Produced in partnership with Hinterlands Enfield & BLOQS.
Festival of the Lea is an artist and community-led cultural festival that will take place in BLOQS and along the Lee Navigation canal.
On Saturday 13th July 2024, we welcome Enfield residents, the creative community and wider London audiences to join us over 2 days for free creative and cultural activities, including art installations, immersive experiences, spoken word and theatre performances, makers workshops, co-created community activities, music and more. The festival is a joint celebration between BLOQS on their twelfth anniversary, and the Canal & River Trust’s Hinterlands Enfield Project. The festival programme is jam-packed with BLOQS' wide-ranging cultural offerings in addition to showcasing multiple artworks, interventions and performances by Hinterlands artists that has evolved in the last 18 months in response to the River Lea - past, present and future. Hinterlands Enfield is supported by the Arts Council and through funds raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
With a strong focus on celebrating and protecting our waterways, much of the Hinterlands resident artists work has unfolded in response to the River Lea, and so we aim to celebrate Enfield’s integral waterway by transforming a stretch of the canal from BLOQS to Chalk Bridge with artistic interventions. As one of the key creative drivers in the area, BLOQS will be delivering the festival in partnership with Hinterlands, as they reach their 12 year anniversary and aim to celebrate and share their cultural and creative offering with local and wider-reaching communities.
Location
Festival Hub: BLOQS, 2 Anthony Way, London, N18 3QT
Festival Site: The canal from BLOQS to Chalk Bridge
Festival Activities include:
Interactive artistic interventions along the River Lea by artists Cathy Wade, Renin Bilginer, Chantelle Purcell, Cath Carver and Christina Kalinowski.
Interactive children’s theatre performances by Chickenshed’s Tale from the Shed
Dance performances on Chalk Bridge by Ceyda Tanc Dance
Creative workshops where children can add colourful designs to the towpath and learn how to make their own city.
Performing arts stage with spoken word by Write2Speak
Music and culture programme led by BLOQS
Learning and educational activities surrounding the sustainability and protection of the River Lea
Food and drinks from the BLOQS cafe
Performance and Workshop Schedule
11.00am - Colour Your Canal workshop, with chalk spray (canal, until 3pm)
12.00pm - Ceyda Tanc Dance Performance (Chalk Bridge)
12.30pm - River Spirit Mask Making workshop (Chalk Bridge, until 2pm)
1.30pm - Chickenshed performances along the canal (until 2.30pm)
1.30pm - Write2Speak and Tim Cope, spoken word (BLOQS, until 2.30pm)
2.30pm - Chickenshed perform ‘The True Untrue History of the River Lea’ (BLOQS, until 3.15pm)
3.15pm - Ceyda Tanc Dance Performance (BLOQS heading up to Chalk Bridge
Featured Artists Include:
Cathy Wade is an artist and writer who investigates how practice can be created and distributed in collaborative partnerships and through the creation of commons.
Renin Bilginer is a multidisciplinary artist with dual British and Turkish heritage working closely with textiles, painting and installation.
Chantelle Purcell is a London-based Jamaican and British curator and artist who explores the intertwined histories of Britain and the Caribbean.
Write2Speak are poets, actors and performance educators, Tyler Luke Cunningham and Yossi Goodlink.
Cath Carver is an artist and designer and the founder of Colour Your City, a multidisciplinary practice working with the power of colour.
Christina Kalinowski is the founder of Doodle Designs, a participatory creative organisation based in Edmonton working extensively with local communities.
Chickenshed’s Tales from the Shed are an internationally renowned children’s theatre company making interactive, engaging and accessible work.
Ceyda Tanc Dance is led by British-Turkish choreographer, Ceyda Tanc, the company creates athletic contemporary dance influenced by Tanc’s Turkish heritage.
To see the full programme click the below or download here:
