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Creative Approaches to Hidden Narratives
Training provider IVE's ground-breaking ‘Creative Approaches to Hidden Narratives’ partnered with subject expert Heritage Corner and united ten teachers from Yorkshire and Humber schools to explore themes of identity and diversity.
(Published on the IVE blog, July 2021).
Campus Connections
Leeds – a magical city in a majestic county. Heritage Corner’s Leeds Black History Walk is a fascinating revelation of historic Yorkshire links to the ancient continent of Africa, highlighting a shared and intertwined heritage which is hidden in plain sight. (Published by Welcome to Yorkshire's Walkshire, March 2021)
Download: Steps of Creativity
A free activity booklet encouraging people to take a different approach to their daily walk and repurpose the everyday.
Created in partnership with Leeds Playhouse.
Exploring Shared Heritage in the Classroom and Beyond
Blog post commissioned for trainee teachers by Leeds Trinity University, June 2019.
International Conference on Caribbean Carnival Cultures
Carnival Conference Special with Joe Williams and special guest guides Khadijah Ibrahim (front standing, third from left) and David Hamilton (back, third from left).
The Centre for Culture and the Arts at Leeds Beckett University, in partnership with Leeds West Indian Carnival, hosted Power, Performance and Play, an international conference on Caribbean Carnival Cultures in celebration of Leeds West Indian Carnival’s 50th anniversary. The event featured academics, costume designers, musicians, filmmakers and an evening of reggae and soca. On Sunday conference delegates joined Joe Williams and guest guides poet Khadijah Ibrahim and Phoenix Dance co-founder David Hamilton on the Leeds Black History Walk. Hidden historical narratives of the city's heritage and their connections to Africa and the Caribbean provided context for the roots and spirit of West Indian Carnival in Britain.
Celebrating Caribbean Carnival Culture in Leeds : Conference organiser, Dr Emily Zobel Marshall, looks back on the success of the event whilst looking forward to the future of Caribbean carnival culture research at Leeds Beckett University.
Caribbean Carnival Cultures at the Centre for Culture and the Arts (Leeds Beckett)
Walks & Talks
Schools in Leeds and London were introduced to a new approach to Black history from a British perspective. Heritage Corner also played a significant role in Leeds University's Black History Month programme.
Engagement with community groups included an outburst of 'Cassius' from Julius Ceasar for Chicken Shop Shakespeare's October film event. The new company's actors performed readings by Heritage Corner for a special event organised by Equality Leeds at Leeds Civic Hall.
One community highlight was a talk given at the Church of God of Prophecy on Easterly Road where members opened the door to a rich discussion on Black History. Heritage Corner spoke on Africa's royal connections to Leeds and their relationship to the bible. A similar event at Jamaica House proved equally uplifting.
For Black History Month, Leeds City Academy took part in a specially curated walk.
On the doorstep of the LCA (formerly City of Leeds School) is Woodhouse Moor where Britain's most successful circus proprietor of African origin, Pablo Fanque, entertained thousands of thrilled spectators at a special event marking the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1847.
Afterwards, Heritage Corner was invited back to Leeds City Academy for a special assembly which featured a reading from the autobiography of Thomas Rutling. A member of the hugely popular Fisk Jubilee Singers, Rutling introduced songs like Swing Low, Sweet Chariot to British audiences. The centenary of his death in the Yorkshire town of Harrogate is in 2015.
Originally posted, 2014
Transportation Transformation
Curated by artist and researcher Dr. Carol Marie Webster, this community engagement and performance research project was funded by the AHRC Cultural Engagement Partnership Fellowship Scheme based at Oxford University. Making use of physics, dance, theatre, visual arts, personal migration narratives and oral history, the project's performances were intended to facilitate public dialogue around the complexities of human migration and quantum teleportation.
Initial project, 2013-2014
The Secret Story of Egypt's Black Emperors, NPR Podcast
NPR's Tony Cox talks to Robert Draper whose February 2008 article for National Geographic Magazine revealed a largely untold chapter of African history, when Nubian Kings conquered ancient Egypt. The so called "Black Pharaohs" ruled for nearly half a century and played a major role in unifying the country, and creating the impressive monuments which still stand today.
Hidden History Project, National Park Authority
This 2007 exhibition at the Dales Countryside Museum explored the people and places of the Dales connected with Africa, the Caribbean and India. As Heritage Corner, Joe met Jenny Thornton, a descendant of the enslaved African John Yorke.
Exhibition 2007, Blog 2012
