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MOBO Season launches with Kwame Kwei-Armah talk
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 28 September 2016
A MOBO Season was launched yesterday, with a wide range of events to be held between now and the end of the year, including this year’s MOBO Awards in November.
Among the events is a series of ‘MOBOvation’ talks, the first of which was delivered at yesterday’s launch by playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah. Next to speak will be London’s Deputy Mayor Rajesh Agrawal.
Speaking ahead of his talk yesterday, Kwei-Armah said: “Art does not exist in its fullest self without investing in new talent; diverse talent. So it’s a huge honour to launch the MOBO Season this year because the platform that MOBO has provided in its 21 year history across British music and culture and creative industries is not only unique, but has been a game changer”.
As well as this, MOBO Season will partner with the London Film Festival on a selection of films celebrating diversity, including new Spike Lee film ‘Chi-Raq’. Another partnership is with NHS Blood And Transplant, launching a campaign to increase blood donations amongst young black and south Asian people.
“Only 1% of people who donated blood in the last year were from black communities and yet donors from these communities are more likely to have rare blood types and have conditions such as Sickle Cell Disease, which require regular blood transfusions”, says NHS Blood And Transport chief exec Ian Trenholm.
He continues: “For people with these conditions, blood from donors of the same ethnic background can provide the best chance of a match and clinical outcome. By developing this new campaign with MOBO, an organisation which has done so much to bring black music and culture into the mainstream, we hope we can do the same for blood donation, engaging and inspiring a whole new generation of blood donors to become lifelong lifesavers”.
On the launch of the whole MOBO Season, MOBO founder Kanya King says: “Twenty years in, the MOBO organisation has always had a social and cultural responsibility to motivate, elevate and celebrate creative talent and inspire future generations. MOBO, champion of diversity and inclusion, are recognising talent within music, culture, arts, fashion, media and larger society as a whole. Something that is much bigger than music alone – that is what the MOBO Season is about”.
For a full guide to what’s on during MOBO Season, click here.
