Black Females in Architecture (BFA) in collaboration with Soho House presents an evening with Tosin Oshinowo & Jayden Ali.

This event is BFA’s first non architectural partnership and is exclusively for BFA and Soho House members only. If you are a BFA member grab your tickets via our Eventbrite. if you are a Soho House member tickets have been made available via the Soho House app.

The conversation will be hosted by BFA and will centre around designers’ roles in shaping and defining culture across different disciplines including art, fashion, furniture, spatial & building design. Through this event, BFA seeks to create a space to broaden conversations beyond the silos of singular creative fields and to acknowledge opportunities for collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches.

BFA aims to amplify the voice and works of black practitioners within the industry by bringing incredibly talented people such as Tosin Oshinowo and Jayden Ali to the forefront of conversations pertaining to design and the built environment

Book now via our Eventbrite.

Following the success of our first film night, BFA is glad to announce that we will be hosting our second movie get-together at the Kings Cross Everyman Cinema to watch the highly anticipated ‘Black Panther II: Wakanda Forever’.

Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Shuri (Letitia Wright), M’Baku (Winston Duke), Okoye (Danai Gurira) and the Dora Milaje (including Florence Kasumba), fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers in the wake of King T’Challa’s death. As the Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together with the help of War Dog Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) and forge a new path for the kingdom of Wakanda.

Join us for an evening at the cinema to watch the second installment epic of Black Panther story played by an outstanding black cast (we love to see it)!

Tickets per person: £19.60 - available to buy now via our shop. These tickets are limited so don’t delay!

We look forward to seeing you there at our second BFA Film Night.

Are you interested in the connection between Architecture, Space and Performance?

Join us for Instagram live conversations hosted by choreographer and artist-scholar Dr Adesola Akinleye with BFA Members.

The BFA Dance Dialogues is an event series which was developed in collaboration with choreographer Dr. Adesola Akinleye.

To celebrate the book Dance, Architecture and Engineering (Dance in Dialogue), live conversations between Adesola and a series of BFA members will explore the main themes of the book in correlation to BFA member's work. BFA members include Ayanna Blair-Ford, Sarah Akigbogun, Seyi Adelekun & Umi Lovecraft BP.

The last one up is a conversation between Adesola and Umi on Thursday 24 June at 7pm.

They’ll discuss decolonising space-making and knowledge exchange.

Umi Lovecraft BP is a (British Dominican) architecturally trained designer, creative strategist, activist and the Founding Director of insider-outsider, a non-profit multidisciplinary design consultancy made up of architects, designers and social entrepreneurs on a mission to improve people’s lives through design: architecture as activism. She also advises the Design Council in Place Shaping & Community Led Design as a Design Associate, is co-founder/co-chair of decosm [decolonising] space-making, and an Associate Lecturer on the Central Saint Martins MArch programme. She has more than a decade of experience specialising in human[ity] and community centred design, working across complex social contexts in the UK and the Global South. Undertaking research and design projects that contribute to improving people’s lives, particularly those who are traditionally marginalised by environmental, social and spatial injustices. Umi champions inclusive design that moves from participation to sharing power, to design spaces where innovation, productivity, and creativity can all thrive.

@innie.outie

@decosm.world

Dr. Adesola Akinleye is an interdisciplinary artist-scholar and choreographer.

She began her career as a dancer at the Dance Theatre of Harlem (USA) later working in UK Companies such as Green Candle, and Carol Straker Dance Co.. Over the past twenty years she has created dance works ranging from live performance that is often site-specific and involves a cross-section of the community to dance films, installations and texts. Her work is characterized by an interest in voicing people’s lived-experiences in Places through creative moving portraiture. A key aspect of her process is the artistry of opening creative practices to everyone from ballerinas to women in low wage employment to performance for young audiences. Adesola is a Research Fellow with Theatrum Mundi, visiting lecturer at Central Saint Martins, and Research Affiliate and visiting artist at MIT.

www.adesolaakinleye.com

www.dancingstrong.com

Not to worry if you can’t make it to the live event. The video will be available on our instagram. #BFADanceDialogues

Are you interested in the connection between Architecture, Space and Performance?

Join us for Instagram live conversations hosted by choreographer and artist-scholar Dr Adesola Akinleye with BFA Members.

The BFA Dance Dialogues is an event series which was developed in collaboration with choreographer Dr. Adesola Akinleye.

To celebrate the book Dance, Architecture and Engineering (Dance in Dialogue), live conversations between Adesola and a series of BFA members will explore the main themes of the book in correlation to BFA member's work. BFA members include Ayanna Blair-Ford, Sarah Akigbogun, Seyi Adelekun & Umi Lovecraft BP.

The third one up is a conversation between Adesola and Sarah on Tuesday 22 June at 7pm.

They’ll discuss claiming space within the industry as a black woman, improvisation and the concepts of freedom in relation to the body and how black women feel in spaces.

Sarah Akigbogun is a (British, West African) multidisciplinary practitioner; an Architect and Filmmaker, and the current Vice Chair of Women in Architecture UK.  Sarah is founder of  Studio Aki London and theatre collective Appropri8, which combine art, design, performance and research to create interventions in the built environment, with a particular interest in reactivating dead urban spaces.

In 2017 Sarah directed the film She Draws : She Builds which collates the voices of 15 female

architects. Trained as an architect and engineer, Sarah has worked at Alsop Architects and Foster and Partners. Sarah also holds an MA in Acting from Central St Martins. She is currently a tutor at Canterbury School of Architecture.

@studio_aki

www.appropri8theatre.london

Dr. Adesola Akinleye is an interdisciplinary artist-scholar and choreographer.

