Hackney Weekend 2012. Photo: BBC

Leona Lewis, Plan B and Labrinth are among the stars confirmed to take part in BBC Radio 1 and Radio 1 Xtra’s Academy at the Hackney Picturehouse, which begins this Friday.

The three-week long event will offer up to 10,000 young people across Hackney and beyond the chance to gain skills and experience and to be inspired by leading people in their fields.

Opening in the run-up to Radio 1’s Hackney Weekend on June 23-24, the Academy will feature a host of leading names from the worlds of music, business, film, radio, fashion, comedy, gaming and software and journalism.

They will take part in a range of masterclasses, Q&As and panel sessions to explain how they made it and to offer advice.

Plan B, Hackney Weekend Ambassador. Photo: BBC

The Academy will also feature a range of other practical workshops and sessions, as well as the chance to speak to careers advisors on site with advice on CVs and interview skills.

Hackney Weekend Ambassadors Leona Lewis, Plan B  and Labrinth, will also star in a new BBC Three programme which will see them work with a group of young people from Plan B’s old school and a Pupil Referral Unit in Newham to create a special musical performance.

Leona and Labrinth will also return to their old schools to explore how life in the inner city can affect opportunities for young people.

During the Academy Radio 1 and Radio 1 Xtra will broadcast a range of shows live from the Hackney Picturehouse, which will shine a spotlight on the work of the young people attending.

The work created by young people at the Academy will also feature throughout Radio 1’s Hackney Weekend, including short films made by the participants screened on the main stage big screen across Saturday and Sunday.

Jermaine and Rebecca of the Radio 1 and Radio 1 Xtra Hackney Academy steering group. Photo: Jessie Levene

In the run-up to the Academy the BBC has created a steering group made up of local young people to find out more about what they want from the event. East London Lines met steering group members Jermaine and Rebecca to hear about what they’re looking forward to at the Academy and why it’s important:

 

Radio 1Xtra's DJ Target, speaker at the Hackney Weekend Academy. Photo: BBC

 

Radio 1 Xtra’s DJ Target is one of the professionals who’ll be speaking at the Academy, and told East London Lines about why the event is so close to his heart:

 

The Academy runs from June 1 until June 22.  Young people from Hackney and beyond will be taking part via their local schools, colleges and youth groups, and individuals can also register their interest by emailing takeiton@bbc.co.uk or by registering on the Academy website.

 

La Bohème at the Hackney Empire
Making Tracks film event returns to Shoreditch

Chelsea Fringe runs from May 19 until June 9 pic: Heidi Gao

All four East London Lines boroughs are playing host to a variety of events in the first-ever Chelsea Fringe, a parallel to the world famous Chelsea Flower Show.

The Fringe is running a mixture of public spectacles, horticultural happenings and community celebrations, and is entirely volunteer-run aiming to “harness and spread some of the excitement and energy that fizzes around gardens and gardening.”

Independent of (though supported by) the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, the Fringe includes installations, events and experiences, exhibits, talks and walks, and aims to showcase a wide range of work from professionals and enthusiasts, both from the gardening world and beyond.

The full programme is available on the Fringe website and includes anything from “Colourful dinners to dye for” to “Pimp Your Pavement – plant life in your street.”

East London Lines visited Spitalfields Ctiy Farm, where they were encouraging people to “Get Your Hands Dirty.”

Lutfun Hussain, one of London’s local food leaders appointed by Mayor Boris Johnson, offered free training to women who want to learn how to grow organic fruit and vegetables. Some of the sessions are women only, but general sessions are open to all on Wednesdays.

When asked why they have the women-only session, the manager of the Spitalfields  City Farm- Mhairi Weir said: “This starts from our coriander club, which is a group of Asian ladies coming together, to grow together, and there were all cultural reasons that they didn’t want to mix with men, so we thought we appreciate that and on Wednesday, the same events are open to everybody.”

He says Spitalfields City Farm is more like a community farm:

There are a number of events happening across Tower Hamlets including the “After School Club” on Thursday, which is 8-13 years old only; “Young Farmers Club”  Saturday and “Eco-Chic Outdoor Marcket” on Sunday. You can also become a volunteer at the City Farm. For more information about the ‘Grow with Us’ and the volunteering programme , visit Grow with Us.

