Heritage, Culture and Community Grants Programme
Introduction:
The heritage, culture and community element of the High Street 2012 programme will get local people involved in learning about and celebrating the past, the present, the social and the cultural richness of this historic route.
Taking inspiration from the areas along and surrounding the High Street, partners will bring their skills and ideas to produce collaborative projects with the community. A number of projects have been commissioned by High Street 2012 partners with a focus on the following themes:
Revealing our High Street - exploring hidden histories of people and places.
Recording our High Street - capturing and documenting the High Street during this time of change.
Re-imagining our High Street - using the High Street as a catalyst for new creativity.
Celebrating our High Street - unifying and sharing the heritage of the people and the streetscape.
Project Overview
1 – Bow Pageant;
Project Lead – Robert Ricks
Project Lead – Robert Ricks
A history of Bow presented as entertainment involving movement, music, drama and audience participation based on Bow Fair (from which Fairfield Road derives its name). The story takes in the foundation of Bow Church in 1311, the Black Death, the Peasants’ Revolt, the Reformation, the Civil War, Samuel Pepys, a sermon on the victory at Trafalgar, Burlington Bertie from Bow, 2 World Wars, George Lansbury and a look to the future.
2 – High Street 2012: road way historical walks booklet;
Project lead – Clive Bettington
Project lead – Clive Bettington
An illustrated walks booklet which examines radical movements for reform which either originated or developed around High Street 2012 including Socialism, Bolshevism, Fascism, Communism, Methodism, the Salvation army, the Suffragette movement, Chartism and others. It will discuss the personalities involved and brief definitions and as to why the organisations could be regarded as deviating from the norm.
3 – Celebrating Whitechapel’s Culture & Heritage;
Project lead – Udichi Shilpi Gosthi
Project lead – Udichi Shilpi Gosthi
A celebration of the rich diverse culture of the local people through events, workshops, performances and the making of a book and documentary film. This will involve local people, children, and young people in partnership with local schools, community centres, library, artists, and arts organisations. There will be a number of small events and large scale performance on the Whitechapel High Street.
For further information about this organisation visit http://www.udichiuk.org
4 – Listed Loo;
Project lead – Listed Theatre
Project lead – Listed Theatre
A live promenade performance inspired by the rich history of Tower Hamlets, which includes political activism, the architecture and historic buildings and growth and development of diverse communities. The audience will follow characters from the starting point of the Victorian Grade II Listed underground public toilets in the heart of Bow. It will immerse the audience in the characters’ worlds, by performing in the sites which have significant links to their stories. Through bringing their stories to life, in the actual environment, Listed Loo will entertain and inform everyone with an interest and curiosity about the fascinating history of this area.
For further information about this organisation visit http://www.listedtheatre.com
5 – Whitechapel Bell Foundry Heritage and Education Centre;
Project lead - Whitechapel Bell Foundry
Project lead - Whitechapel Bell Foundry
Having been in business in the area since 1570 and at these premises on Whitechapel Road since 1738, this project will now allow access to young people, residents and global visitors to better access both archive and current material pertaining to the Foundry and its position on High Street 2012, through showcasing its heritage; industrial, architectural and social history.
For further information about this organisation visit http://www.whitechapelbellfoundry.co.uk
6 – The Steps of Many: Community Journeys in the East End;
Project Lead – Toynbee Hall
Toynbee Hall will offer its women learners the opportunity to engage creatively, inspirationally and practically with High Street 2012. Through workshops, art and urban photographer targeted at ESOL learners in Aldgate and Whitechapel, the work will culminate in a combined document of three separate community group journeys, all of which will convene at a single fixed point on Whitechapel High Street.
Project Lead – Toynbee Hall
Toynbee Hall will offer its women learners the opportunity to engage creatively, inspirationally and practically with High Street 2012. Through workshops, art and urban photographer targeted at ESOL learners in Aldgate and Whitechapel, the work will culminate in a combined document of three separate community group journeys, all of which will convene at a single fixed point on Whitechapel High Street.
For further information about this organisation visit http://www.toynbeehall.org.uk
7 – The Unlimited Edition;
Project Lead – We Made That
Over the summer months of 2011, a unique newspaper run dedicated to High Street 2012 will be published called The Unlimited Edition. Guest writers, artists, urban designers and community members will be invited to contribute creative snapshots of the area. Their ideas will reveal both the existing and improbable opportunities for the high street.
Project Lead – We Made That
Over the summer months of 2011, a unique newspaper run dedicated to High Street 2012 will be published called The Unlimited Edition. Guest writers, artists, urban designers and community members will be invited to contribute creative snapshots of the area. Their ideas will reveal both the existing and improbable opportunities for the high street.
