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HACKNEY Town Hall Square will burst into life on Saturday 29 September with a vibrant and colourful Carnival – the opening event for Hackney’s 2007 Black History Month celebrations.
Local artists and cultural organisations have created an exciting programme of activities for all the family covering art, music, dance, film, theatre, library events, literature and the spoken word, politics and history, all exploring the themes of black heritage, history and culture.
Last year, Hackney collaborated with Newham and Tower Hamlet for Black History Month. Following feedback from the local community, the Council’s Cultural Development Team decided to organise the 2007 event as a Hackney-only programme, making it bigger and better than before.
Among the highlights will be the first ever Ghanaian Film Festival hosted by the Arcola Theatre and Rio Cinema in Dalston. The Rio also has its own special programme to celebrate the history of the black community.
Budding rappers, singers, MCs and musicians will have the opportunity to create their own rhymes and music at a workshop at Hoxton Hall.
The Hackney Empire will host Richard Bradbury’s play, ‘Become a Man’, which tells the moving story of the escaped slave and anti-slavery campaigner Frederick Douglass. Like a number of other Black History Month events, the play is inspired by the bicentenary of the abolition of slavery as its inspiration.
Continuing this theme, Hackney Museum has extended its popular Abolition 07’ exhibition to coincide with Black History Month. The exhibition has been devised to increase awareness of the Slave Trade: exploring its background, resistance to, abolition and impact on the borough’s communities.
As part of the Abolition ’07 programme, a group of Hackney Elders have come together to work on ‘Speaking Out’ – a drama about slavery told through spirituals, narrative, drama and shadow play, presented at the National Trust Sutton House.
These are just a few of the activities taking place at venues across the borough for Black History Month. Mayor Jules Pipe said: “Hackney’s Black History Month programme celebrates and raises awareness of the contribution that Black African and Caribbean communities have made in Hackney and across the globe.
I would like to invite Hackney residents from all communities and of all ages to take part.” A brochure highlighting the events taking place in Hackney is available from all the borough’s libraries. To check out events online, please visit:
http://www.hackney.gov.uk/black-history-month.htm.
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