Mus Come, for which he won the Best Actor Award from the American Black Film Festival in 2012; and also appeared in the TV movie Battledream Chronicles: A New Beginning.

The Sole DBX platform promises to showcase interviews, poetry, podcasts, essays, music, photography and film in order to showcase artistes at this time.

Sole DXB is an annual footwear, music, art, and lifestyle festival that takes place in the Dubai Design District. The festival was inaugurated in 2011.

Last year’s event which was held from December 5 to 7 celebrated Jamaican culture with an impressive line-up of local acts among the musical performers. This included Charlie Black, Sevana, Protoje, Lila Ike and Koffee.