“Get Your Hands Dirty” is just one of the events happening as part of the Chelsea Fringe.

Chelsea Fringe in Hackney

In Hackney there are a variety of walks and bike rides. A guided bike ride exploring wildflower and food growing projects sets off at 11am from Homerton Station on June 9.

The Geffrye Museum is hosting several events during the Chelsea Fringe. On June 7 there’ll be a day of free activities for children aged 3-16 inspired by the Geffrye’s aromatic walled herb garden.

On  June 2 children aged 5+ can be inspired by the mini-beasts, animals, plants and flowers in the Geffrye’s gardens and make 19th-century style wooden toys; and on Saturday June 2 and Wednesday June 6 there’ll be tours of the museum’s restored 18th century gardens and historic almshouse.

St Leonard’s Church in Shoreditch, which features in the much loved “Oranges and Lemons” nursery rhyme, will be transformed into an urban oasis with a citrus theme for the fringe

skateboarding:Meabh Nig Uidhir

A new skate park has opened in Mile End offering free tuition to local kids and teenagers.

Run by the council’s Youth and Connexions Service, Mile End Skate Park is already proving a hit with local youngsters keen on practicing their stake boarding and BMX skills.

The facility is equipped with an indoor training ramp, space for youth projects, an outdoor street course and LCB Skate Shop.

Pete Lindsell, owner of LCB Skate Shop said that the park was great for the area as it gave local kids the chance “to try out sports.”

Free lessons for 11-18-year-olds take place on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 4.00pm-8.00pm. You don’t have to own a skate board to join the fun.

Aaron, 15, from Mile End said: “it’s good especially when it’s raining, I would probably be stuck inside otherwise.”

Hackney Council recently announced plans to remove graffiti from a new stake park in Stoke Newington; however, the walls around Mile End Skate Park are classified as a legal graffiti area and hope not to have similar problems in the future.

The skate park can be found at:  Mile End Park, St Pauls Way  (off Burdett rd).  For more infomration ring 020 7364 0864

Wow Now. Photo: Xixi Zheng

Ever since it was sold to a mystery bidder in February, a cloud of intrigue has surrounded the disused Shoreditch Tube station.

Situated just off Brick Lane, itself famous for its graffiti by artists including Banksy, D*Face and Ben Eine, there couldn’t be a more suited space for an exhibition documenting urban art. After three months hard graft cleaning up, art collective Wow Now are the first to exhibit in the newly converted arts space.

An overwhelming riot of colour and surrealist graffiti, the exhibition is an amalgamation of sculpted paint, collage and everyday ephemera documenting the here and now as seen through the eyes of artists from some of the world’s most vibrant cities.

It’s hard to imagine a space more fitting for the subject matter – the downstairs gallery opens out onto the tracks and as the trains rumble past it’s difficult to decipher where the exhibition ends and reality begins.

From the pulsating, comic-like prints of Stephen Tomkins to the various motifs of unicorns and Dobby the house-elf scattered across the walls, the artists have clearly relished the challenge of creating snapshots of urban culture.

Particularly interesting is the live performance installation from Austrian super troupe Perfekt World, which allows you to choose and then watch what gets painted on a 30m long wall back in Vienna over a live web link. We asked them to paint us God, who appeared to us shortly after, via a post-it stuck on the wall.

We went along for a look:

Wow Now @ Shoreditch Tube Station

Featuring: Alex Daw (UK), ZTY 82 (Germany), Ben Weller (UK), Stephen Tomkins (USA), Perfekt World (Austria), Sid One (UK)

June 2nd-9th // Daily 10-8pm

Admission FREE

Photography: Xixi Zheng. Sound: Lindsay Foley and Phil Brown

the sphere gallery celebrates its one year anniversary

The E17 art trail starts this week and with over 200 exhibitions involving puppetry, sheds, letterpress studios, quilts, fairy tales and legends, geometry, tapestry, performance in parks, miniature theatre and a giant mantel piece, knitted creatures, adorned boundaries, Polaroids, architectural drawings, live graffiti, art hunts, art quizzes, show reels and cotton reels, Cuban revolutionaries, menageries and many, many invitations to tea there’s bound to be something to suit all tastes.

