BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.4.5//EN TZID:Europe/London X-WR-TIMEZONE:Europe/London BEGIN:VEVENT UID:5190@artinliverpool.com DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20190923T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20190923T190000 DTSTAMP:20190827T105154Z URL:https://www.artinliverpool.com/events/unity-theatre-blackfest-launch-s cratch-night/ SUMMARY:Unity Theatre: Unity Theatre: BlackFest: Launch & Scratch Night DESCRIPTION:BlackFest: Launch &\; Scratch Night\n\nBook here\n\nBlackFes t is a grassroots Liverpool Black arts festival founded in 2018\, providi ng a platform and showcasing an eclectic mix of work from Black creatives\ , across community spaces and established venues.\n\nThe program includes dance\, visual arts\, music\, film\, spoken word and theatre.\n\nThe Festi val answers a crucial need in the city’s cultural offering\, celebrating Black arts and inclusion. This year's festival\, BlackFest will encompass active conversations and collaborations with established arts organisatio ns.\n\nBlackFest highlights work by\, and creates new platforms for anyone who is marginalised for their race or ethnicity.\n\nBlackFest opening nig ht presents a 20 minute immersive exploration of Black experiences through dance\, excerpts of spoken word poetry and music setting the tone the fe stival\, followed by two plays that are works in progress.\n\nLocks by As hleigh Nugent \n\nAsh Nugent is a writer and performer. Hi latest piece\ , Locks\, is a semi-autobiographical novel and a one-man-show. Locks\, the novel\, won the 2013 Commonword Memoir Competition and was part published Writing on the Wall’sPulp Idol\, Firsts in 2014. Locks\, the show\, deb uted at Live Theatre in Newcastle in March 2019 to rave audience reviews:\ n\n“Incredible\, informative\, extremely moving.” “Urgent and import ant.” “Beautiful physicality and music and storytelling.”\n\nAsh als o works as a rapper and poet. In Nov 2019 his poem\, Crime and Expectation \, will be published in an anthology by CLINKS. The poem is inspired by th e work Ash does in prisons and schools through his company RiseUp CiC. Ris eUp use arts a vehicle to teach life changing techniques and make learning exciting and engaging. For more information please visit: www.riseupcic.c o.uk\n\nHalf Moon by Tayo Aluko\n\nThe library of an English Stately Home .\n\nThe husband is the last in the line of an aristocratic family. His fa ther has recently died\, he and his wife are getting divorced\, and they a re discussing how to split the proceeds of the pending sale of the Estate\ , including the last two heirlooms. They are receiving and considering bid s from governments and museums all over the world for these: a 4th Century Persian Bible\, and a 3000year old Nubian death mask.\n\nThe spirit of th e Nubian princess for whom the mask was was made appears to his wife. She talks to her\, educates her about her family’s ancient expertise as astr onomers\, and tries to persuade her to keep the mask in order to reconnect Black youth with their history.\n\nThe husband returns with the news that an impossibly and irresistibly high offer has just been received for the mask… Is the history more important to preserve or give away to the high est bidder?\n\nTayo Aluko trained and practiced as an architect in Liverp ool for many years.\nAs a singer\, he has fronted orchestras as baritone s oloist in concert halls\, and performed lead roles in such operas and musi cals. His one-man play\, CALL MR ROBESON has won awards internationally\, and was performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 2012. He is now also to uring with another play titled JUST AN ORDINARY LAWYER\, which celebrates Black and African Liberation Struggles worldwide\, and has been performed on three continents. He originated a piece titled WHAT HAPPENS? featuring the writings of African American Langston Hughes\, performed with live jaz z accompaniment. He has been published in The Guardian\, The Morning Star\ , NERVE Magazine\, Modern Ghana and Searchlight Magazine. ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.artinliverpool.com/wp-content/upload s/2019/08/1748586141-Blackfest_launch_image.jpg CATEGORIES:Performance LOCATION:Unity Theatre\, Hope Place\, Liverpool\, L1 9BG\, Liverpool\, Unit ed Kingdom GEO:53.400829;-2.971716 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Hope Place\, Liverpool\, L1 9BG\, Liverpool\, United Kingdom;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Unity Theatre :geo:53.400829,-2.971716 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20190331T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR