The great thing about hosting the Likeminded Podcast is meeting a range of exceptionally gifted people at the height of their powers. For this episode Caitlin and I met with the ‘force of nature’ that is Jubeda Khatun.

She is the energy, vibrancy and organisational zeal behind BlackFest the grassroots Black Arts festival which provides platforms and opportunities for Black artists across community spaces and venues. Jubeda needed little encouragement to promote to us the multi-facetted programme which includes music, theatre, film, visual arts, spoken word and poetry. She tells us how the festival has developed to meet a need in Liverpool’s cultural offering and to bridge a gap between institutions and marginalised communities. The festival has grown rapidly since it’sinception in 2018 and with Jubeda as Artistic Director, you can see why.

During the pandemic the festival went online and delivered a range of performances and at the time of the podcast, the BlackFest Writers Room was looking for new writers to showcase their work.

A convert to BlackFest is Susan Golligher who is an art historian who has worked in museums across Britain. Susan set up the Afrograph which specialises in West African arts, particularly textiles, Susan saw Jubeda at a BlackFest stall on Granby Street Market one day and signed up for a textiles class.

Within a short space of time Jubeda had convinced her to act in a play (for the first time) and join the Board of Directors for BlackFest. This story is so typical of how people are enticed into the arts and how, with good experiences, they can grow and develop and produce great work.

The access of Black people to arts and theatre has long been an issue brought into sharper focus more recently by the Black Lives Matter movement and the need for institutions to rethink their operations with a view to achieving greater understanding and inclusion.

Listen how both women tell their different stories and share their aspirations for the future. Both of them share their commitment to nurture Black artists to share their stories about being Black in Britain today.

Words by Bob Towers
Images by Andrew Smith