The World Reimagined

Andrew Mlangeni

In South Africa we know the only way to truly walk together is to understand each other’s journeys. Dialogue, understanding and compassion lead to actions that can change our world for the better, for all. And so I am heartened by The World Reimagined. Its topic may be the past, but its mission is a future for our children built on the foundation and for the realisation of human dignity.

Rt Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin

There is one world and one human race: we are “our brother’s keeper”. The World Reimagined seeks to educate one another about the journeys we have been on and invites us to come on a journey. A journey where ‘my story becomes your story, and your story, my story.’ With both our stories we will reimagine a world of mutual respect and dignity.

Kwame Kwei-Armah CBE

Having grown up in Southall during the riots, I have witnessed what can happen when communities are fractured. I have experienced the power of art and education to create understanding of self and others. The World Reimagined opens this opportunity for growth to everyone across the UK. Together we can create a future that recognises strength in diversity and power in truth.

Baroness Floella Benjamin

I always say ‘Childhood Lasts a Lifetime’ so as we grow up, the stories we are told shape how we see the world, how we build relationships with one another and how we feel about the future. The World Reimagined may be a journey of discovery with uncomfortable moments, but once travelled represents the opportunity for us as a society to create harmony and joy, together.

Leroy Logan MBE

I fully identify with ‘The World Reimagined’, because I totally subscribe to the understanding that education is a key towards fostering mutual understanding amongst people, to build bridges instead of barriers. It is essential to get the balance right as a form of sustainable engagement, especially when dealing with a very emotive issue like the impact of The Transatlantic Trade’ in Enslaved Africans.

Baroness Lola Young

Art can enable an honest, open dialogue about the trans-Atlantic trade in enslaved Africans and its impact on all our lives across time to the present day. The World Reimagined will help us to engage in this important conversation without which we cannot make progress in combatting racism.

Lord Michael Hastings

There is such desire to understand the unrelenting evil of perpetual racism at this moment. Our hope is to keep alight the true story of amazingly strong and dignified women and men of colour who came to bring their joy and service to shape our society for good. We face forward to Black futures in the knowledge of Black history to build communities of harmony and hope.

Our Patrons

Michael is currently the Chancellor of Regent’s University, London. He has previously led Global Citizenship for KPMG International and on public affairs and corporate social responsibility for the BBC. He has been an independent peer in the House of Lords since 2005 and has served as a member of the Commission on Racial Equality; the World Economic Forum’s Global Councils on Diversity and Talent; Vice-President of UNICEF, Tearfund and is a trustee of the Vodafone Foundation.

Lord Michael Hastings

Patron

Rose was born and grew up in Montego Bay, Jamaica. She was ordained deacon in 1991 and priest in 1994, beginning her ordained ministry in the West Midlands. For 16 and a half years she served as a priest in Hackney, North East London. In 2007 she was appointed as a Chaplain to HM The Queen and in 2010, she became the 79th and first female Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons. With the Chaplaincy, she also served as a priest in the City of London at St Mary-at-Hill. Rose became the UK’s first black female Bishop, when she was consecrated and installed as the Bishop of Dover in 2019.

Rt. Rev. Rose Hudson-Wilkin CD, MBE

Patron

Co-Founder

Michelle is an actor, singer and writer. She played Hattie Tavernier in Eastenders; had six top 20 hits; sold a million records, with Sweetness the biggest hit; and has been nominated for multiple Brit Awards. A regular contributor on the Jeremy Vine Show, This Morning and beyond, Michelle is passionate about telling stories that depict the struggles of women, minorities and the working class. She is inspired by her mother, who set up Black Insight, a community organisation in Harlesden to provide education and legal advice. Michelle is currently playing Hermione Granger in the multi award winning play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Michelle Gayle

Co-Founder

Our Board

Dean Ricketts built upon his background in fashion styling, music and image making and founded The Watch-Men Agency in 1989, a strategic marketing and creative agency specialising in ‘how people live in cities, or if you prefer ‘urban culture’. The agency has a strong reputation for reaching specialist audiences and opinion leaders, and boasts an impressive array of clients which currently include; Let’s Be Free, marketing services for Fuji instax Undisputed BBoy World Tour (road to the Olympics), consultancy for Nigerian theatre/film company Terra Kulture and the sneaker talk series “A Sneaker Society”. Throughout his career, Dean has executed multiple strategic marketing campaigns at both local and global level which have included UK Transplant, Royal Navy, Electoral Commission, Home Office and Royal Air Force as well as creative work for Caterpillar, BFI, Sony PlayStation, Levi Strauss World Tour – working with The Fugees, OutKast & Jamiroquai, G-Star – Hypnotic Brass Ensemble tour and compilation album for their global stores, denim brand ROGAN and the launch of an ethically clothing label EDUN. He has consulted for The Fader, The Wire, i-D and Freeze magazines and written and styled for. The Sunday Times Magazine, i-D and The Face. He is also on the board of Jazz re:freshed, Jamaican Music Industry Association JaRIA and The World Reimagined.

