We’re excited to invite you to Inclusion House at Bankside Open Spaces Festival (BOSfest) on Saturday 7 June (1–6pm) at The Ecohouse, SE1.
Inclusion House is a series of talks, creative workshops, and inclusive community experiences bringing together Pride Month, Refugee Week, and Volunteers’ Week funded by the Southwark Pride Fund.
Our keynote speaker is Chude Jideonwo of the Chakula Programme, The Africa Centre, sharing reflections on mental health, spirituality, and reparative justice.
Chude is a is a Nigerian TV host, filmmaker and media entrepreneur. His #WithChude hosts films, series, podcasts, documentaries, interviews, events and blogs from Africa – that strengthen the mind, the heart, and the spirit. https://www.withchude.com/about
Our Inclusion House events take place in our Eco House, a hub for community, collaboration and environmental education, which can be found off Ayres Street or Redcross way.
To book tickets for our Inclusion House events, please visit Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/inclusion-house-at-bankside-open-spaces-festival-tickets-1388583834629?aff=oddtdtcreator
Inclusion House events
1PM – 2PM – We Belong Outside: Holding Spaces and Crafting Belonging for Queer and Non-Conforming People
Mustafa Korel (Mus), our Community Engagement Facilitator, will be leading this creative and reflective session exploring what it means to belong when the world often feels like it wasn’t made for us. Together, we’ll honour the chosen families and peer networks that sustain queer and non-conforming lives. Through hands-on making and open conversation, we’ll co-create a space where everyone is held, seen, and celebrated—without needing to explain who they are. Includes a creative activity and Q&A.
2.15PM–3.15PM – Stories from the African Rainbow Family
Uplifting diasporic voices and rooting down into their work supporting LGBTIQ+ refugees from Africa. We will also ask: how can we grow together across difference?
Opeoluwa Fakayode, African Rainbow Family.
3.25 PM–4.25PM – Trans Planting: Gender, Growth and Green Space
An exploration of what it means to grow and thrive in public and private outdoor spaces – celebrating joy, visibility and eco-expression.
Thierry Alexandre, Polymath.
4.40PM–5.40PM – Reparative Landscapes: Climate, Colour and Care
What does climate justice look like when rooted in experience? This session unpacks decolonial ecology, land repair and radical futures.
Chude Jideonwo, Chakula Programme, The Africa Centre
Inclusion House will be open until 7pm for reflections and informal networking.
To book your free tickets for our Inclusion House events, visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/inclusion-house-at-bankside-open-spaces-festival-tickets-1388583834629
About the Inclusion House speakers
Jayati de Cruz, Chair
Jayati de Cruz is a queer therapist and housing advocate with a background as a Buddhist monastic. They integrate deep listening, compassion, and mindfulness into their work with LGBTQIA+ clients facing personal and systemic challenges.
With experience as a National Mental Health Advocate at Stonewall Housing and in private practice, Jayati brings a strong commitment to cultural sensitivity, anti-discrimination, and the interconnection of healing and justice, grounding their approach in both contemplative practice and lived experience.
Mustafa Korel
Mustafa Korel is a Community Engagement Facilitator at Bankside Open Spaces Trust, where they work to make green and public spaces and volunteering there more inclusive. Drawing from lived experience and over a decade running his own ethical gardening business, Mus connects people through nature, storytelling, and creative expression. Their work includes partnerships with community gardens like Mildmay Centre, Dalston Eastern Curve Garden, Single Homelessness Project and Webber Row. They identify positively as non-conforming and is committed to spaces that reflect everyone.
Zissel Aronow, Facilitator, Queer Minds at South East London Mind
Zissel Aronow is the facilitator of Queer Minds, South East London Mind’s new peer support group for LGBTQIA+ people (aged 18+) who live, work or play in Lambeth and Southwark. They are passionate about co-creating spaces marked by mutual learning, experimentation, and collective action.
Mijke van der Drift, Co-author, Trans Femme Futures
Mijke van der Drift works on transfeminist and anti-imperial ethics through philosophies of movement, collective action, and counter-cultural production. Together with Nat Raha, Mijke co-authored Trans Femme Futures (Pluto 2024), and co-edits the Radical Transfeminism Zine.
Opeoluwa Fakayode, African Rainbow Family
Opeoluwa Fakayode is a Fellow of the ACCA and holds an MSc in Professional Accounting. As Chief Finance Officer of African Rainbow Family, they bring expertise in financial leadership and a strong commitment to LGBTIQ+ rights. Opeoluwa ensures the organisation’s sustainability while championing justice and equality for people seeking asylum and marginalised communities.
Thierry Alexandre, Polymath
Thierry’s artistic journey started with creating surrealist drag performances, simultaneously launching a lifelong instruction in the Healing Arts.
Their quest for the absolute led them to Butoh Dance, performing their landscape altering interventions across Europe.
After performing Rhino Requiem, Thierry founded Creme Anglaise, a trans-artistic salon and produced wildlife educational videos during lockdown. Founder of Axis Mundi – a CIC which platforms their various engagements, and working on a physical Centre of Creative Excellence and Human Development in Somerset.
