LET’S TALK CONFERENCE

Conversations examining the Global Ethnic Majority and the Cultural Sector

Conversations about the Global Ethnic Majority* within (or outside) the cultural sector aren’t happening enough. The Let’s Talk conference will address the imbalance by exploring key topics through conversations with artists and communities. Panya Banjoko, Joon Lynn Goh and Lara Ratnaraja will lead conversations exploring the notion of space, connections, and the need for public discourse to be led by, with, and for the Global Ethnic Majority.

Join us for three days full of provocation, conversation, and inspiring dialogue.

*NAE defines Global Ethnic Majority as a collective term that refers to people who are Black, Asian, Brown, dual heritage, indigenous to the global south, and or have been racialised as ethnic minorities.

 

THURSDAY 20 APRIL

 

9:30-10am Welcome Refreshments in the Performance Space

BATTLING RACISM – WITH PANYA BANJOKO (SUPPORTED BY MORAG WILLIAMS AND CARA THOMPSON) | PERFORMANCE SPACE | 10am-12pm

10-10.45am

The session will start with a conversation between New Art Exchange CEO, Saad Eddine Said, Panya Banjoko, Joon Lynn Goh and Lara Ratnaraja to provide the background to the conference and share their thoughts on why it’s important to have these conversations.

10.50am-12pm

Panya Banjoko will share the case study of Nottingham Castle and the city’s response to anti-racism after a racist incident in August 2021. Taking place in the space Morag Williams (visual artist) and Cara Thompson (poet) will each respond to the topic, energy, themes, or words and statements and transform them into a creative outcome.

 

12-1pm Networking Lunch in the Learning Room

 

COLONISATION IN REVERSE: HOW BLACK PEOPLE BECAME FASHIONABLE – WITH PAWLET BROOKES | PERFORMANCE SPACE | 1-2PM

Wat a devilment a Englan!

Dem face war an brave de worse,

But me wonderin how dem gwine stan

Colonizin in reverse.” 

Louise Bennett-Coverley, Colonization In Reverse (1966)

The cultural appropriation of Black culture continues beyond music and fashion into body modification, food culture, and lifestyle aspiration. Whilst immigration brought with it an ironic reversal of the colonisation process, with Britain reliant on the work provided by former colonised people and slaves, this has now been commodified and all that is saleable has been commercially exploited by the former colonisers, perpetuating the cycle of exploitation and colonialisation. Colonisation in reverse, cultural appropriation and the western gaze are all part of this keynote by Pawlet Brookes.

 

2-2.30pm Break

 

HOW ARE WE PRACTICING ORGANISATIONS THAT CARE FOR US? | PERFORMANCE SPACE | 2:30-4PM

In this intimate conversation, we bring together founders of arts organisations aligned with an abolitionist vision: Amahra Spence, co-founder and Creative Director of MAIA, a Black-led arts and social justice organisation based in Birmingham; and Rabab Ghazoul, artist and founder of gentle radical, an artist-run project in Cardiff.  Chaired by Joon-Lynn Goh from Migrants in Culture, we explore – what does it look like to build life-affirming institutions as a daily practice? What are the micro to macro alignments and actions we are taking to embed safety, care and accountability into our organisational structures, cultures and communities?

 

FRIDAY 21 APRIL

 

9:30-10am Welcome Refreshments in the Performance Space

 

WE NEED TO TALK – WITH MARLENE SMITH AND PANYA BANJOKO | PERFORMANCE SPACE | 10AM-12PM

Marlene Smith and Panya Banjoko in conversation will discuss the BLK Arts Group, an association of Black British students of art in the Midlands that included Eddie Chambers, Donald Rodney, Claudette Johnson, and Marlene Smith. The conversation will explore the links to Nottingham and how Nottingham writers and artists worked collaboratively with artists from Birmingham. Also taking place in the space Manjit Sahota will creatively respond to the topic, energy, themes, or words and statements and transform them into a creative outcome.