For further information about this organisation visit http://www.wemadethat.co.uk
8 – The Poundshop;
Project Lead– Design collective household & Sara Melin Design collective
Household and Sara Melin have joined forces to create a pop up shop for High Street 2012, a beneficial outlet for an eclectic mix of local products at very low prices - designed to nurture and showcase local and featured designers in East London.
Project Lead– Design collective household & Sara Melin Design collective
Household and Sara Melin have joined forces to create a pop up shop for High Street 2012, a beneficial outlet for an eclectic mix of local products at very low prices - designed to nurture and showcase local and featured designers in East London.
For further information about this organisation visit http://www.thepoundshop.org
9 - Artmusic presents ‘Ring Ring Bell’, a piece of music scored for tower bells; shop bells; bicycle bells; hand bells; telephone bells; bus bells, finger bells: bells of all sizes and from different cultures ringing together along the High Street. The project will also involve the recording of memories and sounds along the route; and the project will result in recorded artefacts, including a special High Street 2012 ringtone. – Ring Ring Bell;
Project lead – Artmusic -
Project lead – Artmusic -
For further information about this organisation visit http://www.artmusic.org.uk
10 – Walk with me;
Project lead – Mile End Films
Walk With Me will celebrate, record and preserve the memories and history of past and present communities along the Whitechapel & Mile End Roads, filming cultural practices of different generations and different ethnic groups in this area. After a period of research by leading urban sociology scholars, community interviews will be conducted and filmed to document vanished spaces lost to periods of redevelopment or wartime bombing; changes, continuities, and alterations for different communities that inhabited the same space; and redevelopment today in preparation for the 2012 Games.
Project lead – Mile End Films
Walk With Me will celebrate, record and preserve the memories and history of past and present communities along the Whitechapel & Mile End Roads, filming cultural practices of different generations and different ethnic groups in this area. After a period of research by leading urban sociology scholars, community interviews will be conducted and filmed to document vanished spaces lost to periods of redevelopment or wartime bombing; changes, continuities, and alterations for different communities that inhabited the same space; and redevelopment today in preparation for the 2012 Games.
For further information about this organisation visit http://www.mileendfilms.qmul.ac.uk
11 – Mile End’s Heritage as destination for extraordinary cultural events;
Project lead – Greenwich and Docklands International Festival (GDIF)
Mile End has heritage of extraordinary large scale cultural events taking place on and around High Street 2012 and Mile End Park; On 25th June 2011, as part of a large international festival, GDIF will present ‘As The World Tipped’, an amazing free outdoor event of epic aerial and physical performance 30 metres above Mile End Park, combining spectacle and emotion it confronts one of the most pressing issues of our time – climate change.
Project lead – Greenwich and Docklands International Festival (GDIF)
Mile End has heritage of extraordinary large scale cultural events taking place on and around High Street 2012 and Mile End Park; On 25th June 2011, as part of a large international festival, GDIF will present ‘As The World Tipped’, an amazing free outdoor event of epic aerial and physical performance 30 metres above Mile End Park, combining spectacle and emotion it confronts one of the most pressing issues of our time – climate change.
For further information about this organisation visit http://www.festival.org
12 – Dress;
Project Lead - Deborah Smith Projects
Dress brings together the worlds of art, architecture and fashion to create a memorable and startling intervention in Whitechapel High Street during June 2012. Over centuries, waves of immigrant communities – Huguenots, Jews and Bangladeshis – have brought with them panoply of skills and industry to London’s East End; common to all of these have been textiles and the clothing industry. Working in collaboration with artists and local communities, Dress, invites a response to the rich histories and cultures of the area with the aim of leading to a startling conclusion of ‘dressing up’ a building.
Project Lead - Deborah Smith Projects
Dress brings together the worlds of art, architecture and fashion to create a memorable and startling intervention in Whitechapel High Street during June 2012. Over centuries, waves of immigrant communities – Huguenots, Jews and Bangladeshis – have brought with them panoply of skills and industry to London’s East End; common to all of these have been textiles and the clothing industry. Working in collaboration with artists and local communities, Dress, invites a response to the rich histories and cultures of the area with the aim of leading to a startling conclusion of ‘dressing up’ a building.
13 – A Living Map;
Project Lead – School of English and Drama, Queen Mary University
A crossover project between theatre and academia, Living Map will be an intergenerational celebration of the real and imaginary pasts, present and futures of one (shared) mile of Mile End Road. A Living Map will animate and perform personal and collective visions of this one mile and to install these visions in eye-catching locations to be admired, wondered at or simply happened upon by residents and visitors.
