Origins Untold, Folkestone (2026)

02/10/2023

🌸 resting: an evening of poetry 🌸

OU is excited to present an evening of poetry readings and a workshop led by on the notion of rest.

More about the line-up and workshop to be announced… but we’re so excited to be putting this event on, with the support of , whose brilliant community work has provided an amazing space for poets, writers, groups and initiatives of many kinds! 💜

🌸🌸🌸OPEN CALL: Are you a Black poet? Do you want to contribute a reading or performance? DM us! 🌸🌸🌸

📍The Folkestone Bookshop

🌸Wednesday 25 October 2023, 19:00

+ drop-in workshop 17:00-18:30

29/09/2023

🌾 re-setting: schedule 🌾

🌾 re-setting: mini-residencies
📍Brewery Tap UCA Project Space | 2-15 October 2023, times vary

Black, African and Caribbean-heritage artists working and living in Folkestone ‘re-set’ their practice with studio space in the Creative Quarter

🌾 re-setting: mini-residencies closing party
📍Brewery Tap UCA Project Space | Sunday 15 October 2023, 16:00

Celebrate two weeks of creativity at ‘re-setting: mini-residencies’ with food, drinks, dancing and a showcase of work developed during the residencies

🌾 Black Outside @ Folkestone Documentary Festival
📍The Green Room | Sunday 22 October 2023, 10:30

Jaha Browne’s ‘We Are Nature’ and two short films by Rhiana Bonterre, followed by a Q&A, a walk led by Francine Hajilou and a community meal. .mp4

🌾 resting: an evening of poetry
📍The Folkestone Bookshop | Wednesday 25 October 2023, 19:00

+ drop-in workshop 17:00-18:30

Join us for an informal poetry workshop then enjoy readings from local Black poets on the theme of rest, curated and hosted by Ray Carter - DM us if you’re interested in performing!

🌾re-setting: i.o.u.
📍Various locations in Folkestone | 1-31 October 2023, times vary

OU’s Josie Carter will record and transcribe conversations with local Black creatives and community members, asking ‘What do we owe each other?’ DM if you’re interested in contributing.

And finally… contact us if you want to get involved! We are always looking to connect with Black, African and Caribbean-heritage folks in Folkestone and would be delighted to hear from you if you have ideas for events, want to show your work, or just want to say hi… 🌾🌾🌾

29/09/2023

🌾 OU presents: re-setting 🌾

Black History Month is (nearly) here! And we’re so excited to present our programme of events for this year.

‘re-setting’ offers an opportunity returning, reflecting, reconvening, recording, re-evaluating and resting, as we reassess our relationships as people of Black, African and Caribbean heritage to our place in the natural, urban and social environments of Folkestone and the world.

We hope you’ll join us for another year of creativity and celebrations, as well as - with a quieter and more introspective programme than usual - a chance to step back and think through OU’s place in our community, reconsidering who we are are and what we do.

Keep an eye out for more details… and thank-you as ever to our partners and for working with us 💚🖤

06/06/2023

🌞🌞🌞 OU is BACK and ready for summer!

After a long hibernation, we are so excited to be back in action and bringing you another action-packed season of events…

…starting with our second annual celebration of Refugee Week in Folkestone! Once again, we’re so proud to be taking part in the world’s largest arts and culture festival celebrating the contributions, resilience and creativity of people seeking sanctuary - here in Folkestone and across the world.

Mark your calendars: 19 - 25 June! And stay tuned for announcements of our events very soon.

Expect some drawing, walking, running and dancing, with a glittering array of partners and contributors including and more…

25/10/2022

🪨 presence: closing events 🪨

what a festival it’s been! three exhibitions in two towns, a walking workshop, a residency, two very different kinds of film screening, a community meal and so many illuminating collaborations, conversations and connections reflecting on the fact (even the miracle?) of our blackness on this island of Britain - in our communities, on the land and against a still-roiling backdrop of political turmoil and institutional racism. In celebration of our creativity and still-here-ness, we present two closing events to help send off the Origins Untold Festival in style…

🪨 presence: Artists Roundtable | Friday 28th October, 18:00 | The Folkestone Bookshop | 70-72 Tontine St, Folkestone CT20 1JP

