Get ready for the inaugural Peckham Festival! The four day event, running from September 8.-11., will celebrate all that Peckham has to offer - culture, art, music, food, theatre, film and entrepreneurialism to name but a few.
Peckham Festival is the brainchild of Copeland Park and Southwark Council, made possible with the help of Acorn and a bunch of creative locals who have been volunteering, supporting, and bringing great ideas to the table.
The event will showcase Peckham’s finest of the creative scene and keep festival goers busy with a plethora of things to see and do, from exploring the Open Studios and Open Factories, Late Night Gallery events and a variety of arts workshops to music, theatre, comedy and dance performances, walks, talks, film screenings and a food trail.
The week is centered around the Open Studio event taking place in several central Peckham studio complexes, the main hub being the Bussey Building, with artists exhibiting in their own workplaces or all sorts of unusual venues in the area – from railway arches, derelict Victorian townhouses to hair salons and butchers.
Peckham in Action: Festival programme
On Thursday night things kick off with a film screening hosted by Electric Pedals, a pedal-powered pop up cinema, followed by an afterparty with a Blues Band at The NINES and a Local’s Night at Rye Wax. Pexmas is curating a Munch Map to ensure visitors don’t go hungry on their way from one stop to the next, with local Djs and bands providing the soundtrack.
Friday sees the opening night of the Open Studios event with afterparties in the artists’ spaces and gigs at Super Unison Studios, a theatre performance at Copeland Gallery, and an architectural night walk through Peckham.
On Saturday things get into full swing with the opening of the Reclaimed Rye at Copeland Park, an outdoor space resembling the Rye with greenery, bands, seating areas, quirky installations and activities such as the Lucky Skip, bike jousting by Seabass Cycles and a bounty of food stalls. Expect more performances, walks, talks and workshops and exhibitions around Rye Lane – Comedy at The Yard, dance performances by the Movement Factory around Peckham that are inspired by Rye Lane traders, Nerdeo‘s collaborative film workshop, educational walks led by Peckham Vision, the Peckham Coal Line project and local artists, Busseywood’s African Film Festival, the CAMP-er-VAN’s interactive performances, a play at the Safehouses, music by Peckham Soul, Born N Bred and other local talent as well as Copeland Gallery’s mixed media Reflecting Peckham exhibition with family friendly workshops that will contribute to the growing exhibition, featuring established artists’ and performers take on life in Peckham. Further local galleries will stay open for late viewings and drinks and Holdron’s Arcade‘s eclectic mix of businesses are putting on a Late event of their own.
If you got a bit overexcited by the choice of activities and the Peckham night life you can wind down on Sunday with the second day of Open Studios, free yoga and family workshops and activities on the Reclaimed Rye with a project by The Peckham Lido and several arts performances.
In addition to showcasing local art the Festival has commissioned a number of artists to work with Rye Lane traders and businesses to create a unique body of work for the event:
- An installation in a hair and beauty shopfront will incorporate beauty supplies in a journey through textures and colours found on Rye Lane by Korean South London artists Myah Chun Grierson and Boyeon Hamliton
-
A mixed media project around a number of food shops that will document the owners, their favourite recipe and encourage the public to get cooking by documentary photographer Joseph Fox and graphic designer Lizzie Frost A DIY radio booth that will travel up and down Rye Lane to capture the favourite tunes and voices of one of London’s most diverse neighbourhoods curated by Tenayi Vine, Bea Wilson and local DJs
- A Seating Sculpture that is the joint effort of artisinal leather artist Emma Evans and the guys at Seabass Cycles as well as screen printing Artist Philly Hunt
- PeckhamVoices, an audio project by Gwennie von Einsiedel,which will collect interviews to provide an insight into work, love, heritage and experiences of change in relation to Peckham
We are about to finalise the last of the programme and will launch the full list of happenings, dates and times on our website this week. For more information, please visit: www.peckhamfestival.org.