She began her career as a dancer at the Dance Theatre of Harlem (USA) later working in UK Companies such as Green Candle, and Carol Straker Dance Co.. Over the past twenty years she has created dance works ranging from live performance that is often site-specific and involves a cross-section of the community to dance films, installations and texts. Her work is characterized by an interest in voicing people’s lived-experiences in Places through creative moving portraiture. A key aspect of her process is the artistry of opening creative practices to everyone from ballerinas to women in low wage employment to performance for young audiences. Adesola is a Research Fellow with Theatrum Mundi, visiting lecturer at Central Saint Martins, and Research Affiliate and visiting artist at MIT.

www.adesolaakinleye.com

www.dancingstrong.com

Not to worry if you can’t make it to the live event. The video will be available on our instagram. #BFADanceDialogues

Are you interested in the connection between Architecture, Space and Performance?

Join us for Instagram live conversations hosted by choreographer and artist-scholar Dr Adesola Akinleye with BFA Members.

The BFA Dance Dialogues is an event series which was developed in collaboration with choreographer Dr. Adesola Akinleye.

To celebrate the book Dance, Architecture and Engineering (Dance in Dialogue), live conversations between Adesola and a series of BFA members will explore the main themes of the book in correlation to BFA member's work. BFA members include Ayanna Blair-Ford, Sarah Akigbogun, Seyi Adelekun & Umi Lovecraft BP.

The second one up is a conversation between Adesola and Seyi on Thursday 17 June at 7pm.

They’ll discuss being in transit, being dyslexic and neurodiversity as well as movement as a way to express yourself.

Seyi Adelekun is an artist, architectural designer and creative practitioner based in London.

Seyi’s practice focuses on enhancing the social infrastructures, promoting environmental stewardship and regenerative circular economies through community co-designed placemaking. She currently works at the award-winning practice Assemble, collectively holding the role as artist-in-residence to develop a social centre for housing rights and land reform in Spitalfields. Seyi is a Black Females in Architecture Advocate who cares about designing inclusive spaces that address the inequalities prohibiting marginalised people from accessing spaces.

@seyi_adelekun

Dr. Adesola Akinleye is an interdisciplinary artist-scholar and choreographer.

She began her career as a dancer at the Dance Theatre of Harlem (USA) later working in UK Companies such as Green Candle, and Carol Straker Dance Co.. Over the past twenty years she has created dance works ranging from live performance that is often site-specific and involves a cross-section of the community to dance films, installations and texts. Her work is characterized by an interest in voicing people’s lived-experiences in Places through creative moving portraiture. A key aspect of her process is the artistry of opening creative practices to everyone from ballerinas to women in low wage employment to performance for young audiences. Adesola is a Research Fellow with Theatrum Mundi, visiting lecturer at Central Saint Martins, and Research Affiliate and visiting artist at MIT.

www.adesolaakinleye.com

www.dancingstrong.com

Not to worry if you can’t make it to the live event. The video will be available on our instagram. #BFADanceDialogues

Are you interested in the connection between Architecture, Space and Performance?

Join us for Instagram live conversations hosted by choreographer and artist-scholar Dr Adesola Akinleye with BFA Members.

The BFA Dance Dialogues is an event series which was developed in collaboration with choreographer Dr. Adesola Akinleye.

To celebrate the book Dance, Architecture and Engineering (Dance in Dialogue), live conversations between Adesola and a series of BFA members will explore the main themes of the book in correlation to BFA member's work. BFA members include Ayanna Blair-Ford, Sarah Akigbogun, Seyi Adelekun & Umi Lovecraft BP.

First up is a conversation between Adesola and Ayanna on Tuesday 15 June at 7pm.

They’ll discuss making black spaces such as the black stage, black joy, the geography of black women and black-ness, the invisible man, black-out vs light-out and Blackness as safe space.

Ayanna Blair-Ford is a (British Caribbean - Jamaican and Guyanese) Artist, Part II Architectural Designer,  Filmmaker and budding production designer, with a passion for narrative-led design. Her work centers around themes of identity, diaspora and the representation of Black narratives through space, stage and film. Graduating from the Royal College of Art this academic year, her thesis project Black On Stage presents a new performance methodology cartographic of the Caribbean diaspora. Displaying an innovative and forward-thinking approach to the role of the architect, Ayanna was awarded the RIBA Wren Insurance Association Scholarship this academic year.

Ayanna holds a BA (Hons) in Architecture from Oxford Brookes University, where she is currently tutoring as an Associate Lecturer. From graduating from Oxford Brookes, Ayanna worked at Hawkins\Brown as an Architectural Assistant and then went on to join 59 Productions as an Architectural Assistant and Junior spatial designer. In 2019 Ayanna was part of the winning design team for the ‘Mile18 Marker’ competition for the London Marathon, in association with the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust ( now named Blueprint for all) and Virgin Money. Over the last year, Ayanna has also been working as an Assistant Art Director in Film, TV and music videos, assisting production designers such as Christopher Melgram and Lucie Red. 

@adannay.music

Dr. Adesola Akinleye is an interdisciplinary artist-scholar and choreographer.

She began her career as a dancer at the Dance Theatre of Harlem (USA) later working in UK Companies such as Green Candle, and Carol Straker Dance Co.. Over the past twenty years she has created dance works ranging from live performance that is often site-specific and involves a cross-section of the community to dance films, installations and texts. Her work is characterized by an interest in voicing people’s lived-experiences in Places through creative moving portraiture. A key aspect of her process is the artistry of opening creative practices to everyone from ballerinas to women in low wage employment to performance for young audiences. Adesola is a Research Fellow with Theatrum Mundi, visiting lecturer at Central Saint Martins, and Research Affiliate and visiting artist at MIT.

www.adesolaakinleye.com

www.dancingstrong.com

Not to worry if you can’t make it to the live event. The video will be available on our instagram. #BFADanceDialogues