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 and Black-heritage artists and cultural leaders will convene at a 14th century Coventry venue in March as part of a new hybrid festival which invites all to celebrate the Black creative community.
Melan8’s theme of Common/Unity 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 include Casey Bailey, Corey Campbell, Taiwo Owatemi, Keith Shayaam, Doreen Foster, Charlene Carter-James, Romanah Buchanan, Laura Nyahuye, Abigail Kelly, Last Mafuba, Victor Iringere, Elizabeth Zeddie Lawal, Marcia M Spence, Jamal Gerald, Tonia Daley-Campbell, Annette Fagon, Ithalia Johnson and Cherelle Sappleton.
The live events will be hosted by broadcaster and entrepreneur Merisha Stevenson, comedian Smash Entertainz and singer and broadcaster Letitia George.
MELAN8 2025 is a festival celebrating Black Arts and Culture, focused on themes and intersections of Common/Unity and Community in March 2025.
This year, MELAN8 festival, previously called iDENT, is taking place at ST MARY’S GUILDHALL, COVENTRY on SATURDAY 29 MARCH.
MELAN8 2025 will celebrate Black culture and community through articulated thought and artistic expression. In preparation for MELAN8 2025, we offer THE OG | THE ONLINE GATHERING, from 9.30am - 1.30pm, on SATURDAY 8 MARCH.
A magical moment of focused wellbeing and dedicated self-care, in community and celebration of International Women’s Day 2025; also a small provocation on the #AccelerateAction theme.
From 11am until 7pm, MELAN8 FESTIVAL will explore the theme of COMMON/UNITY with panels, keynotes, live music and singing, dance, 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.
We end with music and laughter with comedy, Paint N Party, karaoke and more at our MELAN8 AFTER-PARTY, from 7.30pm until 12midnight!
MELAN8 2025 is 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
Be part of our next production
iDENT returns as MELAN8 this March 2025 in THREE ways: an online gathering focused on well-being and self-care, an Arts and Culture Festival and a DJ-led After-Party!
Sign up to our mailing list and receive exclusive updates on the festival line-up, early bird tickets, commissions and sponsorship opportunities for MELAN8 and for future productions.
If We Can
Do It
So Can You
WEUSI is led by Artists, Arts Entrepreneurs, Master Neuro-Linguistic Programming Practitioners and Executive Coaches.
As well as creating spaces, stages
and productions where Black Artists and Arts Practitioners can shine, WEUSI provides 1-2-1 and group professional coaching sessions.
WEUSI offers a range of training resources and programmes to support Black Arts Professionals with cultural, entrepreneurial and leadership development.
We also offer bespoke packages, tailored to individual requirements.
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:
