We Are Lewisham got underway this week with its first day of activities and the detailed announcement of new work by award-winning poet and playwright Inua Ellams.
Friday (28 January) saw dancing in the streets, singing at stations and film projections across the borough as the Lewisham, the latest London Borough of Culture, started to strut its stuff and show off its musical heritage.
05Fest was also detailed, a season of spoken word work brought together by Inua Ellams which will run at Deptford's Albany from 10 to 19 March
Barber Shop Chronicles writer Ellams will see his new play receive a rehearsed reading (on 10 March). A Block of Flats is a futuristic exploration of climate change set on one night and the cast of seven will be directed by the Bush Theatre’s artistic director Lynette Linton.
Inua Ellams said, “I’m ecstatic and lucky that this inaugural 05Fest is happening in my own neighbourhood. I’ve worked with the Albany for over 10 years, and I hope the community in Deptford and across Lewisham come out to celebrate and explore themselves and local creativity at these 5 events next month.”
Other events for the year ahead include commissions themed on the climate emergency, placing two Artists of Change in the borough's Climate Emergency and Sanctuary Borough Teams, and In Living Memory, an oral history project presented with Goldsmiths University of London, exploring milestones in its past from the forgotten textile legacies of Windrush Generation women to the borough's lost gay venues of the 1970s–90s.
So far the programme is very light on theatre events—the reading of Ellams's play being the notable exception. The most recent 12-page press release mentions theatre four times, always in respect of venues rather than performances. However, it is early days, and if there is theatre, this on-the-ground-long-time resident of Lewisham will do her best to bring you news and reviews of it.
We Are Lewisham has put a call out for freelance creatives based in the borough who wish to become involved, and for organisations able to provide training opportunities in the creative and cultural industries in the borough.