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Royal Hospital Kilmainham
Dublin 8, D08 FW31, Ireland
Phone +353 1 6129900

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As part of IMMA Outdoors, this summer we are opening the grounds of IMMA and the RHK on Thursday and Friday evenings until 8.30pm with an evening event series titled IMMA Nights. This upcoming IMMA Nights event explores black and mixed-race inclusivity within Irish society, specifically within our education system with special guests Black and Irish – Femi Bankole, Co-Founder & CEO, Black and Irish and Briana Fitzsimons, Education Coordinator of Black and Irish. This talk will be followed by music in the Courtyard by TKSAX.

Talk & Discussion/ The People’s Pavilion / 6pm
To open the event Femi Bankole, Co-Founder & CEO, Black and Irish, will give an introduction into the journey of Black and Irish, an organisation aimed at highlighting the struggles and celebrating the success of black and mixed-race people in Ireland through podcasts and social media.

One major focus of the organisation is to introduce a Black inclusive curriculum into the Irish education system. During this talk, Briana Fitzsimons will speak about the work that the team have done so far on this initiative, including a recent campaign with the international cosmetic brand, LUSH. Fitzsimons will also talk about the Anti-Bias Anti-Racism (ABAR) training that Black and Irish have created and are in the process of rolling out to teachers across Ireland.

After the talk, there will be a chance to ask questions and network with like-minded individuals on how we can make Ireland a more inclusive place for all, especially within our education system.

Music in Courtyard/ 7.15pm
Featuring TKSAX – An Irish Nigerian Afrojazz saxophonist, working in the bebop and Afro idioms. TKSAX is helping pioneer the use of jazz and Afrobeat to create a new sound.

This event expands on Black and Irish’s participation with the IMMA SPICE project, that aims to support citizen curation through co-design with a diverse set of museums and communities.


About the speakers

Femi Bankole is an IT Risk Consultant and works as a Manager within EY’s Business consulting practice in Dublin. In 2020, he co-founded Black & Irish, a social platform aimed at celebrating the success’ and highlighting the struggles of black and Irish people. He is a Presenter on RTE’s ‘Black & Irish Podcast“, which provides commentary around race and culture in Ireland. He is a member on the board of directors for the charity ‘A Lust of Life’. He is also a member of the Expert Advisory Group (EAG) to the Digital repository of Ireland (DRI). He was featured on the Irish times ’50 People to watch in 2021.

Briana Fitzsimons 
Fitzsimons grew up in Yonkers, New York, and has lived in Ireland with her family since 2017. She works as a secondary school teacher in Co. Dublin and holds a BA and MSc in English and Creative Writing, as well as teaching degrees in English and Special Education. As the Education Coordinator for Black and Irish, Briana is working on bringing Anti-bias and Anti-racism training to school staff across the country and is collaborating with teachers and students on creating positive multicultural experiences in all schools in Ireland.


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