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Equinet – Celebrating Black History Month
October 23, 2017 @ 9:30 am - 6:00 pm
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EquiNet, the network for BAME staff at LSBU proudly presents a one day Black History Month event to inspire and empower through poetry and the creativity of activists, writers, musicians and entrepreneurs featuring urban fashion by Kelly Kibirige and Afghan jewellery by Khatera Omar. Join us to celebrate Black History Month for the day and help us to create awareness of the impact on the world of a range of people featured in the programme below.
Programme
9.45am – 10am: Welcome from Professor Pat Bailey, Deputy Vice Chancellor
10am – 10.45am: Words of Inspiration with Lanre Sulola
Be inspired and join us to listen to the words of Lanre Sulola, a poet and musician who uses his experiences of day to day life to motivate others to achieve their dreams. Lanre will be opening our Black History Month celebrations, creating the uplifting mood and positive feeling that surrounds this month to highlight the achievements of BAME people around the world.
11am – 12pm: Poets’ Corner with Poetic Unity
Join us to listen to Ragz-CV, founder of Poetic Unity – an award-winning lyricist who works with young people developing their creativity and performance skills and is committed to helping the next generation achieve their highest potential. With two of his co-member, Ragz-CV will take us on a thought-provoking, lyrical journey exploring life from the outside and within.
12pm – 1pm: Poets’ Corner and the Poetry of Dorothea Smartt
Described by poetryarchive.org as a ‘stunning performance artist and poet’ Dorothea returns to LSBU to enrich us with her experience and insight through her words, characterisations and voices. Dorothea Smartt has an international reputation as a respected literary activist, live artist and poet. She is an honorary member and advisor to Cambridge University’s Caribbean Poetry Project and her poetry appears in several journals, academic books and ground-breaking anthologies
1pm – 1.45pm: Lunch – Carribbean hot fork buffet
1.45pm – 3pm: Equality, Diversity and Being Visible
Join us to hear about the work of three panellists who have done a tremendous amount of work to make black history visible. Stephen Bourne is a writer and social historian and will be speaking on his published books Black Poppies and Fighting Proud. Dr Miranda Brawn is an award winning diversity leader, founder and CEO of the Miranda Brawn Diversity Leadership Foundation and Patron of the Black Cultural Archives. She will be speaking on how young people can own their power and inspire young people into leadership to change the world. Dr Peace Ojimba-Baldwin is an experienced community educational consultant focussing on equality in education for marginalised groups and will speak about the role of BME mothers in the education and social mobility of children.
3.15pm – 4pm: Diversity Matters –RoboGals and BAME Women in Engineering
Did you know that currently only six percent of professional engineers in the UK are from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds and BME Network? Diversity matters and companies are more likely to perform better if they are diverse which makes it important to hear about the exciting work on encouraging women into Engineering at LSBU and global initiatives such as RoboGals. Professor Shushma Patel and Dr Safia Barikzai are active participants in the drive to encourage BAME women into STEM subject areas and leadership roles. In June this year, they launched the Women in Engineering network at LSBU to inspire, empower and support women to accomplish their career goals.
4pm – 6pm: Evening Reception with Acoustic Black Folk Music
Join us for the evening reception with music provided by dynamic bass and voice duo, Eileen Quashie and Alex Kundig. They will transport listeners with their brand of ancestral Afro-soul sounds. Hailing from Ghana, Canada, Thailand, and Switzerland, their music explores history and ancestral healing through transcendent themes in storytelling and song.