This October, London will come alive with vibrant celebrations, educational initiatives, and cultural events as the nation commemorates Black History Month. This year’s theme is “Celebrating our sisters, saluting our Sisters, and Honouring Matriarchs of Movements in British Society”, putting the spotlight on the remarkable contributions and legacies of Black women throughout history.
The month-long festival, first celebrated in the UK in 1987, raises awareness of history and celebrates traditions, customs, and cultures through educational events, exhibitions, shows, talks, memorial services, and installations across London.
Black History Month should serve as a platform to amplify the voices and stories of Black British women, honouring their significant contributions to all aspects of life in the UK while addressing the ongoing challenges they face. It’s a time to celebrate achievements, raise awareness, and foster unity and understanding among all communities.
Black History Month 2023 highlights the importance of recognising the pivotal role that Black women have played in shaping British society. It is a time to reflect on their achievements, acknowledge the obstacles they have overcome, and salute their enduring legacy.
Throughout history, Black women have achieved extraordinary feats in various fields. From literature to music, politics and sports, Black British women have made lasting marks on British culture and society.
Black women have been at the forefront of social justice movements, advocating for equality, justice, and human rights, it’s important to acknowledge their courage, determination, and tireless efforts to effect positive change.
Sheroes Among Us – highlighting contemporary black women who are breaking barriers and shattering stereotypes in their respective fields.
Pioneering Voices – featuring black women who have used their voices to speak out against injustice, with quotes from their speeches or writings.
Innovators and Entrepreneurs – showcasing black women who have made significant strides in business and entrepreneurship.
Breaking Barriers – featuring black women who have broken down barriers in sports, entertainment, politics, and other fields.
Women Who Move Mountains – celebrating black women who have made significant contributions to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields
Women Who Lead – showcasing black women who have made significant contributions to leadership and governance.
This Black History Month, explore some of London’s citywide events celebrating the Black communities that have shaped our city. From exhibitions, black-led markets, and beautiful performances to feed your eyes and ears, we have chosen just a handful of incredible events that are happening over London this October.
– On the hunt for literary gems by Black writers? Meet fellow bookworms at the Black British Book Festival. 27-28 Oct
– Join Black-Owned Hackney Market for a weekend-long celebration of Black-owned businesses at Bohemia Place Market. Featuring a mouth-watering selection of food, drinks, retail items, and live music. 5 – 7 Oct
– Comedy Shutdown brings Comedy of Black Origin, a Black History Month Special with some of the best comedians in the business. Multiple dates and locations.
– Claudette Johnson, a founding member of the Black British Arts Movement, is the focus of the current exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery — Claudette Johnson: Presence is a retrospective showing off 30 years of her large-scale drawings of Black men and women. 29 Sept – 14 Jan
– Breaking Barriers: Black History, Queer Voices & Resilience. Head down to the Brown Suga – Black History Month Party for an evening of voguing workshops, DJs and special performances into the early hours. 21 Oct
Looking for more events across London? Head to the BHM official website.
It’s Pride Month! A time to celebrate LGBTQ+ communities, and stand together as a group, and #NeverMarchAlone.
This year’s pride is set to be the UK’s biggest, most diverse pride ever. If you’re looking for Pride events in London this summer, here’s a pick of our top 5 London Pride events for 2023.
Taking place on 1st July, the parade will go from Hyde Park Corner to Whitehall Place, with over 500 groups and 30,000+ participants who will march in the iconic Pride in London Parade. The party will continue with live music stages dotted throughout central London.
Central London | 01 July | FREE
Ajamu: The Patron Saint of Darkrooms
A new exhibition unapologetically celebrating black queer bodies and pleasure as activism at Autograph.
Autograph champions photography that explores issues of race, identity, representation, human rights and social justice, sharing how photographs reflect lived experiences and shape our understanding of ourselves and others.
Autograph Gallery, Shoreditch | 01 Jun – 02 Sep | FREE
Pride at Fora: No LGBTQ+ without the T
Exploring the dynamic landscape of trans rights, inclusivity, and the empowering journey of the LGBTQ+ community, this poignant #Pride2023 discussion offers thought-provoking dialogue that highlights both the progress made and the vital work that still lies ahead.
Fora Spitalfields, Shoreditch | Wednesday 14 June | Tickets £10
IGLA London 2023: The International LGBTQ+ Masters Aquatics Championships
The IGLA LGBTQ+ aquatics championships are headed to the UK for the first time! Hosted at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for a definitive week of entertainment, community and unforgettable sporting moments.
IGLA is a celebration of inclusion in sport offering everyone the chance to showcase their skills, make new friends, and connect with others who share their passions. Alongside the sports is a programme of community and cultural events to show off the best queer London has to offer.
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford | 25 – 30 June | FREE
Jake Elwes Solo Exhibiton: Data – Glitch – Utopia
Through a captivating collection of digital artworks, they explore the realm of Artificial Intelligence. Delving into the intersection of data, technology, and human traces, Elwes combines past and present pieces that reveal the strange properties of data and its potential for alternative queer futures.
Gazelli Art House, Mayfair | 01 June – 08 July | FREE
An Impact breakfast interactive workshop for Office Support Clients
As part of our Social Impact commitment, we were excited to host our Office support clients for an interactive breakfast workshop. This was an hour-long session delivered by Talent and Inclusion Recruiter – Daniel Asaya and organised by our Head of Support (Michelle Davies) and Temp Manager (Denise Watson).
The aim of the workshop was to improve our clients’ understanding on workplace stereotyping, its effects in the workplace and ways to reduce it. We also explored topics around privilege and how to be a supportive ally.
What is workplace stereotyping?