 

12-1pm Networking Lunch in the Learning Room

 

SILENCE IS COMPLICITY – WITH LATEESHA JOHNSON AND LARA RATNARAJA| PERFORMANCE SPACE | 1-2:30PM

The acceptance of slights, bias and other so called micro aggressions passed off as bad behaviour, pave the way for more overt and explicit incidents of racism. The structures in which the sector operates allow this to happen and perpetuate the cycle; especially where these incidents happen in plain sight. When do silence and passivity become complicity in the marginalisation and systemic othering of people from global majorities – and what do we stand to gain by challenging it and standing up in allyship

 

2-2.30pm Break

 

CULTURAL QUEERNESS, WITH SAIMA RAZZAQ AND ELIZABETH LAWAL  | PERFORMANCE SPACE | 3-4:30PM

Who defines cultural queerness? Queer culture is predominantly defined and validated through a western male lens, lacking the nuance required to define, celebrate, and validate intersectional queer identities, in particular those of queer women of colour and those of queer people with faith. Join Saima Razzaq and Elizabeth Zeddie Lawal in navigating the complexities and nuances of intersectional queerness in the arts and explore how to both authentically advocate and champion these voices with care.

 

DJ and Drinks – CaféBar, 5:15-6:30pm

 

SATURDAY 22 APRIL

 

9:30-10am Welcome Refreshments in the Performance Space

 

FORWARD STEPS (RAISING THE PROFILE OF GLOBAL ETHNIC MAJORITY ARTISTS) – WITH SHARON MONTEITH AND PANYA BANJOKO (SUPPORTED BY LAURA DECOURUM AND ABÍỌ́DÚN ‘ABBEY’ ABDUL) | PERFORMANCE SPACE | 10-12PM

Sharon Monteith will explore some of the words we use in our conversations. Can we talk honestly and usefully about racism, white privilege or being woke?  When words are used solipsistically and ahistorically, they risk being drained of their original meanings, and the meaning behind them may still matter.

Panya Banjoko will surface untold stories held at Nottingham Black Archive of how artists and activists negotiated and managed a racist arts sector through the establishment of organisations such as the Black People’s Freedom Movement in the 1970s and the Chronicle of Minority Artists (CHROMA) collective in the 1980s.

Taking place in the space Laura Decorum (visual artist) and Abíọ́dún ‘Abbey’ Abdul (poet) will each respond to the topic, energy, themes, or words and statements and transform them into a creative outcome.

 

12-1pm Networking Lunch in the Learning Room

 

HOW ARE WE PRACTICING ECONOMIES OF SOLIDARITY BETWEEN US? | PERFORMANCE SPACE | 1-2:30PM

In this conversation, we learn about Gida Housing Co-operative, which is bringing together a partnership between Black, Latin American and Filipino communities to tender for and build 56 community led homes in Tottenham, London.  As a case study of inter-community wealth building, we explore how global majority communities are strategizing and organising to build infrastructure that grows the social and economic agency of global majority communities in the UK.  Representatives of Gida, including Phil Tulba from The Ubele Initiative; Vicky Alvarez from Seven Sisters Traders Market Association / Wards Corner Community Benefit Society; David McEwen from Rode Housing Co-operative, and Herbert Fadriquela from Bahay Kubo, will be in conversation with Nonhlanhla Makuyana from Decolonising Economics.

 

2:30-3pm Break

 

HOW ARE WE PRACTICING WISDOMS THAT SUSTAIN US? | PERFORMANCE SPACE | 3-5PM

‘you remember the dreams and the brightness, the truths. you remember the entrance the closeness the route to the place we now glow. you remember the way and the want and the loss. you remember the distance, the pull and the cost. you remember remembering and jolt and toss. don’t forget what you know.’ – Alexis Pauline Gumbs ‘Dub Finding Ceremony’

Roots & Routes is a workshop on remembering and activating ancestral, diasporic and migrant knowledges that sustain us and the movements we are part of. Nicola Singh, artist and organiser from Migrants in Culture, will lead a guided meditation inspired by water and the writings of alexis pauline gumbs. In this workshop, you are invited to ease into listening, remembering and writing to surface wisdom and guidance that can enrich our organising practices.

This workshop is for people who identify with experiences of migration, diaspora and displacement and/or being part of a Global Majority community. Please wear warm comfortable clothes.