Celebrating Black History Month 2021 at the halley and beyond

Article written by
Callum
events
October 10, 2021

October marks Black History Month here in the UK, and we're celebrating the historical occasion with a wide range of activities here at the halley.

We've also shared a few events happening in London that we're excited to check out, from Black culture markets to the Horniman's exploration of the roots of Black British music in private spaces.

What's happening at The Halley

This month our film club will screen 4 films celebrating Black History Month.

Please book a seat at our reception or via the eventbrite links below for each screening.

05/09 - Playing Away: To mark the conclusion of their "Third World Week" celebration, a cricket team in a small English village invites a black cricket team from South London to a charity game with comical results.

Book your free ticket.

13/09 - Bullet Boy: An inner-city London youth, Ricky (Ashley Walters) has served prison time for a stabbing but is trying to turn his life around. Ricky's hopes for escaping the brutality of his neighbourhood quickly diminish, however, when he and his friend, get into a minor incident on the street that escalates into a feud with another young man.

Book your free ticket.

20/09 - Babylon: Babylon is an incendiary portrait of racial tension and police brutality set in Brixton, London. The film, anchored by Dennis Bovell’s propulsive score, is partly based on Bovell’s false imprisonment for running a Jamaican sound system, Sufferer’s Hi Fi, in the mid-70s.

Book your free ticket.

27/10 - The Color Purple: A black Southern woman struggles to find her identity after suffering abuse from her father and others over four decades.

Book your free ticket.

SKT Spaces present Lovelyboy solo exhibition launch party

Join us for the opening night on October 8 at 6pm to discover the solo exhibition of Lovelyboy, listen to spoken words' performances, and have a drink with us! Products by Lovelyboy design available to purchase on site.

Belfast born, London based, creative designer, Saba, strives to sell forward thinking, modern products embodied with individuality. With a wide product range from wall art to wrapping paper and luxury face masks, Saba wanted to create ranges that you couldn't purchase anywhere else.

This brand especially strives to uplift and inspire women of all races and backgrounds through art and celebrate the beauty and vibrance of women. Deeply feeling the need to represent WOC as Saba feels there is still a lot more space and opportunity to represent WOC through the arts sector.

Saba lets her culture and experiences as a woman shine through in her work in the hopes others can see representation for their experiences and feel empowered.

Grab your free ticket here

Medela School x SKT presents: Life Drawing workshop series at the halley

Life Drawing is a series of workshops hosted by The Medela School exploring different life related themes through different art forms.

Rather than traditional life drawing where you draw what you see, here you will be drawing or painting to connect with what you feel. Led by real artist who will be guiding you through creating in their style and sharing their personal stories of how art impacts their lives.

'Portraits of Power', our first theme, we will be using portraiture to explore identity and interpersonal relationships. You will get to relax, reflect and leave with your own masterpiece at the end! Grab your free ticket here

Events we recommend

Running from October 2nd - 3rd, Black Culture Market supports emerging entrepreneurs & new black businesses of African & Caribbean decent with opportunities to showcase and sell their products. We achieve this by curating and hosting exclusive events in a variety of iconic venues across London and beyond. Our next event taking place over two days in the heart of Brixton, offers a diverse, quality shopping and cultural experience celebrating producers of the African & Caribbean community. If you're looking for gifts, cards, unique prints, jewellery, male grooming kits, skincare, clothes or other original accessories come down! This market truly embodies the community's spirit as well as supporting black businesses.

Learn more here.

Africa Popup market is a platform to showcase Black Entrepreneurs products and services through networking, workshops, marketing and sales.

Black Female Entrepreneur Greenwich is set up to create a platform for Black Female Entrepreneurs and Black own business to exhibits, market, network, share resources and sell their product and services.

Learn more here.

The Black Women Business Talks will offer Black women a space to learn effective growth strategies for business development and career success.

With interactive talks and group discussions led by stand-out business women and senior leaders, this event will offer you practical advice and insights on how to be your best authentic self as a Black woman in industry, lead in whatever capacity you find yourself in and create success on your own terms.

There will be a chance to network with speakers, business leaders and industry professionals, following the event.

Learn more here.

Black Owned Hackney returns for the closing of our Spring/Summer 2021 series in collaboration with Black Eats LDN!

Catch us every month opposite Hackney Central station showcasing London’s best black-owned eats , artisan traders and many more black-owned businesses!

Learn more here

From British Bashment, Garage and Grime, to Jazz, Soul and Gospel, the Horniman explores the roots of Black British music in private spaces.

The 696 risk assessment introduced by London’s Metropolitan police in 2005 required the city’s nightclub and venue promoters to provide details of the events they planned to host, including the ethnicity of their target audience. This made it increasingly difficult for London venues to stage Black music events and caused many genres of Black music to move out of the public realm and into private spaces where it continued to thrive and grow.

The exhibition features a combination of work by two contemporary artists: Naeem David and SignKid. Naeem Davis recreates the private spaces where Black music genres thrived, from bedrooms, barbers and living rooms, to community churches. This is complimented by an exploration into British Sign Language versions of key slang words and phrases from Black British music through interactive video by SignKid.

The exhibition interrogates the power and responsibility of public spaces to support and amplify local music, and celebrates the Black British music scene particularly museum’s local area, South London.

Learn more here.

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