Workplace stereotyping is a fixed, overgeneralised belief about a person or group of people. This stereotype may be based on your past experience with someone of a similar age, gender, ethnicity, background, education, etc., or your cultural biases and prejudices (which we all have).” Brent Watson
Privilege: What it means and doesn’t mean
“If you get upset when someone points out that you have privilege, that probably means you don’t fully understand what privilege is.” – Maisha Johnson
How to be a supportive ally
In a 2016 tweet, Kayla Reed co-founder and executive director of Action St. Louis (a grassroots racial justice organisation that seeks to build political power for Black communities in the St. Louis, Missouri, region of the United States), laid out what it means to be an effective ally:
A – always centre the impacted
L – listen & learn from those who live in the oppression
L – leverage your privilege
Y – Yield the floor
Franchesca Ramsey also explained 5 tips to becoming an ally in this short YouTube video
A big thank you to all our guests and we look forward to continuing this important conversation in our upcoming events. If you are interested in joining our future discussions, please email daniel.asaya@impact-london.com
This March, we host an interactive breakfast D&I activity for our Office Support clients within the Media and Creative Industry.
This workshop will aim to break down misconceptions and stereotypes and participants will have the opportunity to learn about the stereotypes behind certain identities as well as explore ways they can use their privilege to be effective allies to their colleagues, employees, and stakeholders – especially those from marginalised groups.
We’ve shaped this session to bring an intimate group of the creative industries’ Senior PAs, EAs, and Office Managers together.
Date: Tuesday 28th of March 2023.
Time: 9.00am – 10:00am
Venue: WeWork, 1 Mark Square, Shoreditch EC2A 4EG
Join us for this informative session whilst enjoying pastries, refreshments and an opportunity to network with your peers across the industry.
To register or find out more, please contact our ED&I Recruitment Specialist Daniel Asaya via daniel.asaya@impact-london.com
Impact was delighted to host a roundtable discussion in celebration of Black History Month 2022. Our group comprised of HR professionals and EDI Specialists within the Media and Creative industry who are not only game changers but individuals accountable for D&I within their organisations.
The discussion was hosted by our ED&I Recruitment Consultant – Daniel Oluyomi Asaya who set the tone by sharing both his personal and professional experience as a Black Queer Professional. The space quickly became safe for others to share their individual experiences as well as brainstorm ideas that could lead to effective structural change within the Media space.
The consensus revealed that many People of Colour couldn’t speak up about their racial experiences within the workplace due to the lack of diversity and care from the Senior Leadership Team. Some also feared they might be called the “angry black person” or in some cases ostracised or punished if they spoke up about the microaggressions and racism they faced within the workplace. These microaggressions range from mistaking them for their Black colleagues, feeling undermined in their positions, to getting defensive when corrected about an offensive comment.
Another interesting observation was that many White professionals would rather not talk about race within the workplace due to lack of knowledge and fear of being called a racist. Also, discussing race forces people to confront their privilege which is an uncomfortable feeling.
It was generally agreed that race plays a huge role in both our personal and professional lives and should be talked about when and where necessary.
We discussed how some organisations have set up a network for People of Colour to interact, organise and heal. The downside was felt that most volunteers within these groups are often burdened with issues and projects relating to ED&I (just by virtue of their race or identity) without adequate support and budget. A solution to this was for companies to set out a dedicated ED&I group responsible for ED&I events and initiatives throughout the year instead of relying on employees from marginalised groups to drive this – frequently without reward and recognition.
Other initiatives shared included creating an E-mail and Podcast series aimed at profiling Black professionals during Black history month and beyond as well as an open day for young Black creatives.
After an insightful session, our takeaways included: –
For HR leaders and employers to make ED&I a necessity instead of a tick-box exercise. From attending ED&I events, and putting in adequate resources/budget to rewarding those putting in extra time and work to make them happen.
Having a leadership team that truly cares about embedding ED&I into their core strategy; woven into their values, performance management and reward will go a long way in effecting long-term change.
For allies to actively step in and get involved in creating positive change by using their privilege to not only amplify the voices of Black People and People of Colour but also speak up in situations where they may feel uncomfortable to do so. This could also mean taking time to listen to how a situation or comment may have affected someone and putting a conscious effort into changing behaviours and/or calling out behaviours/microaggressions that you now know make people uncomfortable.
Ensuring that you and your organisation are not just preaching DEI but fully getting into the work and being on committees to plan events to celebrate the cultural calendar, ensuring not to leave the work of this to people in those communities only.
Rolling out ED&I training throughout the year and incentivizing those who show interest.
Having a mentorship and sponsorship programme of Black People and People of Colour within the Media, Entertainment and Creative Space.
A big thank you to all our guests and we look forward to continuing this important conversation in our upcoming events. If you are interested in joining our future discussions, please email Daniel.asaya@impact-london.com
Unclear about Data Protection? Impact and Stone King have you covered!
Having just got comfortable (ish) with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), now that the UK has left the EU, a new “UK version” of the GDPR is on the way.
So, potentially, organisations will need to understand not one but two versions of the GDPR; the UK GDPR and the EU GDPR.
Impact are delighted to partner with Paula Williamson, Partner & Head of Information Law at Stone King LLP who will lead our discussion and answer your questions on all things data protection.
Understand the key changes to UK data protection law as a result of Brexit and whether we are in for a rough ride or plain sailing.
We will cover data breaches; how to recognise one, how to handle them and how to prevent them.
You’ll also have the opportunity to share your top data protection queries and our legal partner will tackle them in our Q&A Session.
This breakfast event will be held on Thursday 23rd April at 08.30 – 10.00am. Register your interest at enquiries@impact-london.com