Kuumba Nia Arts brings to life diverse stories from the black experience, promoting culture, inclusion, education and fun through theatre and film.

Actress, storyteller and dramatherapist, Amantha Edmead, founded the not-for-profit theatre company three years ago.

The team creates historical and contemporary pieces of theatre and runs film screenings and workshops to promote cultural discussion, debate, understanding and education.

Amantha said: “The company started from ideas and dreams. I remember sitting in Black Studies class learning information on kingdoms, civilization and 1,000s of years of history and stories and thinking, this is what I want my theatre to be about; theatre that celebrates Black experiences, as universal human stories accessible to all, using African forms of expressions, and contemporary research from the Black diaspora as a foundation.

“Our team is made up of actors, performers, and facilitators. Essentially we are passionate about sharing information on Black History, being creative, celebrating culture and having fun.”

Black Screen is the group’s monthly black film club which shows Black films and documentaries from around the globe; many of the films received limited or no cinematic release in this country.

As part of Black history season, Marley will be shown at Pegasus Theatre at 8pm on October 6; tickets £5 available from the Pegasus box office.

For full details of the rest of this autumn’s Black Screen programme email amantha@kuumbaniaarts.com to join their mailing list.

All screenings are followed by discussion, refreshments, and are donation-based events. Kuumba Nia Arts is also holding workshops to look at Black psychological theories and ideas through lectures, discussion and various source materials, and will explore the positive implications these theories and models can have on the health of communities today. An introduction to Black Psychology Part 1& 2 is on October 13 and November 17, 2-5.30pm, priced £4.

Sankofa Stories is a selection of short first person narrative educational plays which are being offered to schools and community groups, during October and November. They bring influential Black historical characters to life through drama, in an engaging, fun way, followed up with a Q&A session and teaching notes.For this season’s full programme list go to www.kuumbaniaarts.com or email Amantha at amantha@kuumbaniaarts.com