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The Keskidee Centre, or Keskidee Arts Centre, was Britain's first arts centre for the black community.〔("The Keskidee - a community that discovered itself. Islington Local History Centre celebrates the Keskidee - Britain’s first arts centre for the black community" ), Islington Local History Centre, 2009.〕 Located at Gifford Street in Islington, near King's Cross in London, it was a project initiated in the early 1970s by Guyanese architect and cultural activist Oscar Abrams (who died on 15 February 1996 aged 58)〔 to provide under one roof self-help and cultural activities for the local West Indian community. The centre became a hub for African and Afro-Caribbean politics and arts, and developed its own vibrant drama company that attracted both a black and white audience.〔 ==History== In 1971 Abrams bought a run-down Victorian mission hall〔("Keskidee Centre, formerly Gifford Hall" ), The National Archives. Records held at English Heritage Archive.〕 from the Shaftesbury Society for £9000〔 and transformed it into the Keskidee Centre,〔("Keskidee Arts Centre" ) at Black Plays Archive, National Theatre.〕 which came to provide "a unique and hugely influential cultural and political environment for the black community throughout the 1970s and early-1980s."〔 The community centre's name and logo derived from a bird native to Guyana.〔 In 1971 the Keskidee Theatre workshop was founded with a full-time drama company dedicated to black theatre, attracting directors, playwrights and actors including Rufus Collins, Howard Johnson, Lennox Brown, Derek Walcott, Edgar White, Yvonne Brewster, Anton Phillips, T-Bone Wilson, Pat Maddy, Yemi Ajibade, Lindsay Barrett.〔 Nigerian artist and sculptor Emmanuel Taiwo Jegede was artist-in-residence;〔("The Keskidee — Music, art and poetry" ), Islington Local History Centre, 2009, p. 3.〕 his son Tunde Jegede, born in 1972 and now a composer and virtuoso kora player, has credited the Keskidee Centre with initiating and nurturing his earliest appreciation of African diaspora culture.〔("General Biography" ), Tunde Jegede website.〕 Linton Kwesi Johnson was the Keskidee's first paid library resources and education officer. It was at the Keskidee that he developed dub poetry, a staged version of his poem "Voices of the Living and the Dead" being produced by Lindsay Barrett there in 1973, with music by the reggae group Rasta Love.〔 The venue was also used for community meetings and events by the Caribbean Artists Movement.〔 On 10 December 1974, Angela Davis spoke at the Keskidee Centre, while she was in London to attend a rally in support of South African political prisoners.〔("Angela Davis at the Keskidee Centre" ), George Padmore Institute, 26 February 2013.〕 Up-and-coming bands such as Misty in Roots and Steel Pulse also played at Keskidee, and in 1978 Bob Marley used the centre to make a video for his song "Is This Love?"〔〔William Perrin, ("Celebrate the creative legacy of the Keskidee Centre 27 October" ), Kings Cross Environment, 29 September 2011. Includes Bob Marley video filmed at the Keskidee and on Gifford Street.〕 The Keskidee ran into financial difficulties in the 1980s, and closed in 1991. The building was subsequently taken over by the Christ Apostolic Church.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Keskidee Centre」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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