At the beginning of summer I was invited to join a group of local creatives to help put up a Pop Up event in the Hackney area. Neither the date nor the place were clear and all I knew was that the event was initiated by a Hackney-based Drug&Alcohol Recovery Service called Lifeline, in cooperation with a number of further local charity organisations surrounding mental health issues, homelessness, ex-offenders, sexual violence victims, etc.. A friend had told me about the service some time ago as he was battling depression and a substance addiction and I had been listening with great interest about the ways the social workers went about helping him to get clean and build up his self-esteem again. I had heard a lot of positive things about the charity's ethos and the people who work there and a few weeks later even attended a group session to hear how people are dealing with life in recovery.
So there I was, one day in May '14, picking my friend up from a meeting with his key worker, as they were talking excitedly about Russell Brand and his patron ship for Focus 12, another service dealing with abstinence and recovery. I was asked if I would be interested in getting involved by putting a few hours of work in for a good cause and join the mixed group of industry professionals and service users about to start planning this one-off event. It seemed only logical that my experience in organising art and music-related events together with my interest in working on projects with a social impact were a fine foundation being both together put to a good use by applying myself to a project for the local community. Which I thought would probably be more fulfilling than merely signing online petitions against Fracking, War in Gaza, etc.
So there I was, one day in May '14, picking my friend up from a meeting with his key worker, as they were talking excitedly about Russell Brand and his patron ship for Focus 12, another service dealing with abstinence and recovery. I was asked if I would be interested in getting involved by putting a few hours of work in for a good cause and join the mixed group of industry professionals and service users about to start planning this one-off event. It seemed only logical that my experience in organising art and music-related events together with my interest in working on projects with a social impact were a fine foundation being both together put to a good use by applying myself to a project for the local community. Which I thought would probably be more fulfilling than merely signing online petitions against Fracking, War in Gaza, etc.
So I started out preparing for my first meeting by writing an application for the Lead Production Role of the Venue Organiser. I immediately had a space in mind for the event as well: The Round Chapel - an absolutely stunning location owned by the Hackney Historic Buildings Trust, which I have been passing almost everyday on my way to work at Elaine's studio in Lower Clapton, fantasising about putting up an event in there one day...
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