Lewisham reveals London Borough of Culture 2022 programme, showcasing creativity, diversity and tackling the climate emergency

Lewisham will celebrate the power of culture and its diverse communities, aiming to bring about positive change in its year as London Borough of Culture, which will include:

• A dance spectacular by Alleyne Dance and IRIE! Dance Theatre, with a cast of over 200 local performers celebrating the contribution of migration to the borough

• Revolution Though Music, a celebration of Lewisham's activist history and its rich contribution to music in Britain, with Dave Okumu, Novelist and Linton Kwesi Johnson
• Breathe 2022, a striking new public artwork about air pollution by artist Dryden Goodwin and Invisible Dust that pays tribute to Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah

• UK premiere of the award-winning climate change artwork Sun & Sea, Golden Lion winner at the Venice Biennale

• Climate Home, a new, low carbon creative space designed and led by young people

• Lewisham People's Day is back, after a four year hiatus. South East London's longest running free festival will feature hundreds of live performances across multiple stages
  
  

Lewisham has today, Thursday 25 November, unveiled plans for its year as London Borough of Culture 2022 - We Are Lewisham . The programme, a Mayor of London initiative, will celebrate the borough's rich diversity, provide a platform for the voices of local young people and inspire climate action through art, music, performance, poetry, discussion and debate - highlighting the power of culture to create change.

The Mayor of Lewisham, Damien Egan, was joined by a host of local creatives, young people and community representatives at the iconic Rivoli Ballroom to announce the ambitious programme, inspired by the history of activism in the borough. Launching in January 2022, it will kick off with a borough-wide opening celebration that pays homage to Lewisham's change makers, trailblazers, and social justice pioneers and showcasing local talents that call Lewisham home today.

The We Are Lewisham programme will include a new outdoor dance spectacle taking place in Beckenham Place Park, directed by choreographers Kristina and Sade Alleyne and developed in partnership with IRIE! Dance theatre. The event will highlight Black creative leaders in dance and feature an intergenerational cast of over 200 local performers in a mass performance that brings stories to life and showcases the rich and positive impact of migration on the borough.

Breathe: 2022 will be a striking new public artwork that has been commissioned close to the South Circular Road. Presented by Invisible Dust and created by artist Dryden Goodwin, ten years on from his first creation of Breathe, it will depict his five-year-old son inhaling and exhaling and highlight the growing emergency for climate action, paying homage to Lewisham resident Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, 9. Ella's mother, Rosamund, tirelessly and successfully campaigned for air pollution to be included on her death certificate, due to the adverse effects of air pollution to her health.

Revolution Through Music will tell the story of Lewisham's activist musical heritage and celebrate its grassroots musical culture that has evolved from the borough. Political and cultural movements such as Rock Against Racism thrived in Lewisham and brought people together to share their common joy for music and take a stand against increasing racist attacks and support for the far-right. Pop, grime, afrobeat, jazz, global, classical and punk all play a part in Lewisham's diverse musical ancestry. Spread across March, May, August and October, there will be musical events taking place across the borough in venues and public spaces, with Dave Okumu, Novelist and Linton Kwesi Johnson.

The ever-popular Lewisham People's Day returns to Mountsfield Park after a four year hiatus. South East London's longest running free festival brings together the borough's diverse communities in a celebration of live music with hundreds of performances across multiple stages. Lots of fantastic food and drink options make it a great day out for all ages.

Co-presented with the Albany, LIFT and Serpentine, the UK premier of the award-winning Sun & Sea at the Albany will include ten tons of sand, 13 vocalists and an all-female creative team. The theatrical installation stunned audiences at the 2019 Venice Biennale, earning the coveted Golden Lion award. It will transform the Albany, recreating a beach scene inviting visitors to explore the relationship between people and our planet.

Other highlights will include Sonic Phô which will bring food and stories from the largest Vietnamese community in London together in one unique audio experience, Liberty Festival, showcasing a diverse programme of ground-breaking art, performance and interactive installations from D/deaf, disabled and neurodiverse artists and Climate Home, which will put the voices of young people from diverse backgrounds at the centre of climate justice in a new low carbon pop-up creative space, based in Deptford. The pop-up venue will house an eclectic climate focused programme of performances and events led by youth arts collective Sounds Like Chaos and a network of local partners to create training, employment and commissioning opportunities for young creatives.

Lewisham's landmark creative institutions; Trinity Laban, Goldsmiths University of London, the Rivoli Ballroom, the Albany and the Horniman Museum, will be part of the ‘We Are Lewisham' programme, which will also explore the historical depth of the borough and immigration, and will bring different generations, artists and members of the community together to create a lasting legacy of positive change.