Artists featured throughout ‘presence’, our Black History Month exploration of African and Caribbean embodiments in the landscape of South East Kent, will discuss their work: drawing out connections, unearthing histories and sharing their experiences living and working as artists in Folkestone. Hosted by Josie Carter , featuring Ray Carter , Claudius Fanusie , Rubiane Maia , Rhiana Bonterre .mp4 and more... at

🪨 presence: Closing Party | Friday 28th October, 20:00 | Stables Gallery | 35-37 Tontine St, Folkestone, CT20 1JT

Gather with us to mark the close of this year's Origins Untold Festival with poems, speeches and a toast to our artists, contributors and supporters. There'll be a final opportunity to take in our exhibition at Stables Gallery while celebrating the contributions that local Black, African- and Caribbean-heritage creatives (as well as our wider community) have made to the festival, at the end of this Black History Month.

Come and join us - all welcome! Part of

24/10/2022

📚 book recommendations 📚

we were so excited to be asked by to put together a list of book recommendations for Black History Month!

the OU gang chose a range of books, from YA to poetry, memoir to Black liberation classics… we hope you go to The Folkestone Bookshop to browse the collection, enjoy the beautifully curated space and find some new favourites.

and don’t miss the chance to join us at our Artists’ Roundtable this Friday at the bookshop to hear from the artists behind our three exhibitions this month… part of

📚

👉🏾 Zami: A New Spelling of My Name | Audre Lorde
👉🏽 Bitter | Akwaeke Emezi
👉🏿 My Darling from the Lions | Rachel Long
👉🏼 Quiet | Victoria Adukwei Bulley
👉🏾 Biracial Britain: A Different Way of Looking At Race | Remi Adekoya
👉🏿 Afropean: Notes from Black Europe | Johnny Pitts
👉🏽 What is Black Art | Alice Correia
👉🏾 Black By Design: A Two-Tone Memoir | Pauline Black
👉🏿 Unearthed: On Race and Roots, and How The Soil Taught Me I Belong | Claire Ratinon
👉🏾 Freedom is a Constant Struggle | Angela Y Davis

keep an eye on our stories to hear why we chose each book! and thank you to for working with us! 💜

18/10/2022

🪨 presence: announcement! 🪨

we are delighted to add another event to our programme: in celebration of the last day of Rhiana Bonterre’s .mp4 Origins Untold Festival Residency, we invite you to a screening of three of her short films examining Caribbean identities, histories and embodiments. Join us for an intimate evening including a conversation with the artist.

🪨 Monday 24th October, 18.30-19.30 | Brewery Tap UCA Project Space | 53 Tontine St, Folkestone, CT20 1JR

16/10/2022

🪨 presence: now open in Hythe! 🪨

a lightning-quick install in Hythe yesterday! Despite some technical problems (some of our cloth prints didn’t come… and we can’t use the walls of the Town Hall!) teamwork and ingenuity prevailed! We put up a gorgeous exhibition of ’s A Sense of Place: Caribbean Women in the Landscape and a selection of Claudius Fanusie’s plein-air sketches, paintings and mixed media works. We had a lovely opening yesterday evening - serenaded with an afrodiasporic medley on the guitar by Kevin Richards .

Huge thanks to and Anita and Claudius, to the delightful Dr Christopher of and, of course, to the mastermind herself, !

And finally, come and see the show! Thursday-Sunday at Hythe Town Hall until 23rd October… 🪨🪨🪨

07/10/2022

installation day three: done!

measuring, cutting, sticking, hammering, nailing, fixing, adjusting, standing back and looking, left-a-bit-right-a-bit-ing in preparation for our opening on Saturday, today we put the finishing touches on our second ‘presence’ exhibition, this time at the Sassoon Gallery.

come and join us this afternoon as we celebrate the opening of this space and the launch of our programme for this October! 🥂

🪨 presence: Opening Event and Programme Launch
Saturday 8th October, 14:00 - 16:00 | Sassoon Gallery, Folkestone Library | 2 Grace Hill, Folkestone, CT20 1DD

Featuring Aida Silvestri, Rubiane Maia , Holly D. M. Oluwo and Isha McKenzie Mavinga for Origins Untold Festival 2022.

05/10/2022

installation day one: done!

we had many friendly drop-ins, deep talks, curatorial surprises and lots and lots of bits of double-sided tape! some finishing touches to do tomorrow, but I think it’s safe to consider the first of our exhibitions for Origins Untold festival open! opening times and details below, and we’ll be closing the festival with a little celebration here on 28th October as part of Last Fridays.

