BlackFest 2022 returns to Liverpool venues this autumn

BlackFest returns this autumn with a packed programme of performances and workshops planned over the month-long event.

The award-winning grassroots Black arts festival, which was launched in 2018, runs from September 24 to October 29 at venues across Liverpool.

Music, theatre, film, visual arts, poetry and the spoken word are all on the 2022 programme which opens at noon on Saturday, September 24 with a free event at the Pier Head which will feature Afrodance Academy and Katumba.

Zimbabwean writer and performer Mandla Rae (pictured above) will combine poetry and storytelling in As British as a Watermelon at the Unity Theatre on September 26, while the Music Room at the Philharmonic Hall is the venue for BlackFest Riddims Night on September 28.

The event will draw together some of Liverpool’s most exciting musicians, as well as national emerging artists, for one evening’s entertainment which will also include a panel discussion on Breaking Through the Music Industry hosted by Alex from HipHop HQ.

The Hope Street Theatre is the venue for a spoken word and poetry evening on September 28, featuring Samuel Ameiza-Djabli - AKA ChiefUncleSam, Tahja Edwards and Manchester Poetry Place’s Gabriel Oyediwura and Cherelle Anne. There will also be a post-show discussion and an open mic.

On September 29, Granby Winter Garden will host an educational workshop on environmental responsibility and sustainability.

FACT will be the venue for a September 30 screening of Displaced, a cinematic reimagining of Akeim Toussaint Buck’s one-man dance theatre show Windows of Displacement, and from October 1, Gallery 455 on Smithdown Road will host work by four visual artists.

Then on October 2 a discussion panel, Diasporic Dialogues, will be held at the Museum of Liverpool, hosted by L8 activist Ray Quarless.

BlackFest director Jubeda Khatun, who recently won the title Merseyside Woman of the Year, said: "We’re thrilled to be celebrating five years of BlackFest. Liverpool is a vibrant port city with so much to offer from local talent as well as taking pride in welcoming new works into the city from the North West and nationally.

“There's so much to choose from over the festival period and there really is something for everyone. And so much of it is free entry too."

BlackFest runs from September 24 to October 29. More details HERE