2020 Programme

The forums are a place to link up and share ideas on key themes London's African creatives want to explore.

July Forum

On Friday 10 July, Africa in London brought the theme of 'Survive and Thrive' to an online forum hosted by the British Council. We heard from cultural and community producers on how challenging times have called for opportunities to connect in new ways. Key themes from the talks and discussions;

Education: Supporting young people, so they can really know their history and be rooted

Health: Acknowledge rest has been required, and to prepare as we enter a recovery phase

Collaboration: Sharing skills and offering another space for advice and support on small and larger scale

Have a look at the wider summary themes

The forums were set up as a place to link up and share ideas on key themes London's African creatives want to explore. These themes are a way of developing knowledge across future training and skills sharing across the Africa in London programme. Budget constraints due to COVID-19 mean we need to look at the programme differently. This year we will focus on maintaining dialogue and connection through coming together.

The 2 hour event can be viewed on Facebook with talks and performances. It was a great first step for us to go digital with over 3000 views. It was great to develop the partnership with the British Council who hosted the event online.

Find out more about the event at the GLA Community Engagement Team’s blog post.

Thank you to all our contributors;

• Presenter and DJ Henrie Kwushue as host for the event.
• Gambian storyteller Maimouna Jallow shared a tale of pain and triumph from Ghana to the world.
• Managing Director of the Black Cultural Archives, Arike Oke shared reflections on the past months and what they have meant for cultural institutions.
• Now former Director of the Africa Centre, Kenneth Tharp CBE reflected on the discussions.
• Kenyan artist Makadem performed two incredible acoustic sets for us.

February Forum

On 17 February 2020, we held our first Africa in London Forum set up by our Africa in London advisory group of key leaders. This includes representatives from the Black Cultural Archives, British Council, ZIP, Hatch Ideas, The Africa Centre, The Royal African Society and Southbank Centre.

The first forum was co-chaired by advisory group members Zezi Ifore and Yemisi Mokuolu. Over 100 people came to hear about experiences of applying for funding. Speakers included Debbie Weekes-Bernard (Deputy Mayor Social Integration, Social Mobility, Community Engagement) and Genevieve Pace (Creative Economy Programme Manager, British Council). They also heard from two of 2019’s six Africa in London Culture Seeds winners Ade Banjoko and Gbemisola Isimi too. Music came from the only female Orutu player in East Africa, Kenya’s Labdi, who wowed the audience with her performance.

Key issues raised included:

• finding affordable space to host African cultural events in London
• historic problems with access to funds
• the diversity of African creative outputs that should be funded

Below is an artist’s impression of the February 2020 discussion points, created by Chiizii (see a text-only version)

To stay connected with our forums, sign up to the Africa in London mailing list

Photographs by Munyaradzi Chidakwa

Africa in London 2019 ran from 1 June until 30 September. In 2019 we connected with hundreds of people through our main events: Open the Gate, Africa Fashion Week London, Africa Writes, Africa Utopia.

Our online hub showcased 60 African community cultural events in London.

Last years' listings will be added shortly.