UKBP announces performers and speakers
Award-winning UK Black Pride – Europe’s largest not-for-profit event for African, Arab, Asian and Caribbean-heritage Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans people – is thrilled to announce our line-up for our 2018 festival, which takes place on Sunday 8 July in Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens.
Recruited from across the diasporas we represent, the UK Black Pride team has curated performances by performers that represent the ever-growing and influential creativity and innovation that keeps Black LGBT+ people at the forefront of music, dance, and art.
As a Black LGBT+ community we understand that lodged in our body is a collective trauma, from daily microaggressions, marginalisation to historical erasure that we carry with us, on our shoulders and faces. So, for Black LGBT+ artists, the UK Black Pride stage is hallowed ground. Here, we not only have an opportunity to relieve the tension of survival, but to realise the potential of our bodies, too.
Leading the UK Black Pride entertainment team is Mwice-Margaret Kavindele, founder of Cocoa Butter Club, and a vocal performance powerhouse in her own right. Mwice-Margaret said: “I have undertaken the task of curating the UK Black Pride stage personally and seriously because it is an opportunity for us all to see what bodies of colour are capable of and, in the current climate, understanding that we can be what we want is really cemented within us when we do this for ourselves. When an organisation as groundbreaking and important as UK Black Pride curates performances for the community it matters. The line-up has been chosen not only because each performer is talented, inspiring and captivating, but also because each reveals to us who we can be.”
Headlining the UK Black Pride 2018 stage are performers from across the diaspora, including Alicai Harley, said: “I feel that society’s attitude towards homosexuality has come a long way. However, there are still many barriers to be broken down in the Black and LGBT+ community. UK Black Pride is important in helping to eliminate many of the barriers that are still in place.
“Being a Jamaican girl that sings Dancehall music when Dancehall is associated with homophobia. I’m extremely excited to perform at UK Black Pride because it allows me to do my part to challenge that misconception, so I’m all for it!”