Generation to Generation 2009
British Caribbean History and Culture Weekend
Saturday 28 & Sunday 29 November
Join us on this weekend of free, creative and interactive activities,
tours, and films for all the family. Our special guest for the weekend is
British filmmaker and writer Horace Ové, CBE, who hails from the island of
Trinidad, and continues to make pivotal contributions to the British film
industry. We are pleased to announce that Baroness Rosalind Howells of St
David, OBE will open the Generation to Generation weekend on Saturday 28
November 2009 at 10.30.
Free, drop-in, suitable for families and Young People (11–16)
Due to demand some activities will be on a first-come, first-served basis
Jointly organised with Gabriel Media™ International
Interactive Activities
Saturday 28 November
My Caribbean Inspired Front
Room
Art Studio, Sackler Centre
13.15–14.30 (under 11s)
15.00–16.15 (11–16s)
Design and construct a miniature
front room inspired by the writer
and curator Michael McMillan’s
West Indian Front Room
It’s Front Page News!
Digital newspaper design
Digital Studio, Sackler Centre
14.00–15.00 & 15.15–16.15
Create your own digital newspaper
front page influenced by Britain’s
first black newspaper, The West
Indian Gazette, created by Claudia
Jones in 1958.
Suitable for 11–16s
Carnival by decorating a mask and
dressing up in costumes for a
photo shoot against a
Carnival backdrop.
Suitable for under 11s accompanied
by an adult
Hidden Histories: Africa
Black Heritage Collections
Revealed
Meeting Point Sackler Centre
Reception Desk
14.30–15.45
Join an African Caribbean objects
tour and discover prints and
photographs, paintings and craft,
textiles and costumes. Be
enlightened on the Christian
iconography of the Black Magi.
Other highlights include thespian
and social activist Ira Aldridge,
the Jamaican scholar Francis
Williams, and the Portrait of the
Trinidadian Woman.
Suitable for all visitors
Film Screenings
Saturday 28 November
Celebrate 50 Years of
Carnival
Mask Making and Carnival
Photoshoot
Lunchroom and Design Studio,
Sackler Centre
14.00–15.00 & 15.30–16.30
The first Carnival in Britain was
started by Claudia Jones and was
held inside St Pancras Town Hall
in 1959. Celebrate 50 years of
All screenings are in the
Hochhauser Auditorium, Sackler
Centre.
Island Feature: Trinidad &
Tobago
11.00–12.00
Often referred to as ‘the jewel of
the Caribbean’, Trinidad and
Tobago is also home to the preLenten festival known as Carnival
and is the birthplace of steelpan,
calypso, soca music and limbo
dance. 50th anniversary of the
first British Carnival, held at St
Pancras Town Hall, instigated by
social activist Claudia Jones in
reaction to the Notting Hill race
riots in 1958, where Antiguan
Kelson Cochrane was murdered. The
British Caribbean Association was
founded as a result of the racial
tensions at the time, to broker
understanding of the Caribbean
community and its culture to
inform change at Parliamentary
level.
Courtesy of the Trinidad and
Tobago
High Commission
Jemima & Johnny
dir. Lionel Ngakane, 1966 (U)
– 28 min
12.10–12.40
In a west London community divided
by racism, a young white English
boy befriends the young daughter
of recent immigrants from the
Caribbean.
Courtesy of the British Film
Institute (BFI)
Caribbean in the 40s and 50s. It
effectively shines a light on the
stories of the members and the
spirit of the group.
Sponsored by Newham Film Office
and Chocolate Films, commissioned
by Studio Voltaire collaborations
programme
Pressure
dir. Horace Ové, 1975, (15) –
120 min
15.15–17.15
Hailed as Britain’s first black
feature film, Pressure is a hardhitting, honest document of the
plight of disenchanted Britishborn black youths. An angry but
sincere and balanced film,
Pressure deals with the identity
struggles that children of
immigrants have to face and Horace
Ové makes the most of his
combination of professional actors
and local non-actors from the
streets of London.
Courtesy of the British Film
Institute (BFI)
Tiger Bay is My Home
dir. Colin Prescod, 1982, (PG)
– 38 min
12.45 – 13.25
Tiger Bay is My Home shows that in
19th century Cardiff as in other
ports black communities began with
black colonial seamen. The Tiger
Bay community faced official, as
well as everyday physical
harassment, which culminated in
race riots in 1919 and a scheme
for repatriation. Many lived
through the Depression of the
1930’s and served and died in
World War Two.
Courtesy of the Institute of Race
Relations
Dominoes and Bingo,
A Story about Caribbean Elders
dir. Rachel Wang Productions:
Chocolate Films, 2009, (U) – 30
min
14.30–15.00
A story of a group of elderly
people who came to London from the
Interactive Activities
Sunday 29 November
Afro Hair: A Talk and
Workshop
Seminar Room 1, Sackler Centre,
13.30–14.30
Join Sandra Gittens, Course
Director of Programmes, Further
Education at the London College of
Fashion, University of the Arts as
she takes you on a historic and
creative journey of the Afro.
