The Keskidee Centre, or Keskidee Arts Centre, was Britain's first arts centre for the black community, founded in 1971."The Keskidee – a community that discovered itself. Islington Local History Centre celebrates the Keskidee – Britain’s first arts centre for the black community"
, Islington Local History Centre, 2009. Located at Gifford Street in Islington, near King's Cross in London, it was a project initiated by Guyanese architect and cultural activist Oscar Abrams (1937–1996) to provide under one roof self-help and cultural activities for the local West Indian community. Its purpose-built facilities included a library, gallery, studios, theatre and restaurant."King's Cross"
KXV-2006-206-01: Errol Lloyd interview. Soundcloud. The Keskidee became a hub for African and Afro-Caribbean politics and arts, and for years was the only place in London that produced black theatre,Pavan Amara
"Cherished King’s Cross black arts Keskidee Centre is latest to get a heritage green plaque"
''

Camden New Journal The ''Camden New Journal'' is a British independent newspaper published in the London Borough of Camden. It was launched by editor Eric Gordon (who died on 5 April 2021, aged 89) in 1982 following a two-year strike at its predecessor, the ''C ...

'', 8 April 2011. developing its own vibrant drama company and attracting both a black and white audience.Pavan Amara and Andrew Johnson
"Fire rips through pioneering black arts venue where Bob Marley shot Is This Love video"
''

Islington Tribune The ''Islington Tribune'' is a free, independent newspaper that covers the London Borough of Islington in north London. It was founded in 2003 as a sister paper to the ''Camden New Journal''. It carries significant influence locally due to its hig ...

'', 9 March 2012.

History

In 1971, Guyanese-born architect and cultural activist Oscar Winston Abrams (1937–1996), who had settled in Britain in 1958, bought a run-down Victorian mission hall from the

Shaftesbury Society Ragged schools were charitable organisations dedicated to the free education of destitute children in 19th century Britain. The schools were developed in working-class districts. Ragged schools were intended for society's most destitute children ...

for £9000 and transformed it into the Keskidee Centre,"Keskidee Arts Centre — Biography"
at Black Plays Archive, Royal National Theatre. which came to provide "a unique and hugely influential cultural and political environment for the black community throughout the 1970s and early-1980s." The community centre's name and logo derived from the keskidee bird native to Guyana and elsewhere in the Caribbean."Keskidee Centre"
Diaspora Artists. The Keskidee Theatre workshop was founded in 1971, with a full-time drama company dedicated to black theatre, under the artistic direction of African-American Rufus Collins, who had originally come to Britain on tour with

The Living Theatre The Living Theatre is an American theatre company founded in 1947 and based in New York City. It is the oldest experimental theatre group in the United States. For most of its history it was led by its founders, actress Judith Malina and painter/p ...

. Among other professional actors, directors, and playwrights it attracted were

Yvonne Brewster Yvonne Jones Brewster (née Clarke; born 7 October 1938) is a Jamaican actress, theatre director and businesswoman, known for her role as Ruth Harding in the BBC television soap opera '' Doctors''. She co-founded the theatre companies Talawa ...

Anton Phillips Anton Phillips (born 31 October 1943) is a Jamaican-born British actor who found success appearing in British television. He remains best known for his role as Dr. Bob Mathias in the science fiction series '' Space: 1999''. Also a theatre prod ...

, Howard Johnson, Jimi Rand (''Say Hallelujah''), Edgar White (''Lament for Rastafari'', 1977; ''Les Femmes Noires''/''The Black Women''), T-Bone Wilson (''Jumbie Street March''; ''Body and Soul'', 1974), Pat Maddy (''Gbana Bendu'', 1973), who at one time was Director of Drama,

Yemi Ajibade Yemi Ajibade (28 July 1929''Africa Who's Who'', London: Africa Journal Ltd, for Africa Books, 1981, p. 82. – 24 January 2013), usually credited as Yemi Goodman Ajibade or Ade-Yemi Ajibade, was a Nigerian playwright, actor and director who, a ...

, and

Lindsay Barrett Carlton Lindsay Barrett (born 15 September 1941), also known as Eseoghene, is a Jamaican-born poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, journalist and photographer, whose work has interacted with the Caribbean Artists Movement in the UK, the Black ...

. Productions of Derek Walcott's ''

Pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

'',

Wole Soyinka Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka (Yoruba: ''Akínwándé Olúwọlé Babátúndé Ṣóyíinká''; born 13 July 1934), known as Wole Soyinka (), is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded t ...

's ''The Swamp Dwellers'' (1975) and Lennox Brown's ''Throne in an Autumn Room'' (1973) were also staged. Nigerian artist and sculptor Emmanuel Taiwo Jegede was also an artist-in-residence; his son

Tunde Jegede Tunde Jegede (born 28 January 1972) is a composer and multi-instrumentalist in contemporary classical, African and pop music, who is of Nigerian descent and born in England and as a child travelled to Africa to learn the art of the kora. He is ...

