This year’s Launchpad commissions shine a spotlight on the lived experiences of Black women. Perceptions of these women are challenged by Tina Ramos Ekongo and Lauryn Pinard collaborates with Latisha César and Holly Francis as they make space for rest.

BlackInk New Writing Competition Winners June Aming and Shere Ross share short fiction from Caribbean and Black British perspectives, both demonstrating exceptional command of language and dialect whilst portraying facets of the human condition.

Cover Art: Sunlight by Mel Larsen

Insight: Black British Music
The Great Reveal: The Value Black Creativity – Soweto Kinch
Lovers Rock Nostalgia – Lisa Amanda Palmer
2-Tone: Music and a Movement – Pauline Black
“Putting on a Performance”: A personal perspective from a Black classical musician – Tony Graves

Launchpad
Sculptural Heritage – Kelis Darko
Poetry Looks Like Me – Ty’rone Haughton
NOIR – Rose Aïda
A Journey Through Sound – Jada O’Neill

Arts and Culture
Practices of Rooting and Spaces of Performative Becoming: Establishing British Caribbean Diasporic Identity through Dance – Tia-Monique Uzor
Black Digital Dance Revolution – Georgina Payne
Leading Whilst Black – Hilary Carty

Voices of Independence
The Intimacy of Independence – Caroline Johnson
The Road to Independence – Gus John
Little Britain – The Republic – Sandra Pollock
Afrofuturist Autonomy – Henri Tauliaut

Place and Space
Slavery Abolition or Break the Chains? They didn’t free us; we freed ourselves – Kwame Nimako and Stephen Small
Raising Cane: A call for the return of an artefact of the Haitian Revolution – Khamal Patterson
Racial Justice Conversations in the Dialogue Box – Anita Gonzalez
Mapping the Black European Experience – Natasha A Kelly and Olive Vassell

The Gayelle In Perpetuity – Jamie J Philbert

New Writing
Walk Good – Marcia White
Hibiscus – Pam Williams

Spotlight: Latinx Amplified – Pawlet Brookes
The Interview – Vanley Burke

Cover Image Issue 3: Chaman by Henri Tauliaut

BlackInk is an interface between a physical magazine and digital content, exploring Black British Theatre, arts and culture, Afrofuturism, activism and identity and new writing.  Introducing Launchpad artists Ade Coker, Tolu Coker, Stephen Anthony Davids, Shangomola Edunjobi and Ana Paz. Featuring contributions from nora chipaumire, Sam Cook, Hyppolite Ntiguirirwa, Chaedria LaBouvier and more.

“Articles of real depth and insight with every turn of the page. Raises aspirations and points to forgotten histories.”
Sir Nicholas Serota
Chair – Arts Council England

“To talk about the future, we need to know where we are now and how our unique ecosystem is being reimagined and constructed as we speak”
Is There a Future for Black Theatre? by Stella Kanu

“The shift from negro to black has contemporary echoes in the movement from the disentangle black from BAME”
A Concise History of Black British Theatre”s Interaction with Arts Council England: A Personal Perspective by Tyrone Higgins

“In the wake of global pandemic, and “Black Springs” everywhere. I offer another manifesto! On how to breathe and live in revolutionary time.”
Black Manifesto! The Ten Commandments: Black Women Speak Out by nora chipaumire

Full Content and Contributors

Insight: Black British Theatre
A Concise History of Black British Theatre’s Interaction with Arts Council England: A Personal Perspective — Tyrone Huggins
Is There a Future for Black Theatre? — Stella Kanu
A World Beyond Liverpool — Cathy Tyson
Road to Success — Paulette Randall

Afrofuturism
Black Manifesto! — nora chipaumire
25 Years of Hate — Maya Brookes
The Hole in the Wall: Curating Basquiat’s
Defacement — Chaédria LaBouvier
Achieving Creative Justice Across the African Diaspora — Antonio C Cuyler
Skin and Colour — Patricia Vester

Launchpad
Beware the Tokoloshe — Shangomola Edunjobi
Sombre — Ana Paz
No More Tears — Stephen Anthony Davids (SAD)
Irírí — Ade Coker
Through Their Eyes — Tolu Coker