Share your Afro hair stories or
your dreams of donning an Afro
creation. Sandra Gittens is
author of African–Caribbean
Hairdressing; Hairdressing
Training
(Board / Macmillan).
Suitable for all visitors
Sunday 29 November
60s Fashion Design
Inspiration:
All screenings are in the
Hochhauser Auditorium, Sackler
Centre.
More than Just Carnaby Street
Art Studio, Sackler Centre, 13.30–
14.15
View objects designed and made
during the 60s and use these as
ideas to create your own 60s
inspired costume, designed and
then make out of paper. A design
activity sheet will support this
session.
Suitable for 11–16s
Hidden Histories: Africa
Black Heritage Collections
Revealed Tour
Meeting Point Sackler Centre
Reception Desk
14.30–15.45
Join an African Caribbean objects
tour and discover prints and
photographs, paintings and craft,
textiles and costumes. Be
enlightened on the Christian
iconography of the Black Magi.
Other highlights include thespian
and social activist Ira Aldridge,
the Jamaican scholar Francis
Williams, and the Portrait of the
Trinidadian Woman.
Suitable for all visitors
Afro Styleee!
Seminar Room 1, Sackler Centre,
14.30–16.00
Dress up in an Afro wig for a
group photo shoot against a 60s
backdrop.
Suitable for families and 11–16s
60s Fashion Design:
Out of Paper Workshop
Art Studio, Sackler Centre, 14.30–
16.30
Design, create and decorate a
contemporary paper costume
inspired by 60s design. To take
part in this workshop, visitors
must have attended the 60s Fashion
Design: More than Just Carnaby
Street session above.
Suitable for 11–16s
Film Screenings
The Power of Black Hair
dir. Chocolate Films, 2009, (U)
– 7 min
12.00–12.10
A creative documentary made by
young people aged 11– 12 years
old, charting the history and
importance of Afro hair with
surprising explanations and
inventive animations. Do you know
who invented the shampoo press and
curl? Have you ever conked your
hair? Ever wondered why the jheri
curl was so popular in the 80s?
Sponsored by Newham Film Office
and Chocolate Films as part of ID
London
From You Were Black You Were
Out
dir. Colin Prescod, 1982, (PG)
– 38 min
12.20–13.00
This short documentary describes
the black condition in the 1950s
in Ladbroke Grove, a decaying
inner city area of London. It was
there that grassroots defense
organised against racist mob
attacks in 1958, and where in the
1960s the community that had
developed, resisted attempts to
displace the annual Caribbean
Carnival, now known as Notting
Hill Carnival.
Courtesy of the Institute of Race
Relations
Playing Away
dir. Horace Ové, 1986, (15) –
98 min
14.00–15.40
From the pioneering British
filmmaker Horace Ové, comes a
comedy of manners with an
outstanding array of British
talent on display, including Ross
Kemp and Gary Beadle, East Enders
and Neil Morrissey, Men Behaving
Badly at the start of their
careers. There is also a poignant
performance by the brilliant
Norman Beaton, Desmonds.
Courtesy of the British Film
Institute (BFI)
Jingle Blues, Jingle Bells
dir. Sylvester Williams, 2008,
(PG) – 88 min
15.50–17.20
A new feature film written and
directed by Sylvester Williams
(Eastenders and Bullet Boy). This
romantic Comedy Drama with an
ensemble cast, focuses on a black
British family with one white
child. Christopher Caroll,
strives to please his family and
at the same time control a
financial crisis during the
festive season. His efforts
become a catalyst that reveals
secrets that could tear the family
apart.
Courtesy of Ebonywood Studio
Productions
Other Family Events &
Activities
Drop-in Design
Every Sunday
Lunchroom, Sackler Centre
10.30–17.00
Hunt for ideas in the galleries,
pick up a design challenge and
create a crazy teacup, a fantasy
door or fancy fashion. What you
make depends on the design
challenge of the day.
Get Hands-On!
British Galleries and around the
Museum look for the
on the Museum
Map
There are hundreds of exciting
hands-on exhibits throughout the
V&A, particularly in the British
Galleries, where you can also find a
number of objects linked to black
heritage, history and the
transatlantic slave trade. To find
out more visit the Hidden Histories:
Africa on-line resource
http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/per
iods_styles/hiddenhistories/index.ht
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Feedback
Please tell us what you thought of
this event by completing one of our
evaluation forms and returning it to
the Sackler Centre Reception Desk –
thank you.
General Information
Photography and filming will take
place during this event. By
attending you accept that you may be
photographed and filmed in crowd
scenes. You may, on occasion, be
asked to sign a Model Release form
prior to any photographs and/or
filming that we may do, where your
image is easily identifiable.
Keep in touch
For information on other upcoming
events, visit www.vam.ac.uk/families
and sign up for our free family enewsletter.
Enjoy your visit!