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Nubian Jak Ltd was founded by Jak Beula in 1992. The company is responsible for producing the animation concept 'Dance of Polaris' (also a novel), and more famously the Harpercollins commissioned book 'Nubian Jak's Book of World Facts'. Nubian Jak Ltd also provide a various range of educational workshops and activities including the TV and stage game show 'Who Knows Jak'. However, to date the company is best known for marketing the award winning 'Nubian Jak' board game and replaceable card sets. The game continues to attract media attention and is still referred to as a “world first” because it remains the only commercial board game on general release that highlights the global contributions people of color have made to the world. In March 1995 Nubian Jak became the Winner of the Black Arts Sports Enterprise (BASE) award, and has gone on to receive more awards ever since.

More recently, the company has been involved in a number of blue plaque schemes, including one of those dedicated to Bob Marley. In June 2007, BBC Arena Special released a 90-minute documentary called ‘Bob Marley’s Exodus: 30 years on’, in which Jak Beula was featured unvailing the Bob Marley plaque to the public. Also in August 2008 Jak Beula officially opened the 2008 London Notting Hill Carnival weekend by unveiling both a blue plaque and bronze plaque to Claudia Jones, the mother of Carbbean Carnival in Britain.

Board Game

The first edition of Nubian Jak was officially launched in London in 1995. This historic edition looked at contributions by people of color to Europe. Released to a UK media frenzy, it was followed a year later by a Revised World Edition, which was released in New York in 1996 to an equally ecstatic black media. By the ending of the year educational magnates like Time-Life were commenting on it's innovation. The game is currently in its fifth and sixth edition, i.e the Windrush Edition (2009) and the United States Special Edition (limited).


Book of World Facts

In 1998 the first edition of Nubian Jak’s Book of World Facts, was released. Coined the “the truth with proof” it was subtitled the Ultimate Reference Guide to Global Black Achievement. A few years later Jak signed a publishing deal with Harper Collins in New York to republish the book. By the time the third edition of the game came around there was an expectant buzz within the game industry. Launched in 2000 The Nu Millennium edition of the game went on to become the most popular edition to date selling in excess of 110, 000 copies in the US and UK. In 2006 the International Anniversary Edition was distributed in the UK before it official launch at the Excel Centre in London and Javits Center in NY, in January and February of 2007 respectively. At a Special Kwaanza Bonanza Game and Book launch in December 2008, the Windrush Edition was introduced. A United States Special edition has subsequently been produced for selective distribution in the US.


Who knows Jak?

Who Knows Jak? (Live) is the first multi-cultural entertainment game show to turn the spotlight on some of the astounding contributions and achievements people of color have made around the world. The show involves celebrity teams and some audience members battling it out in true game show tradition for supremacy - proving who really does know Jak! There are 6 rounds The House that Jak Built; Jak in a Box; Who Really Knows Jak; Jak n Jill; Jak be Nimble Jak be Quick; and of course The Jak Pot Round. The show had a permanent adjudicating host and involved two teams of three. Both teams has a resident captain (one male and one female).

In the TV version which was shown on BEN TV/Sky channel 184, there were different celebrity guests each week from the world of entertainment, sport, business, politics and the arts.


Educational Workshops

The Nubian Jak Educational Academy is an acknowledged authority for providing educational workshops and resources to students, personal advisors, teachers, carers, youth workers, and social workers working with young people from a BME background in the UK. The company’s focus is to both compliment the national curriculum while offering high quality training and consultancies in the field of personal development. Various components are examined including education, culture, society, citizenship, expectations, and history. The overall objectives of the workshops are to improve service delivery for the person or organisation working with the target group, to have an increased awareness of cultural diversity better understanding of the issues relating and/or for the young person attending the workshops to have a greater appreciation of their role and future in Britain. There are currently 14 workshops for young people and teachers.


Plaque Schemes

In October 2004 Nubian Jak piloted the Celebrating A Common Heritage project. The pilot involved launching an English Heritage blue plaque to the late Trinidadian writer and political thinker, CLR James, promoting seven English heritage BME plaques and a celebrity game show fundraiser. The culmination of this African Heritage Month pilot project last year saw Nubian Jak become the first black owned company to work exclusively with English Heritage and its Blue Plaques Team in their history. In fact the pilot project was launched and supported by Culture Secretary, the Rt Honorable Tessa Jowell MP, ensuring local and national interest in the project. Such was the success of "Celebrating A Common Heritage" that there were calls for it to become an annual event.

The Nubian Jak Academy has also created a trust to organise Britain’s only BME led national plaque scheme. The trust has been responsible for Britain’s most famous of recent years, the Bob Marley blue plaque supported by the Mayor of London which was unveiled in October 2006. Then in March 2007 a large memorial plaque was presented to the county of Luton and Bedforshire to commemorate the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade in Britain. Seven months in later the trust unvelied a memorial plaque on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to Ignatius Sancho. In the same month a commemorative bronze plaque was placed on the University of London in honour of the the abolitionist and author Mary Prince.

More recently Nubian Jak has done blue plaques commemorating Connie Mark (Mar 2008), pioneering nurse organisor and campaigner; Claudia Jones (August 2008), political activist and founder of Notting Hill Carnival; and also Kelso Cochrane (May 2009), murdered Antiguan carpenter who’s death in 1959 led to the first government legislation on race relations in Britain.


On Track 4 Gold

Nubian Jak has also put together this project in preperation for the 2012 olympics. To celebrate London’s Olympic bid victory and the part the capital’s diversity played in the bid’s success, Nubian Jak Launched ‘On Track 4 Gold', the Changing Faces of London Exhibition at The Museum in Docklands which also included a London Schools and Libraries Quiz on British Gold Olympic medallist in track and field. The project was supported by Heritage Lottery Fund, with support from LOCOG and London 2012. In July 2008 'On Track 4 Gold' hosted Luton Torch Handover with the passing of the Olympic Torch from Beijing to London.


Awards and Shows

• 1995 (March) Winner of the Black Arts Sports Enterprise (BASE) award

• 2003 (December) Winner of the MACE Award for Best Multicultural Enterprise from Lord Heseltine at Luton University

• 2005 (March) Awarded the ‘ACBN London African Caribbean Enterprise’ award

• 2007 (July) Awarded the ‘Organisation Achievement Award’ BEEAM


In December 2004 founder Jak Beula hosted the first celebrity night. Charity Fundraiser involving famous celebrities from the world of entertainment, education and business competing for the Who Knows Jak celebrity cup? 2004 winners - Juliet Alexander, Major Lindsey Henry Bonsu. Following f the success of the show Jak hosted another celebrity night a year later in December 2005, Again it was a charity fundraiser and the 2005 winners – Ronke Phillips, Dounne Alexander Walker and Victor Romeo Evans.


See also

  • Jak Beula


References

^ BBC NEWS | UK | England | London | Plaques honour carnival founder

^ BBC NEWS | UK | Slave girl's bravery remembered

^ London honours legendary reggae artist Bob Marley with heritage plaque

^ TWO BLACK HEROES TO BE HONOURED WITH LONDON PLAQUES

^ Nubian Jak Board Game “The Dazzling Edutainment Game”

^ Nubian Jak: book of world facts

^ Black In Britain B References

^ A Celebrity Tribute Gala


External Links