A NEW hybrid festival is inviting all to celebrate the Black creative community in Coventry this weekend.
More than 50 Black and Black-heritage artists and cultural leaders will convene at at St Mary’s Guildhall on Saturday (March 29) for Melan8, a festival of unique and shared heritages across Black cultures.
It will see creatives from across the West Midlands and beyond gather for a day of live music, dance, poetry and performances alongside a host of fascinating panels and workshops.
Professional development workshops in creative writing, theatre direction and publishing also feature as part of the programme, with film, comedy, DJs, painting and an Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony all in the spotlight at one of the city’s most historically significant venues.
An audio tour of St Mary’s Guildhall, which chronicles anti-slavery campaigner Frederick Douglass’s visit to the venue, will also be available.
The festival is the creation of Coventry arts production house Weusi Ltd, and is led by its Artistic Director, Nyasha Daley.
Its name is derived from ‘melanated’, which is defined by Merriam-Webster as ‘highly pigmented; containing melanin in high concentrations used in reference to Black and Black heritage communities’.
Weusi has been working with the community engagement team at St Mary’s Guildhall for several months to create a programme that positively profiles Black talent, while inviting people of all heritages through the door to discuss, enjoy, explore and engage with the arts through a Black diasporic lens.
Nyasha said: “Melan8 is both a cultural celebration and an inclusive space for black artists to have the freedom of the stage, for everyone to enjoy.
“As a production house, Weusi is focused on creating work that positively platforms and profiles Black professionals, invoking the positive impacts and opportunities that intersectional and equitable collaborations can make.
“Melan8 is an opportunity for us all to enjoy the incredible creative output that exists within the Black diaspora within the beautiful confines of St. Mary’s.
“It’s also a chance for us all to learn more about creative practice, diasporic community and intersectional culture, helping us all develop better connections and stronger dialogues. All of this responds to the theme of this year’s festival, which is Common/Unity.”
Contributors include Professor Kehinde Andrews, the first Black Studies professor in the UK; poet and playwright, and former Birmingham Poet Laureate, Casey Bailey; creative director of the Belgrade Theatre Corey Campbell; MP for Coventry North West Taiwo Owatemi; CEO of Europe’s largest Black owned Arts and Business Centre Keith Shayaam; chief executive officer and artistic director of Warwick Arts Centre Doreen Foster; Culture Central partnerships & development manager Charlene Carter-James; CEO and artistic director of Eloquent Dance Romanah Buchanan.
They are joined by multi-disciplinary artist, and designer of the Queen’s Baton (Commonwealth Games), Laura Nyahuye; soprano opera and concert singer Abigail Kelly; Inini Founder and Doctor of Philosophy scholar Last Mafuba; chief executive of refugee charity Together Now Victor Iringere; award-winning creative producer, and founder of More Than A Moment, Elizabeth Zeddie Lawal; author and publisher Marcia M Spence; artist and writer Jamal Gerald; actress, director and writer Tonia Daley-Campbell; Birmingham comedienne Annette Fagon; dancer, cultural leader and coach, Ithalia Johnson and multi-disciplinary artist Cherelle Sappleton.
The live events will be hosted by broadcaster and entrepreneur Merisha Stevenson, comedian Smash Hesson and singer and broadcaster Letitia George.
Melan8 follows two successful iterations in 2019 and 2020, called iDENT, which were funded through Coventry City of Culture, with the first event hosted at Warwick Arts Centre in 2019 before moving to an online format.
Visit www.weusi.org.uk/melan82025 for more information.
