Sierra Leone Arts & Culture Festival Closes Theatre Peckham's Young, Gifted and Black Season

After a two-day celebration in 2023 at Brixton House, The Sierra Leone Arts & Culture Festival (SLACfest) will return to South London for a three-day extravaganza to close Theatre Peckham’s Young, Gifted, and Black programme, from Friday 31 October to Sunday 2 November.

This year’s festival theme is Roots & Renaissance, looking at the past, reflecting on the present, and imagining brighter possibilities for the future of Sierra Leonean creatives at home and in the diaspora. 

The vibrant and jam-packed programme features an opening event on Friday 31 October, setting the tone for the weekend ahead and featuring poetry by rising star Mabs Taylor; music from rapper and audio-visual artist Nadeem Din-Gabisi; comedy from Ibs Sesay; and an opening keynote speech from one of Sierra Leone’s foremost Renaissance women, digital media and communications innovator, Vickie Remoe.

The programme on Saturday 1 November will be split into two parts. The first part will feature workshops suitable for all the family; a programme of films by Sierra Leonean filmmakers; poetry from up-and-coming voices; and dulcet acoustic tones from singer-songwriter Asabi Hawah. The first panel of the weekend, focusing on ‘The Roots’, will be facilitated by climate justice campaigner, Samia Dumbuya, and will feature panellists who are still 'relatively' young in their field, and who are actively planting seeds that will bear fruit in the future and contribute to a more thriving Sierra Leonean story.

There will also be a family programme running from 11am - 12pm for exploration of the question of raising young Sierra Leoneans in the diaspora. What are the challenges, the triumphs and the lessons?

Part two will feature ‘The Renaissance’ panel of changemakers and tastemakers who are shifting the dial, forging positive possibilities, doing it with style. Facilitated by actress Christie Fewry, this electric panel will feature the likes of singer-songwriter and podcaster, Amy KABBA, formerly known as A*M*E; award-winning filmmaker  ‘Seun Babalola who will be joining from the US; and theatre royalty, Patrice Naiambana (‘The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives’). Audiences will also be treated to a keynote from Chef Maria Bradford of Shwen Shwen fame and plenty of laughs from comedian Aunty Hawa.

Rapper Adama K Will Close out proceedings with her Krio-English wordplay, whilst across the weekend the vibes will be maintained by DJ Hopie and DJ Selenks who will be on the decks, playing the best of old and new skool Sierra Leonean music, afrobeats, and Kriofusion.

The Sunday closing programme boasts two powerful panels, with the first exploring what the Sierra Leonean creative landscape needs to thrive featuring Sierra Leone’s hottest musical export, Drizilik, who has made hits with the likes of fellow Saloneans Idris Elba and Big Zuu to name a few. Other speakers include podcaster Antonia Howard of Honestly Speaking SL,  actress Vanessa Fisher; and filmmaker Alima Sesay, joining the festival weekend from Scotland.

The second panel will bring together a selection of  African giants to explore how we connect the dots beyond borders and strengthen our collective creative power for the betterment of the continent as a whole. Contributing to this important conversation will be Vickie Remoe; British Ghanaian podcaster Simmone Ahiaku, British Ugandan Hamid Ibrahim of multi-award winning Kugali Media, and Hamid Ibrahim Koroma, also known as Wizik, a filmmaker from Freetown noted for his work on feature films such as ‘Taxi’.

At the helm for these Sunday conversations will be actress Marie Osman and Nigerian-British author and podcaster, Chinny Ukata - joining as a friend of Salone - in keeping with SLACfest’s long tradition of connecting Sierra Leonean culture to a wider story of us.

There will also be poetry from Saraiyah Bah and helping to close the weekend celebrations will be Kindo Armani, one of Freetown’s best-known and electric entertainers. 

Theatre Peckham’s Artistic Director, Dr Suzann McLean MBE said: “At Theatre Peckham, we champion heritage, creativity and community. As part of our Young, Gifted and Black season, looking back at shared roots helps to reflect on the journeys, achievements and resilience of the community. SLACfest perfectly embodies this spirit. It's a joyful celebration of Sierra Leonean art, culture and pride, right here in Southwark, home to London’s largest Sierra Leonean community. So, from the little Krio that I have learnt, I say Fambul dem, una kam join wi!”

Speaking on the programme and the return of the festival, SLACfest co-founder and co-curator Siana Bangura said: "I am bursting with pride at the breadth and diversity of our programming this year, bringing together exciting voices from a range of disciplines and walks of life. We chose the theme of ‘Roots & Renaissance’ to speak to our past and explore what we wish to revive, renew, and learn from, as well as look to our future as Sierra Leoneans at home and in the diaspora and see what new stories we want to tell, what opportunities we want to create, what seeds we want to sow now for future generations, and how we can do that with our own unique flavour as Sierra Leoneans, people from Africa’s melting pot. We’re also thrilled to be part of the prestigious Young, Gifted, and Black season at Theatre Peckham, a venue that fully embodies the spirit of community that is the foundation of our festival and the reason why we’ve been able to keep it going over the years."

Fellow co-founder and co-curator Abu Yillah commented: "I’m so proud of how far SLACfest has come because an event like this is something I needed when I was a youngster. This festival means the world to so many people because representation matters. SLACfest is a reminder to young British Sierra Leoneans that they too have the right to take up space."