The 12 projects that will receive funding from Waltham Forest as part of this initial round of Make it Happen are:
Carnivalista will bring a vibrant carnival parade of costumes, music and dance to local summer festivals in Leyton and Chingford, celebrating the magnificent visual spectacle of carnival, inspired by Inspriation Art's collective cultures.
For International Women’s Day, Libby Liburd, writer and performer of a new show Fighter, will run theatre workshops, including a boxing class, that celebrate the achievements of radical female boxers who fought for their right to fight.
Highams Park Community CIC will present arts trail Wild About Highams Park, featuring a series of 12 wood carvings representing animals from the woods and a mural reflecting the local area.
Adebisi Oyekanmi’s project is The Human Library, where books become people. Participants will sit down with a selection of people for a conversation about themselves. Featured ‘books’ available to check out from the library will tell fascinating local stories from a variety of different perspectives, showcasing the breadth of Waltham Forest’s communities and encouraging new connections.
Think Globally, Create Locally is a partnership between Organiclea community growers and African performing arts organisation Mbilla Arts. Through storytelling, music and visual arts, the project will provide opportunities for local residents to develop creative skills whilst learning about fair food growing systems around the world and in Chingford.
Esther Nelsen’s project Monstrous Assembly will see young people of all ages from 10 schools across the borough creating life-sized monsters. They will build them from scratch, designing, making armatures, sculpting in clay and colouring. The finished works will be fired, and displayed together at Halloween time.
Martyn Loukes’ project Pride in the Borough will highlight the importance of LGBT inclusion in everyday transport environments throughout the borough; previous work has included roundels, buses, taxis and DLR carriages.
The Big Bagaga Show by Company-ish – an associate company of NoFit State Circus – will premiere an absurdist, skillful and intimate circus show featuring 11 artists from across the world in a tent that will pop up in the borough. 60% of the tickets will be priced at just £2 for local residents.
The Rebel Brass Band will bring together 50 people aged 11-18 to co-create Waltham Forest’s first ever high-energy New York-style street band, featuring brass instruments, percussion and MC-ing. With tuition from artistic partners, a four-day summer course will include ensemble composition, protest costume creation, and culminate in a high-energy street parade showcase.
Tell Tails features Lucky, a puppet dog, who will help deliver drama workshops within residential care settings in Waltham Forest for older members of the community. After developing a piece of theatre in response to the elders’ workshops, local school children are invited to watch the show alongside the workshop participants.
We Are Extraordinary brings to life inspiring people who have lived or worked in Waltham Forest in a hardback book co-created with school children in Leytonstone with the aim of inspiring children to aim high and to fulfill their potential.
DashDot/YouthDance will provide young people with physical and learning disabilities with the unique opportunity to take part in creative IRIS dance workshops and perform at an inclusive youth dance platform hosted by renowned dance organisation Stopgap Dance Company.
Make it Happen provides funds for new arts and culture activities, that will be part of the London Borough of Culture 2019 programme. People can apply for funding from £100 to £30,000.
Round 2 of applications open today - January 17 2019, deadline 4 March 2019. Apply here.
Make it Local – provides neighbourhood focussed funding for arts and culture projects delivered hyper locally by communities. Applications open today for grants of up to £5,000. Apply here.
Find out more on the Fellowship Funding programme.
Fellowship Funding is funded through Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy.
