Search

This section presents a reference source on artists, scholars, associations, events and archives that had influenced black British cultural production from 1970 to 2001. Comedian Nina Wadia has worked in theater, radio and television. She has made guest appearances on several television shows, including Holby City and Vicar of Dibley. Daughter of a Nigerian mother and an English father, poet and musician Akure Wall grew up in Croydon, England. Formerly associated with the Urban Poets Society in London, Wall has developed a story-telling approach for her poetry performances, exploring political issues in terms of personal experience, like the search for black female role models.

This section presents a reference source on artists, scholars, associations, events and archives that had influenced black British cultural production from 1970 to 2001. Singer Helen Folsade Adu moved to Essex, England from Nigeria at the age of four. She studied fashion at Saint Martin's College in London, England and began her vocal career singing with the band Pride, while also was working as a fashion designer and model. She then moved on to lead the group Sade and have a series of recordings. The Saga Prize was created by Marsha Hunt in 1995 to further black British writing. It ran for four years. Entrants needed a black African ancestor and a birthplace in Great Britain or the Republic of Ireland when submitting their unpublished first novel. Gita Saghal was educated in both India and Britain, and made her first major career break as a presenter and researcher for Channel 4's current affairs program Banding File. She later moved into producing both television and film, and continued to work as a researcher. Sankofa Film Collective was one of a number of black independent film collectives and workshops that emerged in the country in the 1980s and whose existence was interwoven with the cultural politics of arts funding.

This section presents a reference source on artists, scholars, associations, events and archives that had influenced black British cultural production from 1970 to 2001. Journalist Trevor McDonald had the dubious claim to fame of being one of the few prominent black figures in British cultural life to be featured in the satirical puppet show Spitting Image. The Mad Professor is a successful independent black record producer in Great Britain. His Ariwa record label, which has been in business for over 20 years, has over 200 releases, many of which have reached the number one spot in various countries worldwide. The Man Mela Theatre Co. was created in 1993 in order to celebrate the British Asian experience through dramatic productions and workshops inspired by the poetry and prose of the Indian subcontinent. Mango Publishing is a small press founded in 1995 by Joan Anim-Addo. It specializes in the Caribbean voice, with a particular focus on Caribbean women's writing. A co-founder of Sankofa Film Collective in 1984, Nadine Marsh-Edwards has been a pivotal force in developing a black British cinema from the workshops through to the international sphere. Working variously as an editor, production manager, producer and executive producer on classic films, Marsh-Edwards' collaborations with emerging black directors have cemented her role as a leading black female producer in Great Britain.

This section presents a reference source on artists, scholars, associations, events and archives that had influenced black British cultural production from 1970 to 2001. In Trinidad in the 1940s and 1950s, John La Rose became involved in workers' rights movements, becoming general secretary of the West Indian Independence Party. Having settled in London, England in 1961, La Rose was an active member of Great Britain's black community in the early 1960s, founding New Beacon Books in 1966 and co-founding the Caribbean Artists' Movement. Artist Juginder Lamba emerged through the first survey exhibition of black art, Into the Open, but his involvement with black art was tangential and he was never part of the core group of subsequent shows. This was despite co-writing the first booklet attempting to present black art as a movement, The Artpack: A History of Black Artists in Britain. Derek Alvin Lilliard graduated from Epsom School of Art and Design in England with a Higher National Diploma in fashion and textile design in 1983. Between 1983 and 1985, he worked for Louis Daniel in London, and as a freelance designer in Paris. Lilliard established his label D.A. Lilliard in 1985, with the sale of an entire collection.

This section presents a reference source on artists, scholars, associations, events and archives that had influenced black British cultural production from 1970 to 2001. Baadass TV is a youth-oriented fashion and culture series aired in 1994. Although the series came under criticism for reinforcing black stereotypes it was also acknowledged as the first British series to explore the wilder side of black culture. Babylon Zoo is the artist Jas Mann. The name comes from the Babylonian colors of his childhood in India contrasted with the bleak urban zoo of his adolescence in Wolverhampton, England. Zenab Badawi was one of the first black women newscasters on television. She built her reputation in terms of viewer recognition on the Channel 4 News, which she joined as a reporter and presenter of the news belt section of the program. While bhangra's origins lie in the Punjab region of India, its importance and influence in Britain lies in its role as a catalyst in the development of a sense of cultural identity and visibility for Asian British youth since around the mid-1980s. Black and White Power Plays was the title given to a series of theater productions arranged through the Institute of Contemporary Arts in 1970 in line with their objective to strengthen the profile of black arts in Britain.

This section presents a reference source on artists, scholars, associations, events and archives that had influenced black British cultural production from 1970 to 2001. Artist and disc jockey Gerald Simpson has been an innovative figure at the forefront of the British dance scene since the late 1980s. He first came to prominence as a founder member of 808 State, but it is as a solo artist recording as A Guy Called Gerald that he has made his famous work. Founded in 1981, AbbaKush was the first mainly female reggae band in Great Britain. Their music reflects their commitment to Rastafari ideals of love, peace and unity, and their work draws on Jamaican reggae rhythms but also incorporates other African diasporic forms such as jazz and soca. The African and Asian Visual Arts Archive is an arts organization founded in 1989 by Eddie Chambers. It aims to foster links between its clients--both the artists who contribute and those who visit it. African Cultural Exchange was founded in Birmingham, England in October 1996. The company members included dancer Joanne Bernard, dancer Gail Claxton-Parmel, musician Ian Parmel, dancer Stuart Thomas and musician Skibu. A major facet of the company's work involves educational and outreach work in schools and community venues. The company stresses the need to enable African and Caribbean musicians and dancers to access arts provision.