For more information see www.e17arttrail.co.uk

The eclectic  Sphere gallery is celebrating it’s one year anniversary this month and is currently exhibiting the works of over 45 artists, including Albert Moulden, Marty, Deborah Azzopardi, Betty Harrison, Laura Rael Brook and Mark Baldwin.

Sphere Gallery can be found at 73 Brushfield Street, London E1 6AA. Tel: +44(0) 20 7247 7927

Art on show and for sale at Sphere comes in various mediums such as oil, acrylic, multi media, silkscreen and sculpture.

Opening times: 11am – 6pm Tuesday to Sunday / Wednesday & Thursday until 7pm / First Thursdays until 9pm.

http://www.spheregallery.co.uk/

At the Southwark Playhouse: Inspired by the picnic protests held in Parliament Square between 2005 and 2007, the action unfolds against a world of ongoing natural disasters, countless public riots, the introduction of capital punishment for terrorists and temperatures reaching 42°. Boiling Frogs pits a small group of imaginative citizens against the system as, armed only with fancy dress, blank banners and a keen eye for semantics, they attempt to re-claim freedom of speech for all.

Horse and Groom, venue for the Shoreditch Carnival Party. Pic: Ewan-M

The August Bank Holiday weekend  traditionally means a long haul trip to the west for the London Notting Hill Carnival, but you needn’t stray far from the comforting shores of the East London Line this weekend to find a plethora of exciting events.

The highlight of the weekend for electronic music fans is the LED Festival which transforms Victoria Park into a two-day party featuring some of the biggest names in dance. See our music section for a full preview. For those who fancy a more relaxing weekend, there are events and activities happening in parks, pubs, and cemeteries throughout East London.

On Sunday, Shoreditch also gets in on the Carnival vibe, with the Discovery and Warm Carnival Party  which keeps going for 16 hours, from 2pm till 6am, with just a £10 entry charge for the entire day-to-night event.

Disco meets house in this two-venue party, which starts on the terrace of The Papermill and finishes at Horse & Groom just down the road. Featuring music from Jamie Jones (Crosstown Rebels), Peter Herbert (Reverso 68), Ali Tillett and Rob Summerhayes (Warm). Prices: £10 on the door or £8 advance. The Papermill, 2-6 Curtain Rd, London, EC2A 3NQ

On Sunday, there is a picnic organised by The Vauxhall Collective, in Brick Lane. It is one of a number of urban picnic sites which transform inner-city areas into grassy spaces featuring a range of objects created by furniture designer Gareth Neal.

Picnickers will enter an ‘interactive and fantastical space’ featuring traditional weekend fare with a contemporary craft twist. From ping pong, hula hoops and egg and spoon races, to logs and benches to sit on, the creators intend to bring jaded city dwellers back to their childhood memories of the quintessential British weekend.

Neal said: “The East London area was once home to hundreds of traditional furniture manufacturers, so it’s the perfect location for the project. The objects within their locations refer to this lost industry and claim back pieces of land for relaxation, fun and play.”

Go to http://twitter.com/vxcollective for the location of Saturday’s picnic; on Sunday the event takes place at Elys Yard, Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, E1 6QL. Bring your own food.

Also on Sunday, between noon and 6pm, head south-east for the jumble sale at the Amersham Arms pub, a favourite haunts of students from nearby Goldsmiths college. It is a great place to trend-spot and people-watch while picking up bargains. More information here: http://www.goingforasongjumble.blogspot.com. Amersham Arms, 388 New Cross Rd, London, SE14 6TY

Or for something completely different, visit Nunhead Cemetery this Sunday for a free two-hour guided tour of the romantic and overgrown Victorian cemetery. The tour is conducted by a pair of enthusiastic volunteers who really know the ins and outs of the cemetery and can talk you through the 1,000 ivy-clad angels and hundreds of mighty Victorians buried here. Meet at 2.15 near the Lindon Grove entrance. Visit their website for more information: http://www.fonc.org.uk Nunhead Cemetery, Linden Road, London, SE15 3LP

