Nottingham Contemporary

This two-day event will present a panel discussion, talks, debates, performance and music revisiting some of the conversations that took place in the 1984 Radical Black Art Working Convention in Nottingham. It brings together artists, musicians, art professionals, students, activists and communities from Nottingham and beyond.

The original Working Convention's main objective was to reflect on an “examination of contemporary Black Art, highlighting its successes and failures relative to the economic, social and political realities faced by the Black Community, both in this country and worldwide”.

This event has been shaped and planned by a community working group, formed by Catherine Ross and Lynda Burrell (from Museumand, The National Caribbean Heritage Museum), Louise McKenna, Nicole Crentsil and David Stickman Higgins. The group has used the original quote from the Radical Black Arts Working Convention programme, as a starting point for the conversation.

The first day of the convention will be introduced by a panel discussion by some of the artists who organised and participated in the 1984 Radical Black Arts Working Convention.

After the panel, participants will break up into different tables for the afternoon working sessions, where different questions will be discussed, such as: how do we develop a radical critical practice which will inform what is not taught or shown in these institutions? What is the role of the “black” archive? How can we make archives accessible to the communities and general public? How can a black arts archive inform or reflect the past, present and future?

During the second day, each group will discuss what is the best way forward to tackle the issues raised on each table. Where do artists and cultural institutions locate themselves in relation to those issues? Are people willing to create a new movement for social change? Can the Black Arts Movement be an inspiration for that change? What should artists and arts venues be doing in the current political climate? These conversations are urgent – particularly with the rise in hate crime and intolerance locally, nationally and internationally.

This event is part of the touring programme of the Lubaina Himid and The Place Is Here exhibitions in partnership with Modern Art Oxford, Spike Island, Firstsite and Harris Museum & Art Gallery.