selected press

21 October 2024
By Conselho Consultivo Jovem

Rafael Oliveira is a young artist who is part of the Youth Advisory Council. In this conversation, he reveals that what young people expect from cultural institutions is to ‘feel that they are being heard’.

08 October 2024
By Filipka Rutkowska

During the ‘Renaissance Noir’ event, Filipka collaborated with a couple of artists, part of The Blacker The Berry, in Warsaw during the city’s art week. What did she learn about her own privilege?

30 May 2023
By Mya Samirah

Jesualdo Lopes and Don’t Call Me Tako, two of the London-based members of the collective, discuss the concept of ‘safer spaces’ and how they navigate it in both London and Lisbon.

11 September 2023
By Márcia Veiga

Since the early 1960s, the London-based Africa Centre has been a place for people from the continent – both natives and diasporans to gather to socialise, debate and connect. In September 2023, they opened their doors for an event titled 'Para Juntar'.

15 May 2023
By Jamila Pereira

Bissau-Guinean filmmaker Jesualdo Lopes had long been searching for a way to realise his dream of a Black queer-led creative space in his home city of Lisbon when the opportunity finally arose. Lopes explains why he set up ‘The Blacker The Berry’ and how it’s helping the wider Black community.

02 March 2023
By Alero Helena

It is impossible to separate Lisbon’s creative scene from queer contributors and forerunners in this small city’s entertainment and creative industry. GUAP sat down with some of these pace-setters as a collective who gave us an authentic insight into what Lisbon’s creative scene currently has to offer.

06 January 2023
By Ana Cristina Pereira

LGBT+ young people. The fight (also) is feminist, Black, migrant, non-binary. Migratory flows and the Internet introduce new protagonists in activism in Portugal. Intersectionality is the watchword.

04 November 2022
By Laviea Thomas

With The Blacker The Berry, Jesualdo Lopes is opening doors. We chatted to the founder and creative director about creating safe spaces within the Black LGBQT+ community.

16 December 2022
By Joana Moreira

What is it like to produce art in Portugal, navigating an industry as an emerging and independent black artist on the outskirts of Lisbon? The question was launched at the summer retreat of The Blacker The Berry collective, which wants to bring more diversity to the environment.

12 October 2022
By Nali Simukulwa

Black, queer and right here: Creating international safe spaces with Jesualdo Lopes. When the powder keg of racial tensions exploded in 2020 and Black suffering became primetime news, Jesualdo, like many Black people during this time, grappled with feelings of hopelessness in the face of widespread distress.

10 October 2022
By Shirley Van-Dúnem

There is a Yoruba saying, an ethnic-linguistic group of West Africa, which says: ‘Exu killed a bird yesterday with a stone that he only threw today’; The Blacker The Berryis governed by exactly the same line of thought.

21 September 2022
By Fernanda Almeida

This episode’s guest, Jesualdo Lopes, lives between Portugal and England. In conversation with Fernanda Almeida, Toni Salvaterra and Paulo Pascoal, he shares his experiences as a cultural producer with a focus on the promotion of queer Black artists.

19 April 2021
By Nádia Silva

A brand-new collective emerges in Leeds while promoting Black artistry across the Diaspora, in Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America. Nádia Silva finds out more in conversation with the collective’s founder on ‘Bem-Vindos’ talkshow.

03 April 2021
By Wilds Gomes

The first online event of The Blacker The Berry was organised, with performances by Black Portuguese and British artists, where all the money raised was divided and donated to four charities and causes among the community.