Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage

Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage Serendipity – Institute for Black Arts and Heritage
https://linktr.ee/SerendipityInstitute

31/07/2026

Seyi Akiwowo (pronounced Shay-yee Ah-kee-wo-wo) is a governance architect and author who helps institutions build care into the systems we all live inside.

At 18, she grieved the dance career she'd trained for and began a Social Policy degree at the London School of Economics. Her first lesson in letting go of one identity to build another. By 25, she was the youngest Black woman elected to her council in East London. When a speech she gave at the European Parliament went viral, the coordinated abuse that followed taught her how badly institutions fail the people they should protect. So she built the answer: Glitch, the charity that reframed online abuse not as a test of individual resilience but as a failure of institutions to care. Under her leadership it became Europe's leading organisation in the field, helping shape the UK's Online Safety Act and influencing platform governance across more than twenty countries.

She handed Glitch on in 2024 and now advises institutions on care as infrastructure. She holds fellowships at Queen Mary University of London and Royal Holloway, is the author of How to Stay Safe Online (Penguin) and writes weekly on her Substack, Sundays with Seyi: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xmF850

Watch the full short film on Serendipity's YouTube channel today by visiting: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xmFjn0

Be a part of the project and celebrate your story. For further information visit: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xmDtn0

Making the Invisible Visible: Black Women 365 Days of the Year is an exciting initiative led by Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage. Each day will showcase a different woman, whose story has shaped Black British or global Diasporic history; many of whom remain overlooked or under-celebrated in mainstream narratives. This will take the form of a rolling programme of short films, released throughout the year to keep these stories in daily circulation and to create an evolving constellation of leadership, resistance, artistry and enduring impact.

30/07/2026

Nicola Griffiths is an artist, facilitator and founder of Grown Ass Women Collective. After many years creating community through arts, events and cultural projects, her practice has evolved into an exploration of breath, belonging and collective care as pathways to deeper connection with ourselves, each other and the wider world.

Rooted in Black diasporic thought, social practice and embodied enquiry, Nicola creates participatory experiences that invite people to slow down, listen and reconnect. Her work brings together breath, conversation, creativity and ritual to explore how memory, identity and community are carried in the body, and how shared practices of care can foster belonging, healing and transformation.

She is particularly interested in breath as a living archive of culture and relationship, and in creating the conditions where people can remember more fully who they already are.

Watch the full short film on Serendipity's YouTube channel today by visiting: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xlnl30

Be a part of the project and celebrate your story. For further information visit: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xlfzB0

Making the Invisible Visible: Black Women 365 Days of the Year is an exciting initiative led by Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage. Each day will showcase a different woman, whose story has shaped Black British or global Diasporic history; many of whom remain overlooked or under-celebrated in mainstream narratives. This will take the form of a rolling programme of short films, released throughout the year to keep these stories in daily circulation and to create an evolving constellation of leadership, resistance, artistry and enduring impact.

29/07/2026

Nikki Tapper MBE is a familiar voice across Birmingham and the West Midlands, known for her engaging broadcasting style and deep connection with local audiences. Born in Smethwick, Tapper’s love of radio began early, inspiring her to pursue presenting alongside a 25‑year career in Education. While teaching, she completed an MA in Media Production at Birmingham City University, laying the foundation for her future in broadcasting.

Her radio journey began on local restricted service stations before moving to Galaxy 102.2 in 1998, where she presented the Gospel music show. In 2003, Tapper joined BBC WM, becoming one of the station’s most recognisable voices. She hosted The Gospel Lounge with Nikki Tapper for nine years and presented a wide range of programmes and specials across BBC WM and BBC Coventry and Warwickshire, including Sport Relief, Children in Need, the 2012 Olympic Torch Relay and the 2022 Commonwealth Games. She also presented the BBC Radio 4 documentary The Syrians and Kindertransport in 2019 Tapper continued presenting on BBC Local Radio until 2024 and later co‑hosted News Natter on BBC Sounds.

She is currently a Trainer/Facilitator for the BBC Academy. In 2025, she was awarded an MBE for her services to broadcasting and the community. Warm, lively and authentic, Tapper is now an established speaker, host and compere for events across the region.

Watch the full short film on Serendipity's YouTube channel today by visiting: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xhZyB0

Be a part of the project and celebrate your story. For further information visit: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xh-0g0

Making the Invisible Visible: Black Women 365 Days of the Year is an exciting initiative led by Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage. Each day will showcase a different woman, whose story has shaped Black British or global Diasporic history; many of whom remain overlooked or under-celebrated in mainstream narratives. This will take the form of a rolling programme of short films, released throughout the year to keep these stories in daily circulation and to create an evolving constellation of leadership, resistance, artistry and enduring impact.

