After a powerful year pushing the boundaries of Black performance and mental health, theatre arts practitioner Tony Cealy rounds off 2021 with the Black Men’s Consortium LIVE community engagement showcase at Brixton Library.

The event on Tuesday 7 December will see Consortium participants helping to shape a community debate to develop interventions and support Black Men to move forward personally and collectively with their mental health.

The event will consist of:

• Showcasing strategies and tactics on HOW the group members improved their mental health and well being.

• Demonstrating HOW the quality of existing help-seeking services could be improved for a better experience

• Presenting interactive sketches to the audience in order to explore alternatives

• Inviting the audience to an active Q&A with a panel of health professionals and stakeholders

• Persuading audience members to join the BMC programme and participate in its activities

Questions to think about:

• How can BLACK Men survive COVID 19 and remain proactive during these challenging and uncertain times?

• How do we ensure that BLACK Men share power to plan and deliver help-seeking support services?

• What are the current obstacles BLACK Men face in the time of post lockdown?

• What can BLACK Men do collectively to look after their Mental Health & Wellbeing and improve the quality of services that are provided for them whilst addressing our current reality?

• How can BLACK Men support and guide the next generation so that we are better prepared for civil action?

http://theblackmensconsortium.com/

81 Acts of Exuberant Defiance

It has been a demanding year for Tony Cealy. As well as events to celebrate the Windrush generation, he co-founded 81 Acts of Exuberant Defiance to mark this year’s anniversary of the Brixton uprising. The community led programme reframes and reclaims those narratives through radical Black arts, culture and heritage in Brixton and beyond.

The Mending Room is the flagship ‘act’ which aims to ‘Mend Back Brixton’. The Menders are Brixtonites who have come together and use creative processes and theories to come up with innovative ideas to tackle issues facing the local community. It grew from a 12-week workshop facilitated by Tony and produced by Lara Samuels of Rapport Festival. This led to a first ‘Jury Event’ with the theme of – ‘Our Future’ exploring youth trauma and opportunities.

The techniques from the Mending Room can support:

• Achieving small changes to stimulate big debates with the aim of breaking the continuing cycles of ‘peace then unrest’; and

• Developing the ‘passion to create’ with the ‘intention of challenging boundaries’ …

Says Tony: “The Menders have gone on to raise funds to co-design a community Billboard with a small intergenerational group of community spokespeople. Witnessed by local stakeholders and civic partners, the Mending Room is aiming to be a model for communities to co-construct ways forward through and beyond the challenges most impeding our daily lived experiences. It offers a playful invitation for connection whilst scaffolding a process of self-efficacy, advocacy and activism that can lead to surgical interventions in the systems of oppression.”

Watch this space… http://www.tonycealy.com/

Black Men’s Consortium Showcase – Tuesday 7 December 6pm:

To register and book your FREE TICKETS click here.