EastSide Story

Young people from Waltham Forest came together through transformational youth work and dynamic cultural arts sessions to create EastSide Story – an original piece of theatre presented by Raw Academy and Catalyst in Communities, commissioned by Waltham Forest London Borough of Culture.

There is a prevalent story being told about what it meant to be young in East London.

We all hear stories about who we are, who we can be and who we must never consider being.

Whether we choose to believe these stories or not changes who we are.

We are not the story told...

EastSide Story unites young people from Waltham Forest to tell their own stories in their own words during the London Borough of Culture 2019 year.

Initially two groups attended workshops on neighbouring estates in Waltham Forest, led by award-winning youth coaches from Catalyst in Communities, The Song Corporation and performing arts specialists and cultural stars of Waltham Forest RAW Academy. 

They unified at a weekend rural residential, where they began to re-write their narrative together. EastSide Story is their story, told in their words.

In an era when daily headlines are full of stories about young people and the challenges they face, this project explores what can be done to create a better positive future, re-writing our EastSide story together.

Read more about the BBC documentary about the project, Imagine...EastSide story, here

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