28/07/2026

Carole Boyce Davies is Professor of African Diaspora Literatures and chair of Department of Literature and Writing (English) at Howard University. As Professor of Africana Studies and Literatures in English (2007-2024) she is also the Frank H T Rhodes Professor of Humane Letters emerita at Cornell University, New York.

She is the author of Left of Karl Marx. The Political Life of Black Communist Claudia Jones (2008), Black Women, Writing and Identity: Migrations of the Subject (1994), Caribbean Spaces. Escape Routes from Twilight Zones (2013) and Black Women's Rights. Leadership and the Circularities of Power (2022). She is the editor/co-editor of thirteen critical anthologies including Black Feminist Theories. Transnational Perspectives (2026).

A member of the scientific committee for UNESCO’s updated General History of Africa, she edited the epistemological forum on “Global Blackness” for the African Diaspora volume. Her popular essays, opeds and reviews have appeared in The Guardian (London), The Washington Post, Newsweek, The Boston Globe, The Miami Herald, Trinidad Express, Trinidad Guardian, Caribbean Today, The Crisis, Jacobin Magazine, Ms Magazine, The Black Scholar.

Watch the full short film on Serendipity's YouTube channel today by visiting: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xg6x60

Be a part of the project and celebrate your story. For further information visit: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xg6hs0

Making the Invisible Visible: Black Women 365 Days of the Year is an exciting initiative led by Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage. Each day will showcase a different woman, whose story has shaped Black British or global Diasporic history; many of whom remain overlooked or under-celebrated in mainstream narratives. This will take the form of a rolling programme of short films, released throughout the year to keep these stories in daily circulation and to create an evolving constellation of leadership, resistance, artistry and enduring impact.

Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage will be at Leicester Caribbean Carnival this Saturday 1 August 2026.Co...
28/07/2026

Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage will be at Leicester Caribbean Carnival this Saturday 1 August 2026.

Come and find us at Victoria Park, meet the Serendipity team and pick up your FREE Black History Month Leicester 2026 brochure.

Be among the first to discover what’s happening this October, with a city-wide programme celebrating Black arts, heritage, history and culture through performances, exhibitions, film, talks, heritage events and more.

Copies of 40 Years of Leicester Caribbean Carnival will also be available to purchase at a special discounted rate. This beautiful publication celebrates the colour, sound and community spirit that Caribbean Carnival has brought to the streets of Leicester. Featuring a commissioned poem by Carol Leeming MBE.

So, while you are enjoying the music, colour, creativity and energy of Carnival, come over and say hello!

Image Credit: Bill Allsopp / LOOP Images Universal Images Group Ltd / Alamy

27/07/2026

Mackayla Forde, aka ‘RED MEDUSA’ is a poetic-academic and LISS-DTP PhD candidate at Queen Mary University, London. Her groundbreaking research is the first of its kind in British history, combining poetic inquiry with ‘traditional’ qualitative methods to explore Black women's relationship with poetry in managing anxiety and depression, particularly during the first wave of lockdowns of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Forde sits on the board of editors for the International Journal of Poetry Therapy and is an advisor to the board of the Black Arts Hub CIC in Medway, Kent. She is an ardent advocate for the use of decolonial research methodologies and Black feminist epistemologies as a means of addressing and dismantling the ongoing harms of coloniality present in current global public health policy, research and discourse. As a consultant, her practice extends to assisting organisations in centring the needs of the communities they serve through utilising poetry in research and as a vehicle for personal and collective introspection and transformation.

Outside of academia, Forde delivers poetry workshops in secondary schools, universities and for cross-sector organisations across the UK.

Watch the full short film on Serendipity's YouTube channel today by visiting: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xdpdq0

Be a part of the project and celebrate your story. For further information visit: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xdr3M0

Making the Invisible Visible: Black Women 365 Days of the Year is an exciting initiative led by Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage. Each day will showcase a different woman, whose story has shaped Black British or global Diasporic history; many of whom remain overlooked or under-celebrated in mainstream narratives. This will take the form of a rolling programme of short films, released throughout the year to keep these stories in daily circulation and to create an evolving constellation of leadership, resistance, artistry and enduring impact.

27/07/2026

Mellow Baku is an antidisciplinary artist, community facilitator and founder of BAKUYARD, known for her creative vocal explorations through song and spoken word, and her work in diverse communities at the intersection of art and wellbeing. She studied Fine Art at De Montfort, having escaped a childhood (age 5-19) in a religious cult.

