WEUSI | Melanated Arts & Culture
WEUSI
means ‘Blackness’
in Swahili
WEUSI is a Black-led, not-for-profit,
Arts and Culture Production House, Consultancy and Community.
We specialise in producing vibrant film, theatre, events and festivals that celebrates the breadth and beauty of Black culture for diverse audiences. We also provide professional training and executive coaching tailored for Black Artists and Arts practitioners.
We empower Black Arts and Culture Professionals, providing support and stages for them to share their talent, positively impacting our diverse communities through creative expression, knowledge transfer
and leadership development.
MELAN8 2025
MELAN8 2025
More than 50 Black-heritage artists and cultural leaders convened at a 14th century Coventry venue in March as part of a new hybrid festival which celebrated Black creativity.
MELAN8’S theme of Common/Unity vs Community encourages an exploration of what it means and takes to build communities, the burden of cultural and community leadership, the lessons we can learn from our ancestors and the innovations we can learn from young people, as well as the practicalities of maintaining a sense of community during modern times.
Contributors included Casey Bailey, Corey Campbell, Keith Shayaam-Smith, Doreen Foster, Romanah Buchanan, Diandra McCalla, Laura Nyahuye, Abigail Kelly, Dr Last Mafuba, Victor Iringere, Abigail Kelly, Elizabeth Zeddie Lawal, Marcia M Spence, Jamal Gerald, Tonia Daley-Campbell, Annette Fagon, G3NNA and TEEDEMBA, and KayFaraway.
The Festival was hosted by broadcaster Merisha Stevenson, comedian Smash Entertainz
and singer and broadcaster Letitia George.
MELAN8 2025 celebrated Black Arts and Culture at St Mary’s Guildhall, Coventry, on Saturday 29 March 2025, focused on themes
and intersections of Common/Unity and Community.
From 11am until 7pm, MELAN8 FESTIVAL explored the theme of COMMON/UNITY with panels, keynotes, live music and singing, dance, comedy, poetry, book readings, creative writing, theatre and publishing workshops, tours and audio tours, steel pans, arts and crafts, face painting
and glitter tattoos and an Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony.
MELAN8 2025 was supported by the community engagement programme at St Mary’s Guildhall, with funding from with the National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to National Lottery Players and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
MELAN8 2025
MELAN8 2025
We are our ancestors’ wildest dreams
iDENT returned as MELAN8 in March 2025 as a hyrid arts and culture festival, including an online gathering focused on well-being and self-care, an Arts and Culture Festival at st. Mary’s Guildhall, Coventry.
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Education
Exploration
Elevation
FAMILIA is a new community of Black heritage professionals working in the Arts, Cultural, Creative and Heritage sectors.
Offering regular meet-ups, professional development, interactive events and opportunities to show off and show out, Familia is designed with artists in mind and shared experience at its heart.
WEUSI | Rewriting Melanated Narratives
iDENTFest 2020
iDENTFest 2020 was a free-to-view three-hour online Black Arts and Culture Festival film, funded by Coventry City of Culture 2021.
iDENTFest 2020 provided a positive platform for 21 Black Arts Practitioners across a wide breadth of artistic practice. It returns, as MELAN8 2025 in March 2025.
Black, Queer & Done
Black, Queer & Done (15) is a multi-award-winning feature film, exploring experiences and representation of Black LGBT+ people within the arts, culture and media sectors.
Thanks to funding from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Storytellers’ Fund, BQD is on a world tour of more than 150 film festivals.
iDENT Festival 2019
iDENT Festival 2019 was the debut year of our inclusive arts and culture festival celebrating Black African and Caribbean creativity, heritage and ancestry, now called MELAN8.
The Festival took over leading Midlands performance arts venue, Warwick Arts Centre, on Saturday 3rd August 2019.
Special thanks to our funders, supporters & fellow dreamers:
