Black History Month
Each year, Tower Hamlets Council helps to facilitate and publicise a programme of events to celebrate Black History Month in October. An important part of the annual calendar, it provides a forum to highlight the contributions made by the black and ethnic minority community to British life and explores and celebrates black history, experience and culture.
In 2009 we included 130 events happening in Tower Hamlets in our brochure in 25 different venues. We were also able to include additional events on our BHM web page.
We are delighted that so many community groups, arts organisations and individuals have participated in the creation of a rich programme of events each October and we extend a warm thank you to everyone for their continuing time, effort and enthusiasm, we invite new organisations, venues, artists and individuals to also get involved this year.
The Council also manages a small grant scheme called the ‘Event Fund’ for people organising Arts events in Tower Hamlets. If you are organising an event as part of Black History Month you may be eligible to apply to this fund. The application form can be found on the Arts and Events Team page of this website, but please note that events on or after 1st October 2010 will need to apply before 13th August. But we recommend that you apply early so that you can plan for your event in good time for the brochure. The deadline for inclusion will be Friday 30th July, but again it is advisable to get it in before then. The brochure submission form can be downloaded from this page.
If you would like to get involved, join the interest group, join the brochure mailing list or get more information (such as copies of minutes from meetings), please email: festivalsandevents@towerhamlets.gov.uk.
The 2010 brochure will be available from mid September in Libraries, Idea Stores and One-Stop Shops and you will also be download a pfd copy below (you can download the brochure from 2009 to get an idea of the fantastic variety of events and activities that happened last year).
In order to reach more people in our planning and outreach programme we will be holding the planning meetings in different parts of the borough this year, and the day and time will vary from meeting to meeting, so please keep an eye out for any changes. Also if you would like to host a meeting please contact festivalsandevents@towerhamlets.gov.uk.
And finally, do remember that you don’t have to wait until October to enjoy the self guided Black History Walks as profiled in the leaflet that you can download from the bottom of this page. Our proximity to the docks and a history of welcoming immigrant and transient populations has ensured that Black people have been a feature of East London since Roman times. You can literally follow in their footsteps by taking either of the two walks featured, ‘Sailors, Scribes and Slaves’ and ‘Priests, Writers and Statesmen’.
Survey
We value your feedback, and would appreciate it if you took a few moments to respond to some questions about Black History Month in Tower Hamlets. Watch this space - survey to come shortly...
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- 25 Sep 10Black History Month Launch at Rich Mix
- 30 Sep 10 - 02 Oct 10Ella at Rich Mix
- 05 Oct 10 - 10 Oct 10Mahatma Ghandi in Tower Hamlets at Bow Church DLR
- 07 Oct 10Author event: Uchenna Izundu at Idea Store, Whitechapel
- 09 Oct 10Carnival Headdress Family Craft Session at Watney Market Library
- 13 Oct 10Black History in the Archives at Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives
- 14 Oct 10Author visit: Yaba Badoe, "True Murder" at Idea Store, Whitechapel
- 15 Oct 10 - 16 Oct 10Nina & Shaz at Rich Mix
- 15 Oct 10Animal Masks at Cubitt Town Library
- 16 Oct 10Walter Tull: Officer, Footballer at Bethnal Green Library
- 16 Oct 10Black History Month Celebration at Idea Store, Bow
- 18 Oct 10 - 29 Oct 10Tower Hamlets Community Housing Black History Exhibition at Tower Hamlets Community Housing
- 25 Oct 10African Mask Making at Idea Store, Bow
- 26 Oct 10Story Writing at Idea Store, Bow
- 27 Oct 10Woven Jewellery Making at Idea Store, Bow
- 28 Oct 10Carnival Hats at Cubitt Town Library
- 28 Oct 10African Jewellery Craft Session at Watney Market Library
- 29 Oct 10 - 30 Oct 10Billie Holliday I Cover the Waterfront at Rich Mix
- 29 Oct 10Are we done yet? at Idea Store, Bow
- 30 Oct 10African Drumming and Face Painting Workshop at Idea Store, Whitechapel
- 31 Oct 10Poetry and performance with Sabrina Mahfouz at Idea Store, Whitechapel
Downloads
| BHM 2009 debrief minutes |
| Black History Month Programme 2009 |
| BHM brochure submission template, 2010 |
| Self guided Black history walks in Tower Hamlets |