ESSEX’S Black History Month looks set to be bigger and better than ever this time around.

A programme of music, discussion, film, dance and art has been organised for the area to mark the worldwide celebration of African and Afro-Caribbean culture, which started in Harlem, New York, in 1926.

The Essex Racial Equality Council is backing events in the county and the celebrations start in earnest this weekend with Colchester’s biggest event to date, Reggae in the Park.

Run as part of the Gift arts project, as well as Black History Month, it takes place from 11am to 5pm tomorrow in Upper Castle Park when reggae music will be pumping out courtesy of Freedom Sounds Sound System, from Ipswich and London’s noise merchants, Lord Ambassador.

Colchester’s Firstsite.uk.net" target="_blank">Firstsite will be providing art workshops for all the family, with artists Wanja Kimani and John Lyons.

Following the event there will be a reggae after party at Molly Malones on St Botolph’s roundabout from 8pm.

On October 8, at the Quaker Meeting House, in Church Street, Colchester, there will be a presentation entitled the Obama Effect, and on October 10, Colchester Arts Centre will play host to Seckou Keita, a kora player from Senegal, who will deliver his jazz-fusion music, with his Seckou Keita Quartet.

On October 11, Anna Mudeka, musician and singer from Zimbabwe, will be at the Headgate Theatre, Colchester, helping out with the town’s ongoing Lullaby Project, which encourages parents, grandparents and music groups to perform traditional songs. While on October 17, Marmane Barka will perform traditional African music from east Niger on the biram – a giant, five-string, boat-shaped harp.

Every Saturday throughout the month, from 11am to 3pm, Firstsite’s Art Stop:Bus Stop Routemaster bus will be hosting free family art workshops around Colchester and Essex.

Caribbean storyteller Lenore Sykes will be in libraries telling rhymes and stories for the under 5s. She will be at Prettygate Library, in Colchester, on October 13; Colchester’s main library in Trinity Square on October 21 and Harwich Library on October 28.

One of the festival highlights has to be Eastern Angles and Menagerie Theatre’s production of Egusi Soup, by Janice Okoh. Touring the region, the play follows two sisters preparing to travel from London to Nigeria to attend a family funeral.

The actors will perform the play with script-in-hand at the Brightlingsea Community Centre on October 13 at 7.30pm. For tickets, call the Eastern Angles box office on 01473 211498.

The Mercury Theatre, in Colchester, will stage Call Mr Robeson on October 29, featuring Tayo Aluko as the actor and singer Paul Robeson who challenged prejudice in the USA. For tickets, call the box office on 01206 573948.

The festival will close with a celebration of African and Caribbean food, music, and fashion organised by Colchester African Caribbean Community group on October 31 at the Drury Arms, in Drury Road, Colchester, running from noon until late.

For more information on the festival, go to www.blackhistorymonthessex.com