Find out more about the eclectic calendar of events taking place in Liverpool to celebrate Black History Month.
Black to the Future: Saturday 16 October 2021
Black to The Future is an exciting two part event will focus on a debut Documentary facilitated by Go Off Sis, Elev8 and Julian Gilly focussing on L8 and their impactful work deriving straight from the local Black community.
7pm-10pm
24 Kitchen Street, Liverpool
Entry/Tickets: Free
Routes & Roots-Festival of the African Diaspora: Saturday 16 – 30 October 2021
Routes & Roots Festival Opening
Saturday 16 October 2021, 12 noon – 5pm
St Luke’s Bombed Out Church, Leece Street, Liverpool, L1 2TR
A day of workshops for all ages, introducing the public to different art forms and activities including African and Brazilian dance, drumming, capoeira, slavery tours on bikes and more.
Community Workshops
Sunday 17 – Saturday 30 October 2021, Various Times
Kuumba Imani Millennium Centre, 4 Princes Road, Liverpool, L8 1TH
Caribbean Centre, Merseyside Caribbean Centre, 1 Amberley Street, Liverpool, L8 1YJ
Pal Multicultural Centre, 68A Mulgrave Street, Liverpool, L8 2TF
Katumba Culture Hub, #1 John Archer Hall, 68 Upper Hill Street, Liverpool, L8 1YR
Asylum Link Merseyside, St Anne’s Centre, 7 Overbury Street, Liverpool, L7 3HJ
A range of workshops that will give participants the chance to learn skills and build props they can showcase at the Katumba Halloween Carnival performances on Sunday 31 October.
This will also include online workshops with international guest artists as well as a creative exchange day with all facilitators to inform and bring together the collaborative aspect of the 31 October activities.
Saturday 16 – Sunday 31 October, Various Times
Various Locations
Entry/Tickets: Free
BlackFest Hip-Hop Dance For All: Tuesday 19 October 2021
BlackFest’s Borderline Funk group are proud to present a verbatim piece of Theatre for Social Change based on the theme of ‘Protest’. BlackFest are passionate about people having a voice, the right to use that voice, be heard and listened to in a peaceful way. Everyone has the right to express themselves and be respected. We’ve all experienced times in our life when it has been hard to have our voices heard. The arts are a powerful medium for expression and here you will be presented with a dynamic, political performance combining multiple art forms to express the passion of this ethos.
By Unity Theatre in partnership with BlackFest
7.30pm
Unity Theatre, 1 Hope Place, Liverpool, L1 9BG
Tickets: £12 per person / £10.50 Concession /£6 Creative Membership / Carers FREE
Roni Size x LTJ Bukem: Saturday 23 October 2021
Coming together for this headline show are LTJ Bukem and English DJ and record producer Roni Size. An event for the night owls that will keep you moving right through to the earlier hours of the morning.
11:00pm – 4:00am Ages 18+
Invisible Wind Factory, 3 Regent Road, Liverpool L3 7DS
Tickets: £10.45
1981 Liverpool 8 Uprisings 40th Anniversary Exhibition: Friday 22 October – Wednesday 22 December 2021
Writing on the Wall and Liverpool Record Office present an original exhibition remembering the 1981 Liverpool 8 Uprisings. ‘The Toxteth Riots’, as they were dubbed by the media were a reaction and response by the L8 community to many years of racists policing, brutality and racism, aimed at the community and individuals. This exhibition displays many of the news material from 1981 and reveals the extensive L8 Law Centre collection.
Time TBC
Liverpool Central Library, William Brown Street, Liverpool L3 8EW
Free. No booking necessary
On Record Merseyside: Saturday 23 October – Sunday 7 November 2021
On Record Merseyside is a curated celebration and exploration of Black music in Liverpool and the role it has played in the city and in communities over the past 70 years.
Following the success of 2020’s On Record: Untold & Retold, the 2021 edition will include:
- A collaborative music making project entitled the Liverpool ONE Project – Take Two, artistically directed by L100’s DJ 2Kind in association with Go Play Studios.
- GRIME > PUNK, in partnership with TATE and University of Liverpool. The day event will reflect how Grime is Punk for this new generation and will include a debate, live performances, workshops and an exhibition of art and fashion
- A Black music on Merseyside seminar at the British Music Experience. The event will include the launch of the Liverpool City Region Music Board’s Black music manifesto, a series of roundtables and a number of guest speakers.
- The premiere of the BEATS OF HEART Black music trail, presented by poet and performer, Curtis Watt.
- A DJ clash club night presented by 24 Kitchen Street featuring an assortment of the best Black music DJs in the region.
- A series of exclusive podcasts including 4 new Untold Stories and a live recording of a special episode of Mellowtone’s Beneath The Merseybeat.
Black Market: Sunday 24 October 2021
Black Market brings together a wide range of locally produced products – art, film, photography, fashion, food and tunes, plus much more. Interactive workshops will unfold throughout the day at this progressive event. The aim of this market is to champion Black talent and the organisers envision a year-round regular event in the future.
24 Kitchen Street, 24 Kitchen Street, Liverpool
Entry/Tickets: Free
Sessions: Monday 25 October 2021
Sessions is a discussion with Ifeyinwa Frederick, a 30 year old back man who engages his audience in a raw and honest look into the complexities associated with masculinity, depression and therapy. The Esmée Fairburn Foundation and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation are supporting this event.
Unity Theatre, 1 Hope Place, Liverpool L1 9BG
Book Tickets: www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk
Tickets: £10 – £12
Katumba Halloween Carnival: Sunday 31 October
Join the Katumba Halloween Carnival, part of the new ‘Routes & Roots-Festival of the African Diaspora’, which is a partnership with the newly formed Black & Brown Social Traders Network (BlaST).
Be ready to have your senses bewitched with an all-immersive spectacle, a hybrid of visual performance, theatre and music this Halloween. Stay tuned for highlights on the artists taking part and the revealing of the devious characters, as well as how YOU can take part!
5pm – 9pm
St Luke’s Bombed Out Church, Leece Street, Liverpool, L1 2TR
Church Street, Liverpool, L1 3AP
Liverpool ONE, Sugar House Steps, 2 Thomas Steers Way, Liverpool, L1 8LW
Free. No booking necessary