Liverpool’s multi award winning black arts festival, BlackFest, returns for its 5th anniversary with an exciting line up of music, spoken word, film, workshops and more. Showcased across the city for a month, the charity is teaming up with some of the biggest venues in the city to bring deliver its best festival yet.
Founded in 2018, BlackFest does vital work to bridge the gap and educate, empower and improve equality in the arts. The festival has been a platform for some of the most talented grassroots artists in the region and the 2022 showcase aims to be the biggest and best yet. Here’s what’s on at this year’s festival….
FOR A TICKET TO EVERY EVENT AT THE FESTIVAL (JUST £50) CLICK HERE!
Sat 24th Sept (12pm): Opening at The Pier Head
A huge free all day event featuring live music and poetry, workshops, traders and much more. Featuring artists such as Tyrone, Shak Omar, Sarah Lousie, Iroro Poet, Pari Richards, Katumba, Soul City, Curtis Watt, Andre Jahnoi, Keith Coker, Afrodance, LeeTz, BlueBoy, Vivi, Ronke, Shak Omar.
THIS EVENT IS FREE TO ATTEND! REGISTER HERE!
Mon 26th Sept (7pm): As British As A Watermelon at Unity Theatre
With amazing reviews from Edinburgh Fringe Festival, As British As A Watermelon is about belonging, trauma and forgiveness — told through an unflinching autofiction narrative weaving poetry and storytelling. A powerful show from Mandla Rae and not to be missed!
FOR TICKETS (JUST £10) CLICK HERE!
Tues 27th Sept (7pm): Riddims Night at The Philharmonic Hall
Some of the region’s most exciting music talents take to the stage — featuring P3Lz, Koj, Shoa Osborne, Tee and DJ Soulfultiz. A night of exciting live music performance followed by a panel discussion on ‘Breaking Through The Music Industry’ with Alex from HipHop HQ.
FOR TICKETS (JUST £10) CLICK HERE!
Weds 28th Sept (7pm): Spoken Word Poetry Night at Hope Street Theatre
A thought provoking night of informative, powerful and inspiring words from Liverpool’s local lyrical talent. A super talented line up featuring Samuel Ameiza-Djabli AKA Chief Uncle Sam, Tahja Edwards, Gabriel Oyediwura and Cherrelle Anne.
FOR TICKETS (JUST £10) CLICK HERE!
Thurs 29th Sept (10am): World Heart Day at Granby Winter Garden
BlackFest have commissioned two workshop facilitators, BayTree Cooking supporting the most vulnerable members of the community with access not just to fresh, healthy food but the skills to turn it into exciting nutritious meals and B4BioDiversity for an educational workshop and activity based on the theme of world heart day, sustainability and bee populations.
FOR TICKETS (JUST £10) CLICK HERE!
Fri 30th Sept (7pm): Displaced at FACT
Displaced is the cinematic reimagining of Akeim Toussaint Buck’s one-man dance theatre show: ‘Windows of Displacement’. Created and Co-Directed by Ashley Karrell, the film continues the exploration of themes such as: displacement, race, culture and imperialism.
FOR TICKETS (JUST £10) CLICK HERE!
Sat 1st Oct (12pm): Visual Arts Launch at Gallery 455
This free exhibition will showcase the work of two local and two national visual artists. Throughout the month there will be a series of workshops and inside the gallery there will be prints and cards of the artist’s work available. Featuring Leroy Cooper, Layla Gibiliru, Jioni Warner and Gold Akanbi.
THIS EVENT IS FREE TO ATTEND! REGISTER HERE!
Sat 1st Oct (6pm): Workshop from Akeim Toussaint at Vide Odyssey
Akeim will be guiding participants into his approach of voice and movement called Beatmotion. The movement focus of the class will be drawing on his Earthflow practice that is inspired by Capoeira, Caribbean & Contemporary Dance, Animal Flow, Yoga and different elements of Hip Hop.
FOR TICKETS (JUST £10) CLICK HERE!
Sun 2nd Oct (1pm): Diasporic Dialogues at Museum Of Liverpool
Diasporic Dialogues is in conversation with Jimi Jagne covering the topics on the articles he has written. The 8 academic articles are on various examples of self-determination in Liverpool L8 during the 20th century. This includes the influence of L8 Law Centre, Charles Wooton Centre, Black Sisters, Black Caucus, L8 Defence committee, Rastafarinism challenging Racism in the area and many more.
THIS EVENT IS FREE TO ATTEND! REGISTER HERE!
Tues 4th Oct (12pm): Visual Arts Workshop With Leroy Cooper at Gallery 455
Leroy uses his photography as a foundation element for a 3 hour writers’ workshop. Using music as stimulation for workshop creativity, the lyrical content being inspirational for workshop attendees. Boombox and CDs supplied to inspire writing.
THIS EVENT IS FREE TO ATTEND! REGISTER HERE!
Tues 11th Oct (6pm): Visual Arts Workshop With Jioni Warner at Gallery 455
This workshop discusses the misrepresentation and underrepresentation of black people through art history. When going through a gallery how many black people do you see portrayed through portraiture? Within this workshop guest will get the chance to empower themselves by creating self-portraits that celebrate themselves and their cultures.
THIS EVENT IS FREE TO ATTEND! REGISTER HERE!
Tues 18th Oct (6pm): Visual Arts Workshop With Gold Akanbi at Gallery 455
In correlation with Gold’s visual art installation at the gallery, she will be running a workshop to explore her work, process, inspirations, materials, artistic experiences and methodologies. The workshop will further explore the artist’s journey and will offer participants a chance to network, discuss and gain advice from the artist.
THIS EVENT IS FREE TO ATTEND! REGISTER HERE!
Tues 25th Oct (10am): Visual Arts Workshop With Layla Gibiliru at Gallery 455
Layla Gibiliru, is the artist behind the work “Invisible injustice”. As an artist, Layla likes to look at people in society who may be ignored or not thought about and has done so in previous works such as “The absence of the author” and “people”. She has also explored the beauty of life within the womb in an exploration of “women” and “placenta of life”.
THIS EVENT IS FREE TO ATTEND! REGISTER HERE!
Liverpool’s multi award winning black arts festival, BlackFest, returns from 24th September 2022 — with an exciting and diverse line up of music, spoken word, film, workshops and more. The festival lasts for one month and events will be showcased across the city at some of the most iconic venues.
BlackFest 2022 / 24th Sept — 25th Oct 2022 / Various Events and Venues
For all events and tickets check out BlackFest on EVENTBRITE!
Check out the BlackFest WEBSITE!
Check out BlackFest on FACEBOOK!