Dean Ricketts

Trustee

Fiona is a London-based, multi award-winning Saint Lucian photographer artist, filmmaker and historian. Her work over the last 13 years has explored the various disparities in representation of the Afro Caribbean diaspora within art and mainstream media She created and runs the Know Your Caribbean Instagram account, which shares compelling history, creatively with her large following. She runs creative workshops for children and young people about the history and culture of the Caribbean and its linkages to Africa. Fiona is a powerful advocate for her history and culture and is an Official ambassador for London’s Notting Hill Carnival.

Fiona Compton

Trustee

Gillian presents Sky News at Breakfast and has more than 30 years broadcast experience. She started her career with the BBC in Manchester before becoming a reporter and producer with Radio Merseyside, where she was one of the first to break the news of the James Bulger murder in 1993. Gillian has reported for the BBC’s Black Britain programme, the One and Six O’Clock News, Newsnight and BBC Radio.She has reported from across the globe, including South America, the Caribbean and Africa. She covered the death of Nelson Mandela, the 2016 American Presidential elections from both Washington and New York, and has reported on every UK General election since 2001.

Gillian Joseph

Trustee

Lee is a social entrepreneur and Founder of the Cherry Groce Foundation. He has been an activist for social justice for decades, since his mother Cherry’s shooting by the Metropolitan Police sparked the Brixton Uprising. His path has taken him to securing a memorial for Cherry, which will be unveiled in Brixton’s Windrush Square in September 2020. Shaped by his personal pursuit for justice, he uses a reconciliatory approach to secure progress. Lee is working to improve police engagement with their local communities and also assists the Inquest Family Reference Group with their strategy of wider support for bereaved families. Lee shares his experiences on platforms across the country and was awarded the Windrush Silent Hero’s Award in 2015.

Lee Lawrence

Chair

Ruth is a highly successful social entrepreneur as the founder of the multi award-winning youth leadership charity RECLAIM and The Roots Programme, a radical new approach to bridging divides between UK communities. Ruth is a Clore Social Fellow and an Ashoka UK Fellow and was listed in The Sunday Times as one of the 500 most influential people in the UK. She was also listed by Virgin as one of the top six female changemakers internationally; and her many awards include Manchester Peace Activist of the Year 2008, Manchester Woman of the Year in 2009; and the Northern Power Women Award 2017.

Ruth Ibegbuna

Trustee

Trustee

Toni Fola-Alade

Trustee

The Team That Made It Happen in 2022

Asher is a community developer, artist and yoga teacher living in Leeds. He uses the arts to bring people together and challenge the norms of modern culture. His freelance work engages with marginalised communities in novel ways which demands a constant acquisition of new skills. He has a MA in Peace and Development from Leeds Beckett, is a qualified yoga teacher, and has a diverse portfolio of skills and professional experiences.

Asher Jael

Community Coordinator
Leeds

Community Administrator

Bettina Ogbomoide

Community Administrator

With a passion for creative learning and development, Carolyn has worked with businesses, charities, communities and educators to design and deliver behaviour intervention and empower positive change. Since founding Amulinde Consulting, she has worked with leading change makers such as Diversity & Ability, Diversity Resources International, BeetFreaks and Always Possible, to design and deliver engaging learning environments for diverse communities, from executive education to youth development. Carolyn brings a multi-dimensional expertise – including research, facilitation, design, strategy and operations –enabling her to lead projects from conception to delivery.

Carolyn Baguma

Senior Community Manager

Chantel is an educator, art writer and consultant based in Accra, Ghana. She is the founder of DēpART consultancy which supports early-career artists in Ghana. Alongside this she runs Beyond the Black Canvas, an online platform exclusively dedicated to the stories and work of artists of African and Caribbean descent. She has an MA in Comparative Education and taught at primary schools in London and The Seychelles, where she used her love of the arts to create impactful and memorable learning experiences for children, seamlessly weaving her knowledge and passion for the African continent. She mentored teachers in the UK, Vanuatu, Ghana and Uganda sharing best practice for unlocking the potential of children identified with SEND and SEMH. She was part of the development team for Meadowsong, an RSPB and WWF sponsored initiative created by composer Kate Stilitz.

