A Black African Heritage project supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund

“I want the community to get to know me – the real me, not the person you think you know based on assumption, statistics, guesswork or stereotypes. How can you relate to me and what I have to offer if you don’t understand me and the wider community doesn’t understand me?”
(Light Up BAHC)

We worked with members of local charity Light Up Black African Heritage & Culture on this exciting intergenerational project. Together, we wanted to inspire and empower members of our Black African Community in Calderdale to talk, to share, and to learn more about the importance of cultural heritage. At verd de gris arts we believe it is so important to inform the rest of society in regard to African traditions, identity, and cultural expression – to help us all understand each other and live well together.

We began by spending time with local people from the Black African Community, building trust through activity workshops, and hearing the stories and experiences of recent Black African migration to Calderdale: why people came to this area, their hopes for their children, and the importance of preserving customs and traditions as they raise their families and settle in their adopted society.

We used these conversations as a way of shaping a programme of activity for our work in two local primary schools – using storytelling, dance, song, and crafts to share and enlighten our children about the rich and diverse history of Black African heritage and culture.

“Grandma would tell stories in the night, stories about animals! Every night we would come in and sit down, my sister, my brother … all the children.‘Come and sit down, Grandma would say, and then she would begin, and we held our breaths …” HIKMAH (from Sudan)

We engaged 45 people from the Black African Community in Calderdale, and worked with 120 children. 15 volunteers joined us for our creative sessions and helped at our celebratory public event, which attracted an audience of 200!

“The project was truly inspirational and allowed our children to really reflect on the world in which they live and how they would like the future of this world to be.The opportunity to practise new and different skills gave an excellent basis for the reflective journey that the children went on.We saw some amazing talent in the arts and creative writing sessions at school and during the final performance.” (Deputy Head, Beech Hill)

This project is funded through The National Lottery Heritage Fund