Havering London yesterday launched its first season, Havering Calling!, in a special event at the beautifully restored Tithe Barn in Upminster, setting in motion a series of ten projects that will begin to reshape the borough’s cultural landscape.
Havering London, a new cultural and placemaking organisation, has secured £1.73m of investment to bring to life Havering’s new Cultural Strategy, A Good Life. This funding supports a three-year programme, shaping Havering as a vibrant cultural place. At its core, the strategy sets out five principles: to improve health and wellbeing, to champion young people, to celebrate heritage, to transform our cultural ecology and to address social and environmental justice.
The ten projects being announced as part of Havering Calling! are:
- Unveiling a brand-new website, haveringlondon.com, a new extensive cultural platform for the borough – a place for everyone to submit events, search for activities in new ways, and access opportunities
- Seeds of Change, a series of events and wellbeing activities that plant small seeds to grow big ideas to help us face some of our greatest challenges, from a green manifesto to talks and workshops led by Amber Massie-Blomfield of Fern Culture, Jack Hodgson of Jack’s Patch, and hyperlocal food events with Munotida Chinyanga
- A call-out to join a transformative new Community Venue Network, building on the work of Havering Changing, connecting local places for the first time to share learning and strengthen and invest in the borough’s cultural ecology
- A call-out for a curator of Mega Mega Mega, an immersive exhibition, that will spark new conversations around Romford’s electronic music and club culture heritage
- The Exchange, a glowing neon market stall in Romford Market, will invite local people to share memories of the Market through a compelling light installation
- The inaugural Heritage Havering Conference will see academics, professionals and community leaders explore the role of heritage ecologies and local heritage
- Part of its public art programme, Open Places, Havering London is commissioning a bold permanent artwork, uniting heritage, people and place
- Poetic Placeinvites young poets, writers and communities to reimagine Havering through poetry slams, workshops, and billboard & hoarding poetry
- Portrait of Havering, delivered through the celebratory photography of Nico Froehlich, asks us to look afresh at the borough and its people in a new light
- Our Stories, a visionary new heritage archive, will map untold narratives across Havering, creating a digital platform for communities to access funding to share their memories and create new artefacts
Dr David Shearing and Mathew Russell, Directors of Havering London, said:
“Havering London’s first season of A Good Life begins with a call. It signals Havering’s intention to speak in a new voice: bold, local, and connected. Together, these projects call us to action: to gather, to participate, to reimagine Havering’s image and identity, and to shape the future of its culture.”
#AGoodLife @HaveringLondon
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A Good Life is funded by: Arts Council England, National Lottery Heritage Fund, London Borough of Havering, Romford BID, Historic England, Havering Changing, UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Equity (PTEQ) at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
Havering London is supported by: Creative Health Havering, Fuse, Havering Changing, Havering Museum, London Borough of Havering, New City College, Romford BID, the Centre for Performance, Technology, Equity (PTEQ) at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
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