Arts and Culture
Whoa! There’s Something About The Groove: Reflections from The Dancing Diplomat on Hip-Hop Dance’s “Special” Powers — Aysha Upchurch
Things Fall Apart – On Public Monuments — Mistura Allison
The Origins of Australia’s Blak History Month — Sam Cook

Activism and Identity
Black Lives Matter — Boston ‘The Orator’ Williams
Finding a Home in Dance — Samwel Japhet
#BeThePeaceWalk — Hyppolite Ntiguirirwa
Who is Black Italian? And Above All Who is an Italian? — Fred Kuwornu
Research, Engagement and Impact – The Stephen Lawrence Research Centre One Year On — Kennetta Hammond Perry

New Writing
Yemi Can’t Swim: Something in the Water — Sarah Kelly-Olatunji

The Interview
Kathy Williams by Pawlet Brookes

On the Shoulders of Giants: Barrington Lloyd Anderson — Chester Morrison
Navigating and Propelling a Vision — Sharon Watson
Children Only Know What They See – Stacey Green
Fractured: Diversity and the North East – Martin Hylton

AfroManifesto

Representing: Black Women Are Beautiful – Maya Brookes
Awo… is Leadership – Kweku Aacht
Black Gold Dust – Roshini Kempadoo
Kedji’s Identity is: Emancipated – Freddy Houdekindo
A Performance in Stillness: Critical Reading Strategies for Archives of Blackness – Mutsa Mhende

Launchpad

Untitled (Running Series) – Kat Anderson
Emergency? – Charlie Evaristo-Boyce
Intergenerational Trauma – Isaac Ouro-Gnao

Arts and Culture

When The Ugliness Reared its Head – Amanda Parker
In my Opinion: The Black British Film Renaissance – Pierre Godson-Amamoo
Making the Invisible, Visible – Peter Adjaye
Liminal Life – Mark Sealy
Gatekeepers and Thieves: A Case on Restitution – Mistura Allison
Bundlehouse: Worldwide Soon Come? – Nyugen E Smith

Activism and Identity

Parallel Lives and Intertwined Belongings – Kwame Nimako
A Brief History of Key Moments and Issues in the Black British Civil Rights Movement – Beverley Bryan
Backyard Stories as a Strategy for Survival: Eat Little and Live Long – Makeda Thomas
What Are We Talking About? – Jean-François Manicom

New Writing

The BlackInk New Writing competition returns for this second edition, this time opening the doors to writers from across the African and African Caribbean Diaspora in the UK and internationally. This initiative, led by Serendipity and Writing East Midlands, seeks to support Black writers of short fiction.  Read by Tyrone Huggins.

The Interview

Pawlet Brookes interviews composer Philip Herbert to discuss his influences, his achievement and his hopes.

Cover Image Issue 2: Bundlehouse by Nyugen E Smith

Afrofuturism
Black Manifesto! — nora chipaumire
25 Years of Hate — Maya Brookes
The Hole in the Wall: Curating Basquiat’s
Defacement — Chaédria LaBouvier
Achieving Creative Justice Across the African Diaspora — Antonio C Cuyler
Skin and Colour — Patricia Vester

Launchpad
Beware the Tokoloshe — Shangomola Edunjobi
Sombre — Ana Paz
No More Tears — Stephen Anthony Davids (SAD)
Irírí — Ade Coker
Through Their Eyes — Tolu Coker

Arts and Culture
Whoa! There’s Something About The Groove: Reflections from The Dancing Diplomat on Hip-Hop Dance’s “Special” Powers — Aysha Upchurch
Things Fall Apart – On Public Monuments — Mistura Allison
The Origins of Australia’s Blak History Month — Sam Cook

Activism and Identity
Black Lives Matter — Boston ‘The Orator’ Williams
Finding a Home in Dance — Samwel Japhet
#BeThePeaceWalk — Hyppolite Ntiguirirwa
Who is Black Italian? And Above All Who is an Italian? — Fred Kuwornu
Research, Engagement and Impact – The Stephen Lawrence Research Centre One Year On — Kennetta Hammond Perry

New Writing
Yemi Can’t Swim: Something in the Water — Sarah Kelly-Olatunji

The Interview
Kathy Williams by Pawlet Brookes

Cover Image Issue 1: I Will Take You with Me by Patricia Vester