Events by this organizer

A unique opportunity to explore untold stories of Black British communities during the 1960s and 1970s, decades that influenced Camden as part of a wider period of change in Britain.

Featuring never-before seen, newly digitised photographs from the Neil Kenlock Archive, it highlights Black British leadership, activism and cultural expression during this pivotal era.

Presented in the year marking the 60th anniversary of the Race Relations Act 1965, Beyond Expectations highlights the strength and determination of these communities.

The powerful exhibition offers a new perspective on the Black British experience and celebrates its legacy.

Kenlock’s work has previously featured at Tate Britain, Museum of London and the Victoria and Albert Museum – and now it’s coming to Swiss Cottage Library, totally FREE! You don’t want to miss it

Part of Camden’s Black History Season programme for 2025.

Join photographer Ian Watts and curator Lisa Anderson for an in-depth conversation exploring one of the UK’s most significant photographic archives of the Notting Hill Carnival and Black British life.

Spanning the 1980s to 2000s, his photographs document the vibrancy, resistance, and community spirit at the heart of Carnival culture.

The evening features projected images from Watts’ archive, accompanied by a tailor-made soundscape by music producer BlackMale Beats. It coincides with a month-long public display of Watts’ Carnival photography on the Outernet London screens throughout October, bringing this vital visual history into the heart of the city for Black History Month 2025.

Stay for the Q&A at the end where there will be the opportunity to ask your burning questions!

Held at Camden Town Hall, the venue has historic significance as the site where activist Claudia Jones organised the first Caribbean Carnival in Britain in 1959 – a celebration that inspired Notting Hill Carnival and many others across the UK.

Tickets are Pay What You Can, with all donations supporting the Umoja Health Forum – a Camden charity championing health and wellbeing in African & Caribbean communities.

Part of Camden’s 2025 Black History Season Programme.

Hosted by Camden activist Athian Akec, this special event welcomes Dr Akyaaba Addai-Sebo – journalist, Pan-Africanist, and founder of the UK’s Black History Month – for an exploration of the radical social activism rooted in Camden.

The talk will shine a light on the influential work of key Pan-Africanists who lived and worked in Camden between the 1920s and 1960s, including George Padmore, Amy Ashwood Garvey, C.L.R. James and Kwame Nkrumah. The ripple effects of their ideas and activism reverberated far beyond Camden, leaving a legacy of radical social change that continues to inspire today.

This event also marks the 80th anniversary of the Fifth Pan-African Congress (Manchester, 1945) – organised by Camden’s own Pan-Africanists – a key milestone in the struggle for African independence.

Tickets are Pay What You Can, with all donations supporting the Umoja Health Forum – a Camden charity championing health and wellbeing in African & Caribbean communities.

Part of Camden’s 2025 Black History Season Programme.

Frederick Douglass was a formerly enslaved man who became a leading abolitionist, writer, and orator in 19th-century America.

His powerful speeches and writings exposed the brutality of slavery, advocating freedom, equality, and justice. Douglass’s legacy remains vital in the fight for civil rights and human dignity worldwide.

This production is an 83 minute monologue featuring Devarnie Lothian as Frederick Douglass in the autumn of 1844, as he begins to write his historic narrative while living in the industrious town of Lynn, Massachusetts not far north of Boston, during his early years as an Abolitionist.

The script is entirely based on this narrative, which was published to great acclaim in the spring of 1845, necessitating his two year exile in the UK.

Plus, Q&A at the end of the film screening with the directors and producers of this film will follow.

Tickets are Pay What You Can, with all donations supporting the Umoja Health Forum – a Camden charity championing health and wellbeing in African & Caribbean communities.

Part of Camden’s 2025 Black History Season Programme.