Proud to be…part of Black History Month

Morley College London is proud to support and promote content that celebrates our diversity and in particular the contributions, successes, and challenges of black communities across the world. Read more for the projects we’re working on throughout October…

Morley Radio

To celebrate this year’s Black History Month, we have curated a selection of our back catalogue as well as commissioning new series, episodes of current shows and playlists – keep up to date at www.morleyradio.co.uk

Our team of “Kickstarters” has also curated a selection of songs to celebrate black artists in our Black History Month Playlists, which will air every Monday and Friday at 2pm for the whole month of October. To listen to them click on ‘Listen Live’ on our website or via the Apple, Android apps or ask Alexa for Morley Radio.

Morley Gallery

The newly-reopened Morley Gallery will play host to Brixton on Fire – a photographic exhibition illustrating the Brixton Riots of 1981. It’s free to visit, and is presented by Learning through the Arts.

The exhibition is a National Heritage Lottery Fund-supported project that commemorates 40 years since 1981’s riots, which shocked the nation in April of that year. For three days, rioters – predominantly young black men – fought police, attached buildings and set fire to buildings.

Over 100 vehicles were burned, almost 150 buildings were damaged, there were 82 arrests, and over 300 individuals were injured. The exhibition charts this extraordinary time in London’s history.

Morley Prize for Unpublished Writers of Colour

On 12 October we’ll reveal the winner of the inaugural Morley Prize for Unpublished Writers of Colour, which is presented in collaboration with literary agency Rachel Mills Literary.

It’s a big moment – 72 submissions were whittled down to a longlist of 12, and then a shortlist of 5, by an esteemed panel of judges that includes writers Louise Hare and Billy Kahora, editor Marianne Tatepo, and academic Dr. Emily Zobel Marshall.

Penny Lectures

On 14 October, artist EVEWRIGHT will deliver his Penny Lecture, Mark Making in the Public Realm: Claiming and Preserving space for Contemporary Black British Stories.

From Walking Drawings with Horses in Cumbria, taking over Takeaways in Colchester to converting a Tilbury Public Walkway into a conversation space for Windrush stories, EVEWRIGHT talks about the evolution of his dynamic multi-disciplinary art practice and the importance of claiming space for new voices to be heard and experienced.

Language of the Month

October’s language of the month is Jamaican Patois, and there’s a free taster session you can join on 22 October.

Black Opera Composers film project

Towards the end of the month, we’ll be announcing details of an exciting film project featuring works composed by black composers dating back to the 18th century, from ‘the Black Mozart’ Chevalier de Saint-Georges to contemporary composer Errollyn Wallen CBE.

Watch this space for screening details, to be announced later in October…