Black Gold Arts Festival 2021 with Contact

This October Contact and Black Gold Arts will present an outstanding line-up for Black Gold Arts Festival. Taking place during Black History Month, the festival will feature a powerful programme of Black-led art, performance and film.

A powerful programme of Black-led art, performance and film.

The festival Launches on 19 October with keynote speech from Kleaver Cruz. Examining topics of Black Joy, the speech will focus on Kleaver’s work on the Black Joy Project. Festival momentum continues with an online panel discussion on 20 October; Black Gold Arts will bring together a panel from the worlds of journalism, arts and psychology to explore the theme of Black Joy: why is it so important and how do we make more room for it?

A live world premiere of mandla rae’s eagerly anticipated film, as british as a watermelon.

Highlights of the festival include a live world premiere of mandla rae’s eagerly anticipated film, as british as a watermelon. Weaving poetry and storytelling, the work explores mandla’s fragmented asylum and migration experiences. Experience Mele Broome’s Wrapped Up In This, a new 40-minute film, blending vocal melodies, movement and spoken word, paying tribute to the women from the Caribbean and West Africa who uprooted themselves in the ’50s and ’60s to save the NHS.

There will also be an exciting new podcast launch. Created by Suriya Aisha, Sickbabe is a series of witty, honest chats with people who live with disabilities and long-term illnesses, plus a film screening of Chanje Kunda’s dark satirical comedy Plant Fetish. Additionally, the festival brings a lively panel discussion looking at the importance of community in music, and a movement workshop facilitated by choreographer and director Mele Broomes.

Take a look at the full line-up via the button below.