HOME has unveiled a programme of events celebrating Black artists through art, film, theatre, music and interactive events online and at HOME
Dave Moutrey, Director & CEO of HOME, said: “Celebrating the wealth of Black talent in the arts has always been important to HOME in our current incarnation and in our previous lives, but this year more than ever we want our Black History Month programming to really step up and showcase the diversity of amazing Black artists on screen, on stage and online. This is a real opportunity to learn about and take pride in Black identity and community and we are proud to provide a platform to discuss important issues, explore Black history and feature fantastic work that we know our audiences will enjoy.”
The specially-curated events include a series of virtual performances by three North West-based Black musicians, and a family storytime session with writer and performer Ella McLeod and starring Asae Ya the Earth Mother, Nyame the Sky God, Brother Death, Anansi the Spider and Celina the Moon Goddess.
There will be two panel discussions, recorded at venues around Manchester and hosted online – ‘The Black Mirror – Representations of Race in Horror Film’ and ‘The Future Minority Majority Wonders – Where Are Our Spaces?’ giving us the opportunity to question representation and space, and envisage a new future in a discussion hosted by Black Gold Arts’ Cheryl Martin. Cheryl’s theatre work One Woman will also be available to watch online – a hypnotic dreamscape following one woman’s wrestle with her identity.
HOME’s resident artists, Young Identity, make three appearances in the programme – on 1 October in a live Zoom workshop, Pamoja Nyumbani (Together at home), a live performance reopening HOME’s theatre on 13 October, Working from HOME, and in their showcased online festival, part of HOME’s Homemakers series which was launched at the beginning of the pandemic and has continued to provide paid opportunities for artists while theatres have been closed. Other Homemakers shows will also be showcased, including choreographer Chad Taylor’s Lost Online, Alex Ho and Elayce Ismail’s Amazon, Yusra Warsama and Chris Thorpe’s game, Tell Me and Leaphia Darko’s The Very Error of the Moon.
The film programme includes celebrations of ground-breaking filmmakers and actors including Earl Cameron, Paul Robeson, Charles Burnett and debbie tucker green.
Also screening will be new releases Clemency, starring Alfre Woodard as prison warden Bernadine Williams, struggling with the toll of carrying out death row executions, and One Man and his Shoes, the story of how Nike’s partnerships with Michael Jordan and Spike Lee took them from a struggling company to a global phenomenon.
Three one-off screenings, White Riot, Mangrove and Do the Right Thing show three seminal moments in Black history, from the formation of Rock Against Racism, through Steve McQueen’s focus on the infamous trial of activists based at Notting Hill’s Mangrove restaurant, to Spike Lee’s vibrant look at a day in the life of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. And with Marvel’s Black Panther, HOME pay tribute to the recently-deceased Chadwick Boseman.
Meanwhile in HOME’s Granada Foundation gallery, Christian Asare returns to HOME with Love Flows, a diptych in oils created during lockdown to celebrate the creative contributions of the trailblazing QTIBPOC collective, House of Noir.
For more information, visit homemcr.org.
