BLACK CREATIVE TRAILBLAZERS IS TURNING COMMUNITY INTO CREATIVE POWER
When Nigerian-born sisters Adeola and Ronke Jane Adelakun could not find the creative spaces they wanted to enter, they stopped waiting for an invitation. What began as one sold-out evening in Manchester has grown into a movement built around visibility, access and making Black creativity economically sustainable.
By Asteroid Media
Talent was never the problem.
That is the idea sitting at the centre of Black Creative Trailblazers. Across Britain’s creative industries, Black musicians, designers, photographers, poets, filmmakers and artists have always existed. What has often been missing is equal access to the rooms where talent becomes opportunity: the right networks, commissions, funding, mentorship and platforms.
Adeola and Ronke Jane Adelakun understood that gap personally. Born in Nigeria and raised in Manchester, the sisters had already spent years navigating creativity through Cultureville, the African-inspired fashion brand they founded in 2018 after struggling to find contemporary clothing in Britain that reflected their Nigerian heritage. Cultureville grew around West African fabrics, working with artisans and a female-led production network across Nigeria and Ghana.
But fashion eventually exposed a much bigger problem.
When Creativity Isn’t Enough
Four years into building Cultureville, the sisters found themselves asking an uncomfortable question: how do you actually make a living from being creative?
They were surrounded by talented Black photographers, musicians, designers and poets asking exactly the same thing. The work existed. Sustainable opportunities did not always follow.
Then came Black History Month 2022.
Adeola began searching Manchester for an event that felt celebratory, creative and genuinely joyful. What they found was either prohibitively expensive for emerging creatives or centred heavily on Black struggle and trauma. They wanted something different: Black people occupying an important cultural space while art, fashion, poetry and music were allowed to exist simply because they were excellent.
So they created it themselves.
The first Black Creative Soirée took over Shakespeare Hall at Manchester Central Library. It sold out. Fashion moved through the room, poets performed, musicians took the stage and visual artists exhibited their work. More importantly, people who could commission, publish or hire those creatives were invited to actually see them.
The results escaped the room. Poet Griot Gabriel later performed at Glastonbury, while designer Courtney Hammond of Not Your Trend went on to show at London Fashion Week. Other participants found commissions and collaborations.
The sisters realised they had discovered something powerful.
They also realised a showcase alone was not enough.
From Applause To Access
Black Creative Trailblazers grew out of that lesson.
Today, BCT operates as a social enterprise supporting creatives across music, fashion, dance, poetry, film, photography, visual art and creative entrepreneurship. Alongside its showcases, it provides workshops, mentoring, training, funding information, paid opportunities and practical guidance around subjects creatives are rarely taught, from pitching and branding to monetisation and protecting intellectual property.
That shift from celebrating talent to developing careers is what makes BCT interesting.
Britain’s creative industries contributed more than £146 billion to the economy in 2024, yet access remains uneven. Government employment figures for 2025 show Black, African, Caribbean and Black British workers held approximately 3.7% of creative-industry jobs, compared with 4.8% across the wider UK workforce. Class barriers compound the problem, particularly outside London and the South East.
BCT is attempting to intervene somewhere between those statistics and real life.
By 2025, its annual Aviva Studios showcase featured more than 100 creatives and around 1,000 attendees, alongside a five-day exhibition. Recent Manchester coverage describes its wider network as exceeding 1,000 creatives across Northern England.
That mission became particularly visible at the 2026 Black Creative Trailblazers Showcase, held at Factory International’s Aviva Studios on September 4.
This year’s theme, Strength in Vulnerability, challenged one of the oldest expectations placed on Black people: the idea that survival requires being permanently resilient, unbreakable and emotionally contained. Artists were instead invited to explore intimacy, tenderness, honesty and the courage required to be fully seen.
The showcase brought together around 100 creatives across fashion, music, art, photography, poetry and performance, following an eight-week development programme built around mentorship and industry access. Even its campaign was turned into an opportunity: Manchester creative Judah Shiyanbade won an open call to develop the 2026 visual campaign and received £750 for the work.
That detail captures BCT perfectly.
The creative does not simply become promotional material.
The creative gets paid.
Two Sisters, A Bigger Room
There is something fitting about the movement beginning with two Nigerian sisters who once simply wanted clothing that reflected who they were.
Cultureville was about seeing themselves represented in fashion. Black Creative Trailblazers expanded the question: what if an entire creative community could see itself represented in the industry?
Adeola and Ronke Jane are not merely producing beautiful Black events. They are building infrastructure around Black imagination, creating spaces where a poet can meet a commissioner, a designer can find an audience, and an emerging artist can leave with more than applause.
Because visibility feels good.
But opportunity changes lives.
And Black Creative Trailblazers is increasingly interested in making sure Black creatives receive both.