If the theatre is your thing, take a trip down to the  Brockley Jack Studio Theatre in  Brockley where Euler’s Circles, the new play by Peter Norgate, is showing at 8pm on Friday and Saturday evenings. The play focuses on two disabled people, one suffering from Asperger’s and the other from Bell’s Palsy, who gather the courage to step out into society. Visit their website for bookings and more information: http://www.brockleyjack.co.uk Brockley Jack Studio Theatre, 410 Brockley Rd, London, SE4 2DH. Prices: £12 or concessions £10



The inaugural London Electronic Dance festival is set to take place over Bank holiday weekend at Victoria Park in Hackney, with legendary French House superstar David Guetta headlining day one on the 27th which will be his only gig in London this summer. Now, ELL is offering readers a chance to win tickets to this weekend’s event.

Joined by a superb line-up including Leftfield, Aphex Twin, Calvin Harris and Goldfrapp, this year’s L.E.D. looks to be a promising one that is not to be missed.

For your chance to win a pair of tickets to the entire weekend, all you have to do is answer this one question:

Which Leftfield song did the BBC feature during the World Cup coverage?

1) More Than I Know
2) Phat Planet
3) Song of Life
4) Afrika Shox
5) Swords

Send your answer and full name to music.on.the.ell at gmail dot com.

Grimeborn 2010: like Glydeborne, but better-looking. Photo: Arcola. Words: Amy Lacey

The Grimeborn Festival returns to the Arcola Theatre in Dalston throughout this August for the fourth successive yearElsewhere, the Horniman Museum, Lewisham, plays host to Celebrate Africa Live this weekend, whilst back in Dalston the Four Roses summer speakeasy’s music and booze night crashes the Dalston Superstore after a successful event last month at The Britannia, Victoria Park. Next weekend, the LED dance festival comes to Victoria Park, you can WIN TICKETS here:

http://www.ledfestival.net/competition/

The Fall played at Field Day. Photo: Bibabidi Words: Alex Aldridge

For those of you who missed out on the Field Day festival, here’s an easy guide to recreating it: Queue for an hour to pay £30 to get into a public park. Join another queue. Pay £4 for a can of beer. Drink it. Re-join queue. Mindful of the time you’ve spent in queues so far, drink the next 440ml more slowly. Queue for a toilet. Queue for another beer…

Field Day, the annual East London music festival, which took place last weekend, had lots of bands – including a few you’ve probably heard of, like French alternative rockers Phoenix and 70s punk outfit Fall – and lots of fun extra things like chairoplanes (swing carousels), sack races and Independent newspaper-sponsored cupcake stalls. But essentially it’s about queuing, paying more than you’d expect for basic things like food and drink, and temporary toilets. My most memorable experience? Witnessing a woman walk into the men’s urinal area, pull up her skirt and take a piss. The most convenient way to fast-track the mental processing of such experiences in this tightly controlled section of Victoria Park? £4 cans of beer. And so, my friends, the cycle continues.

If all this sounds a little cynical, I apologise. Actually, I don’t apologise. Music is obviously a magical thing. And, needless to say there are some wonderful musicians out there who have given, and continue to give, much happiness. But take away the music – and the Field Day line-up wasn’t the best – and many festivals, let’s face it, are pretty mediocre or even unpleasant. The best bits of Field Day involved sitting around, chatting with my mates in the sun. There were some other highlights, too, but having just written, read and deleted a paragraph about them, I’ve realised that they weren’t actually all that good compared to life outside the festival.

The moral of this gloom-filled 300 words? Don’t waste your cash and energy on half-arsed events like Field Day, go to parks with your friends, enjoy the sun and drink cheap beer, after all, isn’t that all we really want from a festival?

This coming Saturday (7th August) there’s a small free festival in London Fields, there will be independent bands, food, drink and local pubs with proper toilets. Maybe I’ll see you there. Read more about it in our Summer section.

