We are Young Africa
The Young Africa Centre (YAC) is a group of teens and 20 something-year olds creating opportunities that are for us and by us. Nobody understands the issues, dreams and culture of the African diaspora better than ourselves. So we have set up a space (5 minutes from Southwark station) that is dedicated to engaging the community, supporting our creativity and producing valuable content that is relevant to our mission. ‘So what’s your mission?’ you ask?
Our mission
YAC strives to be a centre point for the voice of young people of African descent (under 30) in the UK and elsewhere. We want to showcase the vibrancy and diversity of the young African diaspora, our culture and our history. Plus, we want to provide opportunities for personal and professional growth through:
- 1:1 Mentorship
- Paid work opportunities
- Skills workshops
- Networking
- Inspiring talks
- Fun social & cultural events
- + any more ideas that you have!
Music, art, literature, business, dance, history, language, fashion, technology, politics — whatever your interest, we’ll help you pursue it.
Our Past
The Africa Centre opened in 1964, ‘becoming a vibrant ‘home-away-from-home’ and cultural hub for the African diaspora in London’. It became a strong voice for freedom fighters during the continent’s wave of independence in the 1960’s as well as providing a place to socialise and enjoy the culture and arts. For over 50 years, the Africa Centre has played a pivotal role in supporting African culture, enterprise and education in the UK and it plans to continue doing so. Get to know more about the Africa Centre’s history here.
“The new Africa Centre will continue its longstanding mission to inspire, challenge, enlighten and encourage. We are committed to celebrating our unique heritage, through our archive and our history, while simultaneously working with contemporary African creative industries to spur dynamic growth. Our new home in Southwark is at the heart of London’s most rapidly evolving creative district, among a diverse community, constituting a perfect fit for our work and mission.”
Our Present
In Jan 2017, the Young Africa Centre (YAC) was created to maintain this vibrancy and we’ve been up to a lot since then. We have celebrated 60 years of Ghanaian independence with our ‘BlackStars’ pop-up shop & art exhibition with the likes of Sarah Owusu, Heather Agyepong and Pamela Sakyi.
We curated a group of upcoming musicians for the Young Africa Centre stage at the Africa Centre Summer Festival 2017. We had Autumn Sharif, Joshua Kyeot and Malo among others. It was lit!
We launched The Forum, a seasonal discussion for the community to strategise, organise and decolonise! Last session we spoke about Jay-Z’s ‘The Story of O.J.’. Conversations were deep!
We partnered with Project 1957 for Twi Club, a safe and ridicule free speakers club to practice and learn the Ghanaian language of the Twi.
We also dipped our toes into technology with our very first YACATHON (hackathon), tackling social problems that affect African and Caribbean people in the UK. Participants built tech products that added real social value to the community. We’re trying to be the living embodiment of all things Wakanda and Black Panther. Who’s ready for 12th Feb 2018?
Our Future
Africa and the Caribbean have produced some of the most influential and inspirational people in the world like Nelson Mandela, Wangari Maathai and Bob Marley. For many of us, we have images of these figures as older and wiser leaders in our community. They are symbols of how to champion for change that not only advances people of African heritage but positively impacts the world. But the ideals that these heroes had weren’t formed later in life. They were formed in their youth. And we believe that YAC is where you will find that same passion for our future.
Young people are society’s most creative dreamers. But we’re not just creative, we are productive. We actively pursue the impact we want to make, hosting one event, debate and workshop at a time. The bigger picture we all love to talk about is being drawn right here at YAC.
At YAC there is time, space and freedom to decide how we design our programme and take full ownership of our future.
But we can’t do it alone and we don’t want to either. We want to partner with schools, charities, businesses and other community groups to bring our future to fruition. We may start small but we think big. And we’re here to make an impact.
If you want to be part of a movement that’s gaining ground we’d love for you to join us as we create a culture of ambitious behaviour that leaves a legacy for the next generation.
Follow us on Twitter, Insta and Facebook or email us for regular updates on what we get up to.