🪨 presence 🪨 plein-air drawing, walking rituals, divination and earth consciousness: what does it mean for Black, African and Caribbean artists to make work on the land and in the landscape of South-East England? ‘presence’ accompanies Black artists into the rural and urban wild across three locations in Folkestone and Hythe

🪨 Stables Gallery | 35-37 Tontine St, Folkestone, CT20 1JT | Thursday 6th October - Saturday 29th October | opening hours: 11:00-16:00 Monday - Sunday

featuring work by Ray Carter , Josie Carter and Aida Silvestri commissioned for SALT + EARTH Festival 2022

🪨

03/10/2022

🪨 presence: community events 🪨

we are delighted to have such amazing partners and collaborators in Folkestone and beyond! this October we are overjoyed to present the following interactive, collaborative and co-produced events:

🪨 Our Screen Heritage: Origins Untold Takeover Tour | Thursday 13th October, 18:00 - Late! | Meet at D:NA | 64 Tontine St, Folkestone CT20 1JP

Explore Folkestone’s q***r archive on a tour of the Our Screen Heritage exhibitions, Nature, Families, Pride.Protest.Parties., and Future Archive from a q***r-of-colour perspective. Community discussions, a potluck dinner, and a dance-party…✨🏳️‍⚧️✊🏾🏳️‍🌈✨

With and

🪨 chalk, grass, land: Walk + Workshop | Saturday 22nd October, 10:00 - 12:00 | Meet at The Valiant Sailor pub | New Dover Rd, Folkestone CT18 7JJ

Enquire into the possibilities for Black British embodiments against the sharp white background of the Kent Downs chalkland. Walk and workshop on Creteway Down led by Ray Carter continuing their project ‘chalk, grass, land’ commissioned for

🪨 Folkestone Documentary Festival: Community Meal |
Sunday 23rd October, 12:15 | Quarterhouse | Mill Bay, Folkestone, CT20 1JT

Folkestone Documentary Festival: REBEL DREAD + Panel | Sunday 23rd October, 14:00 | Quarterhouse | Mill Bay, Folkestone, CT20 1JT

Teaming up for the second year running, we are so excited to be partnering with Folkestone Documentary Festival to present two events:

a plant-based community feast from Dr Legumes 🌱

and a screening of REBEL DREAD, the story of Don Letts, a first-generation British-born Black filmmaker, DJ, musician and cultural commentator.

The film will be followed by a panel reflecting on music across cultures, documentary as a witness, and diversifying British-Caribbean-African identity narratives 🎥🇯🇲📀🇬🇧

***r ***rofcolour

03/10/2022

🪨 presence: events 🪨

meet the artists, get a first look at the exhibitions and celebrate with us at our opening and closing events - including a very special artists roundtable conversation…

🪨 presence: Opening Event and Programme Launch
Saturday 8th October, 14:00 - 16:00 | Sassoon Gallery, Folkestone Library | 2 Grace Hill, Folkestone, CT20 1DD

Come and celebrate the opening of ‘presence’ and the launch of this year’s Origins Untold Festival programme!

🪨 presence: Hythe Exhibition Opening
Saturday 15th October, 18:00 - 20:00 | Hythe Town Hall | High Street, Hythe, CT21 5AJ

Mark the opening of Origins Untold’s second exhibition in Hythe with an opening celebration featuring a performance by Kevin Richards of legendary local band MAMPAMA

🪨 presence: Artists Roundtable
Friday 28th October, 18:00 | The Folkestone Bookshop | 70-72 Tontine St, Folkestone CT20 1JP

Artists featured throughout ‘presence’ will discuss their work: drawing out connections, unearthing histories and sharing experiences as African and Caribbean-heritage artists living and working in Folkestone. Hosted at the (soon-to-open!)

🪨 presence: Closing Event
Friday 28th October, 20:00 | Stables Gallery | 35-37 Tontine St, Folkestone, CT20 1JT

As the Origins Untold Festival draws to a close, gather with us to mark the end of Black History Month with poems, speeches and a toast!🥂

Origins Untold

02/10/2023

29/09/2023

29/09/2023

06/06/2023

25/10/2022

24/10/2022

18/10/2022

16/10/2022

07/10/2022

05/10/2022

03/10/2022

03/10/2022

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Organisation

Shortcuts

Share

Category