To listen to Rome by Phoenix, without having to piss in a hot plastic cube or spend half of your wages on a six-pack of beer, click here: Phoenix – Rome (with thanks to the Independent Arts section’s free downloads).

Words by Alex Aldridge

Portrait of Steven Woods, by J Piddock

Can you even begin to imagine how this feels? I’ve never really asked much of life. All I’ve asked was to live, to experience things as much as I could.I wish I had the time and energy to tell…what my life was, so that maybe someone would miss it when its gone.

The words are taken from a letter which hangs beside a portrait in a new exhibition at the Britania Works gallery in Hackney Wick. The portrait is of a bulbous-featured man with dark messy hair, with a cigarette hanging limply from his mouth.

The man is Steven Woods, he has been on Death Row in Texas since 2002; the letter holds his words. He was convicted of murder last year when, aged 21, he and another man killed two people in a robbery.

The exhibition is the work of two young Hackney-based artists, Jessica Piddock and Isabelle McEvoy and showcases a series of letters written to Ms Piddock by a number of Death Row inmates.

There are nine portraits on the walls which the artists copied from photos sent by the inmates, each mounted beside a page from their letter; some inmates write about their lives before death row, some protest their innocence, others admit guilt.

Piddock and McEvoy also shredded copies of 14 letters into strips and wove them to make a prison uniform. The portrait collection is entitled ‘Just Us’, and the prison garb is entitled ‘Still My Murder Will Appease Them’, both the names are phrases lifted from the letters.

One of the inmates who wrote to them had been on death row for 33 years.

Ms Piddock, 26, said: ‘I wanted to do something to enable a connection between the audience and people otherwise ignored by society.”

Piddock’s previous work has centered on marginalised and ostracised individuals, such as Victorian criminals and people who have gone missing.

She added: ‘‘Execution is the most extreme form of being ostracised by society. I wanted to give these otherwise ignored people an opportunity to voice their stories and raise their profiles.’’

The exhibition is on display at Britannia Works, in Dace Rd, Hackney Wick, until Sunday as part of the Hackney WickED Festival, which is itself under the banner of the CREATE10 arts festival in the five Olympic boroughs.

The show opens with a private view today, Friday 30th July 6.30 – 8.30 pm. The exhibition continues Saturday 31st July & Sunday 1st August 12 – 6pm at Brittania Works, Top Floor, Dace Rd, Hackney Wick, London, E3 2NG. Hackney Wick Overground, Buses 276 & 488

Now in its third year, the Hackney WickED festival provides an opportunity for everyone to get involved in something creative. Spanning the whole weekend, the Stour Space corner carnival, situated on Roach Road and Beachy Road, in Hackney Wick, supports local up and coming artists and entrepreneurs by giving them space to exhibit their work. With live art shows and a designers market, this event is certain to keep everyone entertained – and there are wood workshops for the kids too. Alternatively, there is always the option to sit back and relax in the midst of the hustle and bustle in the vibrant beer garden with, freshly cooked BBQ food as part of the Counter Café

Tomorrow, Saturday, 31 July, between 1pm and 4pm, local artist Akane Takayama will be showing a sculpture installation of 250 model dogs at Clissold Park in Stoke Newington. At the end of the installation, you will be able to take a model home and own a piece of this public art.  Further details: Jack Adams. Email: dog@takethepebble.com; 07917526996. view website

And on the same day the Field Day Festival at Victoria  Park in Hackney, features among many act including, the incredible Hypnotics, the brass ensemble from Chicago who went down a storm at Glastonbury.  The festival is run by Eat Your Own Ears, Adventures In The Beetroot Field, Bugged Out! and Bloggers Delight.  Tickets are £33.33.

Elsewhere, Keep Me Posted has opened a new gallery at 67 Wilton Way Hackney with work by Angus Fairhurst + Tracey Emin + Rachel Whiteread + Julie Cockburn among others. It opens from 11am-5pm.

The Festival closes with the 5th annual Hackney Wick Coracle (a boat made of wicker) Regatta on Sunday 1st August from 2-6pm. Families can sit and enjoy refreshments and a full commentary of the boat race while cheering on the competitors. The trophy at the end certainly adds a competitive element to the race.