Chantel Akworkor Thompson

Partnerships Officer

Of African-Jamaican and Scottish roots, Cleo is a community engagement professional, researcher, has been involved within the arts and culture sector for over two decades and is the former Lord Mayor of Bristol (2018-2019). During her term as a Green Party Councillor, she was instrumental in getting a Reparations and Atonement motion passed at Bristol City Council for Bristol’s role in the Transatlantic Traffic in Enslaved Africans. Cleo is driven by the idea of utilising creativity, dance and expanded performance to aid civic engagement and to reframe storytelling as a resilience tool to embed cultural knowledge, empathy, understanding and cohesion.

Cleo Lake

Community Coordinator
Bristol & Swansea

Corazon is a digital journalist, artist and creative facilitator, born in Uganda and raised in East London. Corazon’s professional career has consisted of live events, operations and logistics management, where she enjoyed success working with major brands and implementing improvements that transformed the quality of services and work environments. The pandemic inspired meaningful redirection away from the corporate, toward social enterprise and community-related projects. The much needed career change aligned with her personal evolution and a renewed desire to have a positive impact. As an artist and creative she channels a strong spirit of activism. Whether through content creation, music production or the curation of art. Her artistry promotes radical self reflection and self love – emotionally, politically or otherwise.

Corazon Baguma

Community Coordinator
London

Derya is a freelance digital designer and engagement coordinator. She trained as a designer before moving to London to pursue her MA in RCA’s History of Design course, which is jointly run with the Victoria and Albert Museum. After her studies, she worked in various art and design installation projects’ curatorial teams, which helped her develop production and management skills alongside her creative background. She’s been working in freelance creative roles for the last five years and she enjoys working with arts organisations and using her skills to support their outreach programmes. Previously, she worked for Wandsworth Council’s arts team, the British Library, and It’s Nice That overseeing their various digital projects.

Derya Adiyaman

Communications & Marketing Officer

With a background in gallery education, Ella graduated with a Masters in Fine Art from Wimbledon College in 2015. Creating video installations, text and site responsive interventions, she has deeply explored how design affects our behaviours in both physical and digital spaces. She has exhibited artworks internationally and been part of projects at The National Theatre, Victoria & Albert Museum and Napoli Film Festival. While nurturing her art practice and freelance curatorial projects, Ella has also honed her talents in project management and education having worked in a range of art organisations in the public and private sector.

Ella Phillips

Chief of Staff

Esther is an arts and heritage professional with a keen interest in projects which intersect with communities, culture and stories. She has worked with organisations including Manchester International Festival, The Pankhurst Centre, British Film Institute and The Drum. She is a committee member of the Portico Library in Manchester and co-chairs a heritage managers network, ensuring that Equity and Representation are ever present in cultural practice in her region. She is an active member of Museum Detox North West and co-hosted the Well Spoken Tokens podcast to elevate marginalised voices in the galleries, libraries, archives and museum sector.

Esther Lisk-Carew

Heritage Lead

Garry was born and raised a stone’s throw from Birmingham city centre, surrounded by its rich industrial heritage. As a citizen, historian and community activist, he represents the voice of the people in a story that connects us all on a local, national and global level.

Garry Stewart

Community Coordinator
Birmingham

James is an artist, curator, and heritage consultant specialising in bringing twenty first -century context to culturally sensitive historic collections. He has staged hundreds of events and exhibitions with communities, artists, and researchers, often focused on opening up organisations to previously excluded perspectives. Alongside curating the exhibitions programme and helping drive strategic development at Manchester’s Portico Library, he has contributed to events with the BBC, ARTE TV, Bluedot Festival, Home, and the Cité de la Mode et du Design. He has completed mentorships and training with the British Museum, Wellcome Collection, Manchester Art Gallery, and Common Cause Foundation. His projects have been cited as examples of inclusive and collaborative practice by the Crafts Council and the Journal of Museum Ethnography among others.

James Moss

Learning Officer

Janiece is an artist with a background in music and dance, as well as visual and performing arts. She has many years of experience working in the youth and community sector; engaging people through arts workshops with positive social messages such as anti-violence, diversity, equality and inclusion, and personal development.

