Beyond Black: No Place Like Home – Open Call

This Black History Month, we’re inviting you to take part in Beyond Black: No Place Like Home, our 2025 campaign exploring the power of communal traditions in shaping identity, memory, and belonging.

We want to hear your stories.

From owambe parties to wedding ceremonies, from the ritual of wearing trads to church to house parties in diaspora homes, these gatherings once formed the heartbeat of our communities. They were spaces where culture was passed down, where joy was collective, and where, no matter where we found ourselves, we could say: “There’s no place like home.”

But today, many of these traditions are changing or fading. That’s why we’re opening up a space for you to share your experiences and reflections.

The Open Call

We want people in the UK to send in short videos of themselves reflecting on:

• The communal gatherings you grew up with (at home and/or in the UK).
• What you wore, what you did, and how these moments made you feel close to home.
• How things changed when you moved or over time.
• Whether you feel these traditions are in decline now.
• Their role in diaspora life.
• How you’re reinventing or reimagining these traditions today.
• What you do now to feel close to home.

Your reflections will help us build a collective portrait of belonging that honours the past, documents the present, and imagines the future.

Alongside videos, we’re also building a photo archive. We invite you to share images of:

• Past communal gatherings (childhood, family events, older generations).
• Present-day gatherings you’ve attended in the UK.
• The moments—big or small—that capture that sense of home.

This archive will become part of Beyond Black’s storytelling for Black History Month and beyond.

How to Take Part

🎥 Video Guidelines

To make sure your submission looks and sounds its best, please follow these steps:

• Background: Film in front of a calm backdrop, without distractions.
• Orientation: Record in landscape (16:9), with yourself in the centre of the frame. Make sure there is enough space between the top of your head and edge of frame.
• Audio: Make sure your audio is clear (use mics if possible, or record in a quiet space).
• Length: Keep it concise, 2 to 3 minutes is perfect.

You can send your video by WeTransfer or WhatsApp (details below).

📸 Photo Submissions

• Scan or upload photos from your past gatherings.
• Share current images that show how you and your community gather today.
• High-resolution is preferable.

Why Take Part?

Your stories will be part of a broader campaign that:

• Preserves cultural memory for the next generation.
• Showcases the depth and richness of African communal traditions.
• Challenges narrow stereotypes about what “African culture” looks like.
• Celebrates the creativity, resilience, and reinvention of diaspora communities.

Together, we’ll show that while traditions may evolve, the spirit remains, and there truly is no place like home.

👉 How to Submit