17 December, 2022

BUSINESS • Tatale Restaurant (@ The Africa Centre) - Founded by Akwasi Brenya-Mensa, Tatale is a restaurant and bar concept born in Ghana and developed in London. Its namesake is a plantain pancake — a quintessential Ghanaian dish. The old Chop Bars are a defining feature of the West African culinary landscape. These bustling roadside joints open their doors to all: well-heeled businessmen, tired trotro drivers, and young lovers alike. Patrons of any class, culture, and religion come together to share a cooling malt drink, or a restorative stew. Tatale embodies the very same spirit of the cherished Chop Bar. Looking beyond borders and nation-states, our selection of Pan-African dishes will ignite conversation, foster new friendships, and form part of a wider narrative of cultural exchange in London. • Sinclair London -Sinclair London is an emerging luxury fashion house reinventing British tailoring for the innovative 21st-century career women. Under the artistic creative direction of Savile Row-trained tailor and designer, Alicya Sinclair the brand has been a hidden gem for the professional women in the city and around Mayfair. With her business acumen and strategic planning, she is styling up the city street of the financial and banking district, which has reinforced its growing position as the go-to brand for refinement across its personalised services and product lines. https://sinclairlondon.com • Lynch & Mason - Standing tall at 6 foot 6; the idea for Lynch & Mason came to our founder following a fruitless attempt to find a brand that catered to his longer limbs & sartorial style of dressing. Lynch & Mason encapsulates the sophisticated modern gentleman. Made In Britain with subtle classic designs and luxury fabrics, Lynch & Mason was created to meet the demands of the tall, confident, well-groomed gentleman. By concentrating on a small distinctive staple collection every season, Lynch & Mason garments exude & maintain effortless https://www.lynchandmason.com EVENTS • Mandela the Musical (29 November - 4 Feb 2023, Young Vic ) - In proud partnership with the Mandela family. Co-produced with Nandi Mandela, Luvuyo Madasa, Shaun Hurwitz, Ronen Zekry, Greg Dean Borowsky, Shaun Borowsky and Brian & Dayna Lee. It's 1960. Young activist, Nelson Mandela, rallies the people of South Africa to protest against the racial segregation of apartheid. In 1962 he is arrested and sentenced to life in prison, where he will spend the next 27 years, taken from his wife and children, as the fight for freedom sweeps his country. Infused with the rhythms of South Africa, this soaring new musical tells the extraordinary story of a man who changed the course of modern history - the sacrifices he made as a husband and father, and the global movement that inspired him and his comrades to keep fighting. The production is presented in proud partnership with Nandi Mandela, Luvuyo Madasa and the Mandela family. •View Tschabalala Self's public art commission; "Seated" - Commissioned by Avant Arte as part of its inaugural public art programme, the monumental seated female figure in bronze brings transcendence to the everyday. "This figure represents all individuals, but women in particular, who understand the power and importance of simple gestures that assert their right to take up space." –Tschabalala Self on Seated (2022) • TREVOR NELSON'S SOUL CHRISTMAS WITH THE BBC CONCERT ORCHESTRA (Monday 19 December, Royal Albert Hall) - Urban music pioneer Trevor Nelson curates a live soul show for the Royal Albert Hall this Christmas. The award-winning BBC Radio 2 and Radio 1Xtra DJ is a household name across the UK and is a champion for RnB music worldwide. After bringing the house down in 2019 Trevor returns to our spectacular auditorium for a second time round, bringing together a host of special guest including Chic’s Kimberly Davis, Basement Jaxx vocalist Vula Malinga, soul singers Tony Momrelle and Omar, Ivor Novello-winning producer Troy Miller, award-winning singer Corinne Bailey Rae, singer-songwriter Andrew Roachford and British gospel group the Kingdom Choir. They’ll be performing re-imagined and re-scored iconic tracks, with a little help from the incomparable BBC Concert Orchestra. https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/events/2022/trevor-nelsons-soul-christmas/ •London Community Gospel Choir (20 December, Royal Albert Hall) - Join the London Community Gospel Choir for an evening of uplifting festive tunes and seasonal fun with special guest performer – vocal extraordinaire and Eurovision 2022 UK representative Sam Ryder! After a dazzling concert in 2021, the choir returns for the 2022 Christmas season with an exciting festive show featuring the gospel classics you love, with musical accompaniment from Heritage Orchestra and the powerhouse London Community Gospel Choir band. This year’s concert will be extra special, as the choir are celebrating their 40th anniversary! You won’t want to miss this night of soulful harmonies and festive cheer. https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/events/2022/london-community-gospel-choir-at-christmas/ • Amy Sherald The World We Make (through Dec 23rd 2022, Hauser & Wirth) - Amy Sherald, one of the defining contemporary portraitists in the United States, unveils a suite of new paintings in a major exhibition at Hauser & Wirth London, marking the artist’s first solo show in Europe. Featuring a range of small-scale and monumental portraits across both the gallery’s London spaces, this presentation is the artist’s largest to date with Hauser & Wirth. She was the artist who received the presidential portrait commission from the National Portrait Gallery and painted then first lady Michelle Obama. https://vip-hauserwirth.com/gallery-exhibitions/amy-sherald-the-world-we-make/ • Africa Centre Christmas Market The Africa Centre 66 Great Suffolk Street, London (17/18 December) - Our annual Christmas African Market returns and this year we are excited to announce a new partnership with Inspired by Africa, who we are working with, to bring brands together and curate exciting family-friendly activities over the weekend of 17 - 18 December. You can expect a diverse range of contemporary Afrocentric fashion, food, art, and entertainment including workshops catering to specific interests. https://www.africacentre.org.uk/event/the-africa-centre-christmas-market/ don WC2N 5BY BOOKS • Black Sunday - Twin sisters Bibike and Ariyike are enjoying a relatively comfortable life in Lagos in 1996. Then their mother loses her job due to political strife and their father gambles away their home, and the siblings are thrust into the reluctant care of their traditional Yoruba grandmother. Inseparable while they had their parents to care for them, the twins' paths diverge once the household shatters: one embracing modernity as the years pass, the other consumed by religion. 4.1 out of 5 Amazon • The Mixed-Race Experience: Reflections and Revelations on Multicultural Identity by Natalie Evans - In this powerful book, Natalie and Naomi Evans, founders of anti-racist advocacy and platform Everyday Racism, explore the complexities of mixed-race identities - from the discrimination endured by the 1.2 million mixed people in Britain and millions more elsewhere to the privileges it can afford. Sharing their own personal experiences of growing up in Britain to illuminate the nuances of racial identity, the book also weaves in: - Interviews with people from mixed backgrounds and in mixed relationships - Research to dispel common myths and stereotypes - Practical advice for mixed-race families and friendships The Mixed-Race Experience will help you to recognise and confront the racism within your own family and communities, helping us all to deepen our intersectional awareness and commitment to allyship.

4.9 out of 5 Amazon

• Rest is Resistance: Free yourself from grind culture and reclaim your life by Tricia Hersey - 'Essential...Rest is a necessary step in reclaiming our power to resist systemic oppression.' - Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist' Dreaming of a world that includes justice for all those sleep-deprived, exhausted and caught up in the hustle and shenanigans of white supremacy and capitalism. May we have space to navigate our lives from a liberated rest state. May all of culture slow down. The time to rest is now.' - The Nap Ministry By founder and creator of The Nap Ministry, Rest is Resistance is a call-to-action for anyone suffering from the toxic urgency of modern-day life. It centres around the systemic issues that cause us to overwork, and ultimately burn out, and offers us liberation through rest.

What could go wrong?

4.9 out of 5 Amazon

PODCASTS • Power Hour - The Power Hour is a weekly podcast that will motivate you to pursue your passion and to achieve success. Each week Adrienne speaks to today's leading coaches, creatives, innovators and change-makers, to find out their daily habits, morning routines and rules to live by. Get inspired and learn how to achieve your personal and professional goals. https://adrienne-london.com/podcast •Black Girls Livin' - Two girls from London and Essex chatting about mental health, pop culture and random shenanigans.Hosted by Vic and Jas. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/black-gals-livin/id1437752047 RADIO • Please Protect Abraham (Radio 4) -The story of Abraham Badru: a 15-year-old boy who became celebrated as a hero, but lived his life in fear. And the battle to protect him. Abraham Badru, 26, was murdered outside his home in Hackney, east London, in March 2018 after he received threatening messages telling him he was "dead meat". He was just 14 when he rescued a woman from a gang rape and lived in fear of retribution https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m001fvzk

FILM/TV • Emancipation (Apple TV) - Directed by Antoine Fuqua. With Will Smith • Mustafa Shakir • Charmaine Bingwa • Gilbert Owuor • Michael Luwoye • Aaron Moten • Imani Pullum. Inspired by the gripping true story of a man who would do anything for his family—and for freedom. When Peter, an enslaved man, risks his life to escape and return to his family, he embarks on a perilous journey of love and endurance. • A Family Matters Christmas (December 09, 2022)- Aiden, a far more intelligent kid than any ten-year-old boy should be, wishes that his newly formed family of his sister, dad, step-mother and step-brother could all get along. With the siblings constantly bickering, it's been anything but merry in the Kingsley household. With the annual Christmas science fair approaching, Aiden attempts to create an experiment in order to help his family feel like the tight knit one he yearns for. After many failed attempts, Aiden calls upon a forgotten Christmas spirit to help. With a little bit of this newfound Christmas magic, the siblings unknowingly switch bodies. Now stuck in the body of someone they couldn't seem to get along with, the siblings must work together in order to break the spell and switch back before Christmas morning. •Dinner at My Place (Netflix) -Ready to pop the question to his girlfriend, a young man finds his plans for a romantic dinner interrupted when his overdramatic ex shows up uninvited. A New Husband for Christmas (Amazon Prime) - Stan and Kelly Stevenson seem to be more committed to growing apart rather than growing together. Their friends are caught in the middle of divorce conversations during one of the most joyous seasons of the year.- WHO is WHO? • Claudine Gay - announced as the 30th president of Harvard - The oldest institution of higher education in the United States announced Thursday that Claudine Gay has been selected as its 30th president. When her term begins next July, Gay will be the first Black person to serve in Harvard’s top leadership role since its founding in 1636. Each president before her has been white. With the exception of Drew Faust, who led the University from 2007 to 2018, all of them have been men. “This is a historic appointment considering how few Black presidents have led American universities,” says UCLA Professor Eddie R. Cole, a historian and expert on presidential leadership in higher education. “At a time when Harvard’s own race questions – affirmative action, campus climate, and its profits from slavery – have captured the nation’s attention, this will be one of the most significant presidential hires for years to come.” (Forbes) •Chef of the Year Akwasi Brenya-Mensa - When he set out his plans for Tatale at the Africa Centre, chef Akwasi Brenya-Mensa said he wanted his restaurant to “explore what it means to be a restaurateur of African or Caribbean descent in London,” speaking of a “duality to the person that I am, and that need to label and be specific ... something I have battled against when developing this restaurant.” Tatale is a restaurant that is rooted in Brenya-Mensa’s Ghanaian heritage but which has deliberately set out to explore what “pan-African cuisine” is in London in 2022, as well as how that cuisine is set to evolve because of climate change over the next 30 to 50 years. This is by no means a straightforward mission, but it is one that Brenya-Mensa, through memory, reinvention, and storytelling, has carried out with enormous success in his first year. •The Inner-City Schoolkids competing against the yachting elite -In 2016, barely a year after refurbishing their second-hand boat Scaramouche, they entered the world-renowned Round the Island Race, circumnavigating the Isle of Wight. With Olympic champion Ben Ainslie also competing, this was their big chance to prove they were serious sailors. Out of 1,533 boats, Scaramouche finished 232nd, despite being the only youth team in the competition. The RORC Offshore Race overnight to France followed soon after. By 2017 they’d become the first school team to complete the Rolex Fastnet Race – which, after five continuous days at sea, sailing from Cowes to Cherbourg via the Fastnet Rock off southern Ireland, which gives the race its name – finished with them placed 144th out of 362 starters. In 2018 the team’s helmsman, Montel Fagan-Jordan, won the prestigious Yachting Journalists’ Association Young Sailor of the Year award. The following year, his crewmate Azat Ulutas was shortlisted for the same award. (The Times) .https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-inner-city-schoolkids-competing-against-the-yachting-elite-tdjpvfwz5 TOP 10 FOR DECEMBER 1. Get tickets for the hottest show in town Mandela the Musical. 2. Go see the Woman King (Movie). 3. Book a table at Tatale Restaurant in the Africa Centre. 4. Visit the new Black Vanguard exhibition of photography at the Saatchi Gallery. 5. Go see the work of the artist that painted that well-known picture of Michelle Obama, Amy Sherald at the Hauser & Wirth Gallery. 6. Sing along with joy with LCGC at the Royal Albert Hall. 7. See Will Smith's redemption in the well-reviewed movie Emancipation. 8. Take a group of friends to see Zadie Smith's The Wife of Willesden at the Kiln Theatre. 9. Watch the documentary Kanaval: A People's History of Haiti in six chapters on BBC iPlayer. 10. Take a picture at the public art installation 'seated' at the Kings Cross Coal Drop Yard.