Our Team
Adassa M. Dixon
Adassa is a historian specialising in Black History, cultural storytelling, and decolonial history. Originally from South London, she moved to Bristol a few years ago where she has worked as a freelance decolonial and DEI consultant, curator, and producer.
She is passionate about advocacy and creative public programming that foregrounds racial, Women’s, and LGBTQ+ equality. Through collaborative projects, events, and engagement work, Adassa focuses on amplifying hidden cultural histories and exploring how music, fashion, food, and other cultural expressions serve as archives and tools for storytelling and activism.
Partnering with Bristol’s cultural institutions, racial justice organisations, and communities, she seeks to make heritage experiences more inclusive, meaningful, and accessible.
Curator
Angelique Retief
Angelique works at BSWN alongside her PhD in Social Policy at the University of Bristol. Having emigrated from South Africa in 2006, her work thus far has focused on social policy in South Africa, particularly on the impact of structural adjustment policies on poverty, unemployment, and social unrest in post-apartheid South Africa. Her current research looks at the role of social enterprise in the provision of housing in townships in Cape Town. Angelique has worked on various projects with BSWN in areas such as Housing and the VCSE sector and is particularly interested in the role of indigenous knowledge, local power contexts and local ethical protocols to build on an agenda that seeks to empower and improve the well-being of marginalised communities.
Policy & Development Manager
Digital ArchivistMyya Helm
Myya is an artist, photographer, researcher, and History and Welsh History Ph.D. student at Cardiff University. She received a bachelor's degree in political science and international studies with a minor in Arabic studies from West Virginia University in West Virginia, USA. Her doctoral research recovers and critically engages with the histories of Black coal miners and their families in South Wales and West Virginia from 1881 to 1955. Drawing on oral histories, critical autoethnography, and creative practice, her work centres voices often excluded from mainstream archives and reckons with how institutional collections have historically marginalised Black, working-class, and women's experiences.
Digital Content CreatorMichael Jenkins
Michael believes passionately in giving a voice to unheard voices and finding and showcasing untold stories. He is an RTS West-winning writer/director, producer from Bristol, with work commissioned by broadcasters like Channel 4, BBC, BET and by the BFI Network. His films have featured at international festivals including the Oscar qualifying PAFF(LA) and Encounters. His short PICKNEY, won an audience award and was a quarter-finalist in the HBO short film competition. Recently, Michael was additional material director on The Outlaws (BBC/AMAZON) and 2nd unit director on an APPLE TV series. Named among Bristol's 100 most influential people (2018 BME Power List), Michael is a full BAFTA member and co-artistic director of the Bristol School of Acting.