, born in 1972 and now a composer and virtuoso kora player, has credited the Keskidee Centre with initiating and nurturing his earliest appreciation of African diaspora culture. Errol Lloyd was also brought in by Abrams to be artist-in-residence (1974–75). As an indication of the significant role played by the Keskidee Centre in nurturing, supporting and celebrating Black visual artists, ''Diaspora Artists'' quotes from the Preface to the journal ''

Savacou ''Savacou: A Journal of the Caribbean Artists Movement'' was a journal of literature, new writing and ideas founded in 1970 as a small co-operative venture, led by Edward Kamau Brathwaite, on the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies, ...

'', issue 9/10, written by

John La Rose John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

and Andrew Salkey: "At the time of writing, the most recent medium session, held at the Keskidee Centre, on Friday 10th March 1972, was ''A Tribute to Ronald Moody'', a historical exposition, illustrated with slides, of Jamaican sculptor, arranged and presented by Errol Lloyd, the Jamaican painter."

Linton Kwesi Johnson Linton Kwesi Johnson (born 24 August 1952), also known as LKJ, is a Jamaica-born, British-based dub poet and activist. In 2002 he became the second living poet, and the only black one, to be published in the Penguin Modern Classics series. His p ...

was the Keskidee's first paid library resources and education officer, and his work at the centre featured in

Franco Rosso Franco Rosso (29 August 1941 – 9 December 2016)Bill Douglas Centre"Franco Rosso 1942-2016" ''Babylon'', 27 December 2016.Martin Stellman"Franco Rosso obituary" ''The Guardian'', 2 January 2017. was an Italian-born film producer and director ...

's 45-minute documentary film ''Dread, Beat an' Blood'', produced in 1979. It was at the Keskidee Centre that Johnson developed

dub poetry Dub poetry is a form of performance poetry of West Indian origin, which evolved out of dub music in Kingston, Jamaica, in the 1970s,

, a staged version of his poem "Voices of the Living and the Dead" being produced by Lindsay Barrett there in 1973, with music by the reggae group Rasta Love. The venue was also used for community meetings and events by the

Caribbean Artists Movement The Caribbean Artists Movement (CAM) was an influential cultural initiative, begun in London, England, in 1966 and active until about 1972,Angela Davis Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American political activist, philosopher, academic, scholar, and author. She is a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A feminist and a Marxist, Davis was a longtime member of ...

spoke at the Keskidee Centre, while she was in London to attend a rally in support of South African political prisoners. Up-and-coming bands such as

Misty in Roots Misty in Roots are a British roots reggae band formed in Southall, London, in the mid 1970s. Their first album was 1979's ''Live at the Counter Eurovision'', a record full of Rastafarian songs. It was championed by BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, help ...

and

Steel Pulse Steel Pulse are a roots reggae band from the Handsworth area of Birmingham, England. They originally formed at Handsworth Wood Boys School, and were composed of David Hinds (lead vocals, guitar), Basil Gabbidon (lead guitar, vocals), and Ro ...

also played at Keskidee, and in 1978

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

used the centre to make a video (in which a seven-year-old

Naomi Campbell Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is an English model, actress, singer, and businesswoman. She began her career at the age of 15, and established herself amongst the most recognisable and in-demand models of the past four decades. Cam ...

took part along with other children) for his song " Is This Love?" The Keskidee Centre ran into financial difficulties in the 1980s, and closed in 1991. The building was subsequently taken over by the

Christ Apostolic Church Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) is the first Aladura Pentecostal church present in Nigeria and other countries. It arose in the first half of the 20th century, in the then-British empire. It was formally established in 1941 after a split from the Apo ...

. Oscar Abrams died on 15 February 1996, aged 58.

Legacy

In 2009, The Keskidee was the subject of a

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

programme based on oral history interviews conducted by Alan Dein as part of the King's Cross Voices project. On 7 April 2011, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Keskidee Centre, an Islington Council heritage green plaque was unveiled on the building, at the time a church, by David Lammy and former resident artist Emmanuel Jegede.Peter Gruner
"Green plaque honours Keskidee arts centre where Naomi Campbell met Bob Marley"
, ''Camden New Journal'', 25 March 2011. On the night of 8 March 2012, the building was ravaged by fire. The police treated the blaze as suspicious, and the investigation was closed a month later after a Scotland Yard spokesman announced that the police had "exhausted all lines of inquiry"."Investigation into fire at historic Keskidee black arts centre is closed, say police"
''Islington Tribune'', 27 April 2012.

References

External links

"Islington Local History Centre celebrates the Keskidee – Britain’s first arts centre for the black community"
Islington Local History Centre, 2009. * Cllr

Claudia Webbe Claudia Naomi Webbe (born 8 March 1965) is a British politician who is currently the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester East. Elected to Parliament for Labour in the 2019 general election, she currently sits as an independent. Born ...

"Memories of the Keskidee"
Islington Labour, 16 March 2012. {{coord, 51.5413, N, 0.1205, W, display=title Afro-Caribbean culture in London Arts centres in London Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Islington Community centres in London Black British culture in London 1971 establishments in England 1991 disestablishments in England

History

Legacy

References

Further reading

External links