Project Lead – School of English and Drama, Queen Mary University
A crossover project between theatre and academia, Living Map will be an intergenerational celebration of the real and imaginary pasts, present and futures of one (shared) mile of Mile End Road. A Living Map will animate and perform personal and collective visions of this one mile and to install these visions in eye-catching locations to be admired, wondered at or simply happened upon by residents and visitors.
14 – The London;
Project Lead – Pie Architecture
2012 is a hugely significant moment in the development of the Royal London Hospital ('The London') on Whitechapel Road and its relationship with the area. The redevelopment has meant original pieces of the hospital and its story, have been steadily disappearing. The London seeks to remember and recognise the importance of the Royal London Hospital to Whitechapel and London, through its influence on the urban fabric, significant contribution to medical advancement, and fundamental and long standing role as a figure within the community.
Project Lead – Pie Architecture
2012 is a hugely significant moment in the development of the Royal London Hospital ('The London') on Whitechapel Road and its relationship with the area. The redevelopment has meant original pieces of the hospital and its story, have been steadily disappearing. The London seeks to remember and recognise the importance of the Royal London Hospital to Whitechapel and London, through its influence on the urban fabric, significant contribution to medical advancement, and fundamental and long standing role as a figure within the community.
For further information about this organisation visit http://www.piearchitecture.com
15 – View From The Top;
Project Lead – Magic Me
Three Primary schools along the High Street will team up with 3 older people’s organisations and diverse businesses and workplaces along the Whitechapel / Mile End Road. Focusing on the commerce and 'busy-ness' of the High Street, the children and adults will work with Magic Me artists to create artworks about activity within the rich diversity of local buildings. Panels combining images and text will be displayed on the 205 buses revealing to travellers the stories behind the facades they pass.
Project Lead – Magic Me
Three Primary schools along the High Street will team up with 3 older people’s organisations and diverse businesses and workplaces along the Whitechapel / Mile End Road. Focusing on the commerce and 'busy-ness' of the High Street, the children and adults will work with Magic Me artists to create artworks about activity within the rich diversity of local buildings. Panels combining images and text will be displayed on the 205 buses revealing to travellers the stories behind the facades they pass.
For further information about this organisation visit http://www.magicme.co.uk
16 – Postcards From High Street 2012;
Project lead – East London Dance
Encapsulating the diverse heritage, lives and landscapes of High Street 2012, 8 professional one-minute dance films (moving postcards) will be created with local people living and working along High Street 2012. Postcards from High Street 2012 will be available to be downloaded and screened on hand-held devices, uploaded onto websites and will be projected at the Live Site in Victoria Park during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and at the Big Dance Inflatable Screen (touring across the east London boroughs in 2012). The films will reflect a unique moment in time when groups of all ages and cultures can come together to explore the juxtaposition between the history and the contemporary changes of the High Street 2012 area.
Project lead – East London Dance
Encapsulating the diverse heritage, lives and landscapes of High Street 2012, 8 professional one-minute dance films (moving postcards) will be created with local people living and working along High Street 2012. Postcards from High Street 2012 will be available to be downloaded and screened on hand-held devices, uploaded onto websites and will be projected at the Live Site in Victoria Park during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and at the Big Dance Inflatable Screen (touring across the east London boroughs in 2012). The films will reflect a unique moment in time when groups of all ages and cultures can come together to explore the juxtaposition between the history and the contemporary changes of the High Street 2012 area.
For further information about this organisation visit http://www.eastlondondance.org
17 – Living history, moving people;
Project lead – Faith Regen
‘Living History, Moving People’ is a wide ranging and innovative project which takes a multi-cultural and inter-generational approach in order to bring the High Street 2012 to the hardest-to-reach sections of society. It seeks to help communities work together in cooperation to achieve a truly regenerated and revitalised High Street by engaging the young as well as the elderly, and the employed, as well as the unemployed, by inviting local business leaders and community role-models to showcase the cultural diversity of Tower Hamlets. It is made up of 3 distinct but linked parts: ‘Walk Around the World’, ‘Walk Across Time’, and ‘Whitechapel iExplorer’.
Project lead – Faith Regen
‘Living History, Moving People’ is a wide ranging and innovative project which takes a multi-cultural and inter-generational approach in order to bring the High Street 2012 to the hardest-to-reach sections of society. It seeks to help communities work together in cooperation to achieve a truly regenerated and revitalised High Street by engaging the young as well as the elderly, and the employed, as well as the unemployed, by inviting local business leaders and community role-models to showcase the cultural diversity of Tower Hamlets. It is made up of 3 distinct but linked parts: ‘Walk Around the World’, ‘Walk Across Time’, and ‘Whitechapel iExplorer’.
For further information about this organisation visit http://www.faithregenuk.org
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