Janiece Myers

Community Coordinator
Liverpool City Region

John-Paul began his career as a theatre director and has staged plays with professional and student actors across the UK and abroad. He has adapted and directed several productions of Horrible Histories which have been performed all over the UK and as far away as the Sydney Opera House in Australia. He spent ten years as a lecturer and led performing arts departments at several UK colleges and drama schools. He has spent the past eight years working in communications for a variety of campaigns, politicians and public figures. He has been humbled by the incredible work across all the different teams of The World Reimagined, and is honoured to have had the opportunity to be part of it during the past year.

John Paul Cherrington

Consultant, Communications & Operations

Kacherelle is an event creative, manager and producer who has delivered over 500 pioneering projects in the UK and internationally, including multidisciplinary festivals, conferences, exhibitions, high profile events, theatre shows and plays. She has worked on Africa Utopia, Women of the World, Ripples of Hope, We Out Here festival, Family Honour by Spoken Movement, Shameless Festival and with many other activists and changemakers across the globe. Her work centres around her core values of togetherness, creativity and social justice. She believes that the arts are for everyone, are central to breaking down stereotypes, and can promote intercultural dialogue which creates platforms for the most marginalized voices to be heard, seen and celebrated. It is her continuing mission to connect the diaspora through thought provoking events where fun, social justice and change are tangible.

Kacherelle Brown

Artistic Producer

In her home country of Belize, Kiri worked on gender issues, policy analysis, evaluation of social programmes, and human rights education in both governmental and non-governmental organisations. Making an honest and genuine social impact has been and remains her core purpose. She has worked on mapping data systems across Belize’s social protection system and was part of a team at the helm of administering social programmes there, from conceptualisation to technical delivery. In the United Kingdom, she has worked in administrative roles at the University of Oxford and Prospect Magazine. She holds a BSc in Political Science and an MSc in Governance and Public Policy, both from The University of the West Indies, Mona.

Kiri Lizama

City Partnerships Officer

Partnerships Consultant

Laura Marcus

Partnerships Consultant

Mabel has a background as a digital user specialist, with outstanding team-building and problem-solving skills. She has worked with a diverse global audience at internationally acclaimed publications, within digital media, EdTech, research and education. Mabel has a passion for creating resources and content for use in both physical and digital spaces. She has extensive writing and project management experience across several media platforms.


Mabel Msonthi

Learning Officer

Following the completion of a Journalism degree, Sabrina worked for a range of lifestyle publications, gaining extensive writing experience on several media platforms. Her love of language led her to become an English and Media Studies teacher. Almost a decade of her teaching career was spent as a Year Learning Coordinator in a South London secondary school. In this pastoral role she managed the learning experience of 240 students, led a staff team of 12 tutors and led the 2016 cohort to achieve the best GCSE results in the borough of Lewisham and in the history of the school. Sabrina is also a freelance writer and runs her own motherhood and lifestyle blog.

Sabrina Reid

Senior Learning Manager

Senior Producer

Sara Black

Senior Producer

Over her extensive career, Tara has straddled the lines between arts and heritage for the benefit and empowerment of Black people. She has worked for a number of minority lead arts organisations in and around Leicester, as a trainee curator role at Leicester Museum Service and has also worked with organisations such as the VIctorian and Albert Museum and The Race Equality Centre. Her exhibition ‘Together we won the War’ was rated seventh nationally among projects supported by the National Heritage Lottery in 2016. Tara founded Opal22 Arts and Edutainment to bridge the gap between mainstream public organisations and the diverse members of her community and to promote Black excellence to the masses.

Tara Munroe

Community Coordinator
Leicester

Theresa is passionate about building and empowering communities, providing opportunities where there are none, and helping charities reach goals within their vision and values. Her experience of regulated and non-regulated environments brings a perspective and skill set that facilitates the best outcomes.

Founding Acquisys and working with industry leading changemakers has enabled her to impart her multi-disciplinary expertise which includes design, strategy and implementation for Not For Profit and the corporate entities. With a strong background in programme management & delivery, she has utilised her knowledge within governance, compliance & operations to engage and further the interests of a number of Not for Profit and corporate entities including, Rekindle School, Northern Soul, Virgin Money Foundation, Koreo, The Roots Programme, RBS and Tandem Bank.

Theresa Olaniran

Director of Operations

The World Reimagined is a company limited by guarantee (#1250114) and a registered charity (#115223). 

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