College completes Black History Month festivities

As Black History Month 2023 comes to a close, South & City College Birmingham hosted a wide range of open-door activities for its learners, focusing on amplifying and celebrating the voices of the black community across the globe.

Supporting the UK’s national celebration, Black History Month aims to promote and celebrate black contributions to British society, and to foster an understanding of black history in general.

As part of the college’s commitment to equality & diversity, a number of events were planned and hosted across several venues on eight different campus sites, including:

• Open Mics focusing on famous black artists
• World Food Wednesdays focusing on Caribbean, Jamaican and African food selections
• Presentations and displays across the month echoing black voices across history
• Cultural dress & street festival for students to celebrate and show what they do with their families outside of college
• Classroom based tutorials for students to create presentations around black history and how the world has changed as a result
• Drumming workshops for staff and students to get involved with and learn the basics of African drumming

One of the largest events that South & City College Birmingham hosted, was the Hair and Beauty catwalk – ‘Avant-garde’ that took place on 25 October at the Bournville (Longbridge) campus.

Following on from its success last year, colleagues from the Hair, Beauty & Barbering departments at the college collaborated alongside several departments including Art & Design, Fashion and Hospitality & Catering to produce another memorable event.

The brief to learners was to think out-of-the-box, push their imagination and produce something spectacular, using different formats to present their ideas, including makeup, clothing and hair.

During the interval stages of the event, Hospitality & Catering students; who have previously served and worked in the college’s on-site and public restaurant, Karibunis, cooked a variety of cuisines and dishes inspired by Afro-Caribbean delicacies.

Across the month, a range of food was on offer to try and taste across the cafeterias at South & City College Birmingham.

The College continues to amplify the number of black voices throughout its curriculum and enrichment activities such as the Youth Mini Summit for Racial Justice it has previously held with fellow West Midlands College BMet.