The Big Idea
This summer we are hosting an Arts Week, which will close Havelock Walk to cars and instead use the street as a space for exploring the nature of community and art through a programme of events, talks and workshops.
We want to share the artistic ethos of Havelock Walk with the wider community offering opportunities for people to engage with all kinds of arts activities on the street. We want to bring groups of people together, start conversations and make art.
This project will be led by the wonderfully diverse artists who live and work on Havelock Walk.
And we are trying to raise money to make this happen.
The Good Stuff
Havelock Walk will be emptied of cars and closed to traffic for the duration of the project. Instead, the street will become an innovative, fun and vibrant playground for the community to meet together. This is our vision so far:
Colin Allen (at no. 11) will design and make a huge table, which will become the centrepiece for this event. It will take pride of place in the middle of the street and provide a site for planned and unplanned conversations, performances, communal meals and activities. There will be space for all to sit at the table.
Sarah Davey-Hull (at no. 9) will devise and direct a site-specific performance bringing professional international performers to the street for the first time, with performers appearing on roofs, in doorways and on balconies. They will create a unique, surprising and playful performance that will run several times a day across the Open Studios weekends and it will be free to watch.
Rob Lowe, Supermundane (at no.24a) and Liz Atkin (no.22) will talk about their work as part of a series of Artists Talks. Liz will also run a Messy Play arts workshop for children and their adults.
And that’s all we can reveal at this stage…
From morning until evening the street will radiate with energy, whether you choose to come and eat your breakfast at the artists table, take part in one of the workshops or come to an Artist Talks in the evening.
The Arts Week is being organised by the artists who live and work on Havelock Walk where we have successfully hosted two Open Studios a year for the last 12 years. Sarah Davey-Hull who is curating this year’s week has been running arts events for 25 years with her theatre company and the artist residents have extensive experience of running arts activities. The Arts Week will build on the usual Open Studios but will offer bigger and more brilliant ways to get involved with art.
We love living on Havelock Walk and as artists we want to share the wealth of creativity and skill we have.
So far we have approached Lewisham Council to close the road, remove all the cars and create a unique car free space to stage the Arts Week and this is all looking positive.
Crowdfunder
Click below to find out about the rewards on offer for making a crowdfunder donation:
The money we raise will be used to design and make the huge communal table and chairs that will sit at the heart of the street throughout and will create a wonderful place to gather on the street.
It will go towards the creation of free site specific performances that will run throughout the Arts Week, offering an opportunity to see free theatre for all.
It will go towards free and low cost workshops with arts activities for all age groups and experience. There will be opportunities for families to make art together, for young people to ‘have a go’, for professionals to expand their artistic practice.
It will go towards free Artists Talks.
The money raised will make this event inclusive for all. Thank you!