Exploring ancestry and cultural re-memberance through art has become a transformative part of her practice, as she creates/channels pieces through her 'Altar Ego'– the 'Self Healing Goddess', and shares alternative arts offerings through events like That Being Said, a conscious poetry and meditative music circle and songbath, a jazz performance and soundbath crossover with live looping soundscapes.

Watch the full short film on Serendipity's YouTube channel today by visiting: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xbW3b0

Be a part of the project and celebrate your story. For further information visit: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xbXwx0

Making the Invisible Visible: Black Women 365 Days of the Year is an exciting initiative led by Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage. Each day will showcase a different woman, whose story has shaped Black British or global Diasporic history; many of whom remain overlooked or under-celebrated in mainstream narratives. This will take the form of a rolling programme of short films, released throughout the year to keep these stories in daily circulation and to create an evolving constellation of leadership, resistance, artistry and enduring impact.

25/07/2026

Sabina Silver is an artist working between the UK and Amsterdam. Her work focuses on the body and how it changes through experience, especially when moving between places. She works across painting and shared settings, using both as ways to understand how people adjust, make space for themselves and find their own way through different states.

Watch the full short film on Serendipity's YouTube channel today by visiting: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0x9vYy0

Be a part of the project and celebrate your story. For further information visit: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0x9wPf0

Making the Invisible Visible: Black Women 365 Days of the Year is an exciting initiative led by Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage. Each day will showcase a different woman, whose story has shaped Black British or global Diasporic history; many of whom remain overlooked or under-celebrated in mainstream narratives. This will take the form of a rolling programme of short films, released throughout the year to keep these stories in daily circulation and to create an evolving constellation of leadership, resistance, artistry and enduring impact.

24/07/2026

Dr Mojisola Kareem is an award-winning theatre director, playwright, producer and educator, and the Founder, Creative Director and CEO of Utopia Theatre in Sheffield. She is internationally recognised for championing African and African Diaspora theatre, creating bold productions that connect classical and contemporary stories with diverse audiences.

Under her leadership, Utopia Theatre has grown into one of the UK's leading African theatre companies and is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. Her directing credits include The Swamp Dwellers, Death and the King's Horseman, Crown of Blood and Anna Hibiscus' Song. As a playwright, she is currently under commission with the National Theatre of Scotland.

Dr Kareem teaches and directs internationally, having worked with institutions including LAMDA, East 15 Acting School, BADA and Leeds Conservatoire. She holds a PhD from Goldsmiths, University of London, where her research explored the transformation of Indigenous Yorùbá performance through digital technology.

Her work is driven by a commitment to expanding the visibility of African theatre, nurturing emerging artists and creating meaningful cultural exchange through performance, education and community engagement.

Watch the full short film on Serendipity's YouTube channel today by visiting: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0x9rFZ0

Be a part of the project and celebrate your story. For further information visit: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0x9rn20

Making the Invisible Visible: Black Women 365 Days of the Year is an exciting initiative led by Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage. Each day will showcase a different woman, whose story has shaped Black British or global Diasporic history; many of whom remain overlooked or under-celebrated in mainstream narratives. This will take the form of a rolling programme of short films, released throughout the year to keep these stories in daily circulation and to create an evolving constellation of leadership, resistance, artistry and enduring impact.

"The speakers, each and every one, were outstanding, inspirational, thought leaders. My pen was racing and so was my br...
24/07/2026

"The speakers, each and every one, were outstanding, inspirational, thought leaders. My pen was racing and so was my brain trying to adjust to what a Black archive might be..."

Attendee from Black Heritage Voices 2025

Black Heritage Voices is a conference dedicated to uniting professionals from Black communities working across the heritage sector, including archivists, researchers, audience engagement practitioners, community historians, heritage programmers and those in leadership roles.

This year’s theme centres on creole identities, hidden heritage and the after lives of empire, the stories that shaped Britain yet remain marginal, obscured, or selectively omitted from the national record. By mapping creole worlds and the complex cultural exchanges that define African and Caribbean Diasporic experience, the conference interrogates how contemporary Britain continues to negotiate visibility, belonging and power.

Black Heritage Voices 2026
Thursday 5 November
10.00am - 7.00pm
Serendipity, Leicester, UK
£135

Book now at https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0wLycf0

Address

8 Bowling Green Street
Leicester
LE16AS

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 5:30pm
Tuesday 10am - 5:30pm
Wednesday 10am - 5:30pm
Thursday 10am - 5:30pm
Friday 10am - 5:30pm
Saturday 10am - 5:30pm
Sunday 10am - 5:30pm

Telephone

+441164821394

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