Aspire Black Suffolk CIC

Rooted in Suffolk’s Black community, Aspire Black Suffolk is a community-led initiative encouraging positive discussion around and engagement in African-Caribbean heritage and culture. We aim to bring positivity, unity, understanding and celebration in times of divisiveness, loss and change.

Inspired by the exhibition and with a goal of creating a long-lasting legacy, Aspire Black Suffolk will inspire by showcasing and celebrating the county’s diverse African-Caribbean culture, and offer people of all other ethnicities more opportunities to engage, connect and celebrate with us.

We believe in the power of storytelling: by creating an opportunity to share our stories – past and present – in a wonderful variety of forms, we aim to reduce under-representation and barriers faced by many people from the Black community.

Our young people are our focus, because we want benefit from a greater sense of belonging, pride and to elevate their aspirations.

Aspire Black Suffolk was the name originally given to the collective of local people and organisations who created and found funding for a programme of events that ran in parallel with the Power of Stories exhibition at Christchurch Mansion in 2021. The initiative has since become a community interest company, and is part of the legacy of the original Power of Stories project. The company will continue to develop events and activities which will run in parallel with the Power of Stories tour, and as well with other organisations and individuals.

Both Aspire Black Suffolk and Power of Stories want to start conversations about what we consider ‘culture’ to be and how this affects how we view each other.

We welcome you regardless of cultural background, but we ask you to come with true allyship in your hearts.