Black All Year - almost 1, what a year!

It is many years since I first started saying that we should hold events outside of Black History Month (October in the UK) rather than focusing all our energy into one month. Since I then, I've been troubled by some of the reports of the tokenism and stereotyping by companies during Black History Month. I've also been annoyed by, and have been on the receiving end of, expectations that Black people will support companies' efforts during Black History Month free of charge and on top of their day jobs. However, despite my best efforts and so many excellent Black people saying the same, not a great deal has changed. No one really stepped forward to host conversations on ethnicity all year round; unless it was triggered by a tragedy and injustice such as the murder of George Floyd.

That's why, about 16 months ago, I decided that something needed to be done and that I would have to be the one to do it. Black All Year was created. Initially I'd wanted to do some in person events, potentially livestreamed to support accessibility and reach, but this was hampered by a two factors; funding and time. As a one woman band who already holds down jobs and other roles, finding the time to organise an in person event was difficult. As a one woman band it was also going to be a stretch to fund an in person event from my own personal funds. It was a conversation in January 2022 that led to Black All Year becoming a reality.

I was talking about my dilemma and ambition for Black All Year at an action learning set facilitated by friend and the Queen of Calm, Louise Cardon. She suggested that the lunchtime sessions that had sprung up during the pandemic on a range of topics seemed popular and useful, and that this might be a plausible format for Black All Year.

That was the start of it. Running webinars on Zoom was fairly simple. Recording Zoom meetings was also simple meaning that the recording could be made available for people who couldn't attend live. Separately recording the audio on Zoom was again very simple and my experience from running a community radio show (especially during the pandemic) showed me how this could be easily edited into a podcast. And so the idea for an online format that combined live events, videos and a podcast was formed.

Our first Black All Year guest was Ranjit Kirton of The Behaviour Garage. Having spent a little time coaching Ranjit, I knew that her approach to psychological safety, combined with her own experience of racial discrimination would make her an engaging and illuminating first guest. 

Black All Year became a reality on 4 April 2022 with the first online event, Black All Year - Inclusion with Humanity. 84 people registered to attend, something that I certainly didn't expect, but that was the shape of things to come. Since then there have been six live events with the seventh being Black All Year - Menopause, the Black Experience on Thursday 16 March. There have been a total of 9 podcast episodes as there is some podcast only content.

As Black All Year heads towards it's second year my ambition for it is that it will continue to regularly provide insight, discussion, support and education. I'd love to'grow and expand its reach so that more people can feel seen and so that more can learn and modify their beliefs. I recognise that to do that it needs to be more than just me - we need a team. We also need to find a way to fund all the various parts that are needed to run Black All Year on various platforms. So, I have plans - but you'll have to wait to see what they are.

In the meantime, stay tuned for more from Black All Year and please contact me if there are any topics you'd like me to cover or if you'd like to be a guest.