Bernie Grant Arts Centre to Mark Black History Month With Season of Theatre and Performance

The Bernie Grant Arts Centre (BGAC) has announced its Black History Month and autumn programme, from the first Black woman to be elected to the US congress to a hip-hop retelling of a classic fairy tale.

The season spans theatre, family dance theatre, film, archive, style and live performance, with stories that travel from Brooklyn and Barbados to Liverpool, Zimbabwe and Tottenham.

The programme reflects the values of the late Bernie Grant MP, who championed representation, equality and social justice. It celebrates figures who refused to be sidelined, and gives audiences of all ages a way into Black history that feels alive and current.

This year's national Black History Month theme, Honouring Our Communities, sits at the heart of what Bernie Grant Arts Centre does as a place where people come together to create, learn and belong.

Next year Haringey becomes the London Borough of Culture 2027, with a year-long festival running from May 2027 to March 2028. As one of the borough's key cultural venues, BGAC will play a central part in a year that puts Haringey's creativity and history of activism in the spotlight.

Geoffrey Williams, Chair of the Bernie Grant Arts Centre said: "Black History Month is a moment to celebrate, but for us it is also a reminder of why we exist all year round. This season brings together people who refused to be sidelined, from Shirley Chisholm's run for the White House to the story of Black Liverpool, alongside new work that helps children make sense of their world today. Bernie Grant fought for Black creativity to be seen, valued and developed on its own terms. Almost two decades on, that commitment continues, and we are proud to keep making space for it here in Tottenham."

Shirley Chisholm: Unbossed & Unbowed

(Friday 9th October, 7pm / Saturday 10th October, 2pm and 7pm / Sunday 11th October, 2pm)

Ingrid Griffith's award-winning one-woman show tells the story of Shirley Chisholm, the Brooklyn-born daughter of Caribbean parents who became the first African American woman to run for President of the US for a major political party. Griffith plays more than a dozen characters in an immersive, interactive performance that won the 2023 Suzi Bass Award for Outstanding Production about Social Justice.

Tickets: https://www.ticketsource.com/bernie-grant-arts-centre/e-jpgeag

Jade and the Beanstalk

(Thursday 15th, 7pm / Friday 16th October, 7pm)

Streetz Ahead's new hip-hop dance theatre production reimagines the classic tale through Jade, a neurodivergent girl whose superpower is her imagination.

Written by Elizabeth Lahav, directed by ZooNation's Eli Smith and funded by Arts Council England, it combines dance, humour, animation and an original soundtrack to open conversations about grief, loss and hope.

The event is aimed at families and children aged 5 to 12, with schools performances also available.

Tickets: https://www.ticketsource.com/bernie-grant-arts-centre/e-yrjqdq

African Odysseys: Black Liverpool - film, book launch and Q&A with Professor Stephen Small

(Monday 26th October, 6.30pm to 8.30pm)

Liverpool-born academic, Professor Stephen Small, returns to the UK after 30 years at the University of California Berkeley, to launch his book Black Liverpool.

The evening brings together rare archive footage, readings and conversation about one of Britain's oldest Black communities.

In the 1990s, Professor Small worked alongside Bernie Grant on Black history and reparations, making this a homecoming of sorts. Presented by Black History Walks as part of 20 years of the African Odysseys film series.

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/black-liverpool-film-book-launch-qa-professor-stephen-small-tickets-1998941185897

Return of the Rude Boy presents: Vibrations

(Tuesday 27th October, 7pm-9:30pm)

A journey through sound system culture, toasting, DJing and live vocals with Mark Professor, Cyndi Handson and Vanessa Freeman. Jamaican heritage sounds, once played at British blues dances through homemade speaker boxes, grew into a movement with a distinctive culture of its own. Live on the mic, Cyndi, Vanessa and Mark share the values of sound system culture in an evening of joy, revelation and good vibrations.

Tickets: https://www.ticketsource.com/bernie-grant-arts-centre/t-plyzolx

Ancestral Futures presents Daré: A Live Encounter with Sound

(Friday 6th November, 7pm-10pm / Saturday 7th November, 7pm-10pm)

Zimbabwean-born, UK-based artist Shumba Maasai presents an immersive, multisensory performance rooted in the Shona concept of the daré, a traditional gathering space for communal wisdom and healing. Weaving together spatial audio, scent design and immersive visuals, Daré explores the ties between the African diaspora and its roots, inviting audiences of all backgrounds to reflect on identity, memory and presence. "Daré is a sonic refuge: a gathering of memory, feeling, and imagination," says Maasai.

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