A celebration of Black art, fashion, magazines, books, zines, pop ups, stores, handmade products, performances, music and delicious food.
During the festival, various discourse events, artistic and musical performances and DJ sets, a reading, a zine workshop, a fashion show and an exhibition will take place. In addition, there will be changing stands from different Black Owned Businesses.
Sheeko Ismail and Jordan Tanner:
As part of the Black Art & Fashion Festival, we want to create a space in which Black, African and Afro-diasporic fashion and art are celebrated in equal measure. We also aim to create a discourse that critically classifies different processes of exclusion, exploitation and the appropriation of Black, Afro-German and Afro-diasporic perspectives and seeks resistant answers to them.
The Black Arts & Festival sheds light on the overlapping of colonial continuity, racism and capitalist power structures, but also encourages a critical examination of fashion, aesthetic art and current colonial entanglements and their continuities. The Black Art & Fashion Festival Bremen is an invitation to enter a discourse, to discuss alternatives and to network.
Curatorial management: Sheeko Ismail (no pronouns)
Sheeko Ismail is a qualified project manager, teamer and poet. Sheeko is active in the cultural sector and is primarily involved in activist circles of black and marginalized groups as well as in political education work. Sheeko founded the Zukunft ist bunt initiative in 2018.
Sheeko curates projects such as Black Art & Fashion Festival, Black Story Month or Bremen Ballroom Culture. Since 2021, Sheeko has also been the editor of the book series Look at Us! Gallery of Black Role Models & Heroes in Germany,
which was also created in a collective work. In May 2022, Sheeko initiated the project of the first Black Children’s Library in Germany and has been running it together with Maimuna Sallah in their own premises since January 2023. Sheeko is currently studying Cultural and Media Management at the HFMT in Hamburg.
Produktion management: Jordan Tanner (they/he*)
Jordan is a theater maker, creative producer and freelance dramaturge from the Ruhr area with Bremen as their adopted home. Jordan completed their studies in cultural studies and aesthetic practice in Hildesheim in 2020, in the same year they worked in the management team of the Schredder Festival at Theaterhaus Hildesheim. From the 2022 season to the end of 2023, they worked as a cultural manager at Theater Wrede+ in Oldenburg and has been working freelance ever since. From the end of 2022 to April 2023, they worked as a dramaturge for the young actors’ production “State of The Heart” at Theater Bremen. Jordan has experience in various projects and positions in the theater field, including as a dramaturge, assistant director and racism-critical editor and performer. In their work, the topics of anti-racism, intersectionality and anti-discrimination are particularly important to them.
Location: GAK Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst
Curator: Sheeko Ismail
Production management: Jordan Tanner
Programme
Day / Thu, 08.08.24
19:00 h Doors
19:30 h Welcome by festival management: Sheeko Ismail & Jordan Tanner
19:50 h Keynote by Tiffany N. Florvil
20:00 h Performance with Kameron Locke & Pascal Schmidt
20:30 h Finger food & Drinks
21:00 h After Party with DJ.Umi.
Day / Fri, 09.08.24
12:00–19:00 h Stands by Black Owned-Businesses & Brands/Pop Ups & Creators
18:00–19:30 h Talk: Empowerment, Fashion, Sustainability, Inclusion and Culture
20:30–21:00 h Performance by Sibb
21:00 h After Party with DJ So’Su’Sa
Day III / Sat, 10.08.24
12:00–19:00 h Stands by Black Owned-Businesses & Brands/Pop Ups & Creators
15:00–16:00 h Reading: JOKESI Club book series by Tayo Awosusi-Onutor, Schwarze Kinderbibliothek
17:00–18:30 h Talk: Black Owned Magazine & Editors
19:00–20:00 h Fashion Show by Nosa
20:30–21.00 h Performance by IGOR
21:00 h After Party with DJ Samila
Day IV / Sun, 11.08.24
12:00–19:00 h Stands by Black Owned-Businesses & Brands/Pop Ups & Creators
12:00–14:00 h Zine Workshop with Judith Baumgärtner (Bipoc only)
17:00–18:30 h Talk: EXHIBITION – Afroshop „Unseen but existing“
20:00 h Festival Closing
Further offerings
Schwarze Kinderbibliothek Bremen
Delicious food by Bremen’s Best Jerk
Room for Community Projects: Bremen Ballroom Culture, Black Story Month Bremen, Time for Empowerment, Zukunft ist bunt, Amazonas Project
Awareness
We try to create a power-critical space that is sensitive to discrimination. We wish for a respectful and safe atmosphere for all visitors. If you feel uncomfortable or harassed, or if you witness or experience any behavior that is discriminatory, encroaching or violating personal borders, you can confidentially contact our Awareness Team. You will recognize the Awareness Team by the yellow badges. Do not hesitate to contact the Awareness Team if you experience problems or would
like to talk to them. Please be attentive, careful and supportive in your dealings with each other. If the Awareness Team is not in sight, you are also welcome to contact the staff at the bar.
Accessebility
The GAK is accessible by wheelchair through the TAU restaurant in the Weserburg (otherwise stairs with 5 steps, height of steps 17cm, depth of steps 28cm, width of steps 124cm, stairs with handrail). In front of the entrance there is a 7% incline over a length of 3m. There is no barrier-free WC.
Funding and cooperatons
– GAK Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst
– Freie Hansestadt Beirat Neustadt
– Die Sparkasse Bremen
– Schwarze Kinderbibliothek Bremen
– Partner*innen über Grenzen
– Initiative Zukunft ist bunt
– Black Story Month Bremen
– Bremen Ballroom Culture
Further thanks to:
Schwankhalle Bremen