There are plenty of options for local residents, groups and businesses to get involved. Locals who wish to run their own events and activities can apply for funding through the Creative Change Fund. Anyone wishing to volunteer can find opportunities through the Council's volunteering partner, Lewisham Local. While a new London Borough of Culture Business Advisor will support local businesses, ensuring they maximise the opportunities the programme offers. Our education partner Lewisham Education Arts Network (LEAN) is working with local schools to help them to make the most of the year. Further details will be made available on wearelewisham.com.

Damien Egan Mayor of Lewisham said: “Lewisham's year as London Borough of Culture will celebrate everything that is great about our borough and showcase the incredible talents from Lewisham. From famous names performing in brilliant venues to inspiring events in our parks and schools and celebrations of the music and events that have defined us our year as London Borough of Culture will be open to everyone, with events popping up across the whole borough; in our markets, local businesses and on street corners, created with and by local people. We'll be giving a platform to the very best of what Lewisham has to offer from Catford to Crofton, Downham to Deptford, and Lewisham to Lee and we can't wait to welcome people to have a great time exploring our borough.”

Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, said: “Lewisham has unveiled an outstanding programme of events that will showcase the borough's grassroots creativity, musical heritage and diverse community. The entire borough will be engaged in an incredible year of cultural activity and climate action with young Londoners at the heart of it all.

“Culture is our DNA and our London Borough of Culture programme has shown the power the arts have to inspire bringing communities together and to celebrate world-class creativity right on their doorsteps.

“Lewisham's ambitious programme will show how culture can empower communities to pursue positive change. It is a fantastic opportunity to shine a spotlight on the talent, innovation and artistry that can be found across our capital and will be a very exciting year for its residents, Londoners and visitors alike.”

Gavin Barlow Creative Director of Lewisham, London Borough of Culture said: “As well as being a much-needed call to action, we're excited to announce a programme that is also joyful and celebratory. Lewisham has always been somewhere that stands up for what it believes in, and the year will showcase the power of the arts to inspire positive change and celebrate our borough's contributions to music, visual art, dance and more. In the Albany's role as Lead Delivery Partner, we've worked closely with Lewisham Council as well as local residents, organisations and communities to co-create something that is authentic and true to the spirit of Lewisham that everyone can enjoy.”

Kae Tempest, poet, writer, musician and Lewisham resident, said: “I feel so proud of being from Lewisham and, more importantly than that, it's an integral part of my musicality, my politics, my understanding of the entire world and how it works. If I wasn't from Lewisham I don't think I'd be the artist I am. James Joyce said: “If I can get to the heart of Dublin, I can get to the heart of the world” and that's exactly how I feel about Lewisham it's so present in my work. Everything's here you don't have to look anywhere else, just be here and you will understand the universal in the particular. I feel like my formative experiences, the music that I was around, that I played and the people that I played with the accessibility to space that we had back in those days…it was just integral.”

London Borough of Culture is a Mayor of London initiative which puts culture at the heart of local communities. It celebrates the character and diversity of London's boroughs, aiming to increase access to culture for everyone.

Introduced by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan in 2017, the London Borough of Culture award is a competition that sees London's 32 boroughs bid for more than £1m of funding to stage a programme of cultural events and initiatives. The award puts culture at the heart of local communities, where it belongs, illuminating the character and diversity of London's boroughs and showing culture is for everyone. Find out more here: https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/arts-and-culture/current-culture-projects/london-borough-culture/london-borough-culture

A full list of the highlights of the programme can be found below.

Day One - 28 January 2022
A joyous opening celebration spanning the whole borough

Day One marks the beginning of Lewisham's year as London Borough of Culture 2022. A joyous borough-wide celebration will see a series of free curated performances, workshops and creative challenges taking place across the day to showcase the rich creativity of Lewisham. Events will take place on the hour, every hour; live music ‘commotions' at transport hubs will kick start the day pairing Trinity Laban composers with local music-makers, and a mass collective dance moment led by Alleyne Dance and IRIE! dance theatre will get the whole borough moving.

Revolution Through Music March, May, August and October 2022
Celebrating Lewisham's rich contribution to music in Britain

Home to Mercury Nominee Dave Okumu, Kae Tempest, MNEK and Jessie Ware, Novelist, Moses Boyd, Ray BLK, TIRZAH, Mica Levi and more, Lewisham is home to some UK's most innovative musical talent. Its rich musical history spans decades, from Sound System pioneers Smiley Culture, Dennis Bovell, Saxon Sound and Jah Shaka; Jules Holland and iconic 70's band Squeeze; post-punk experimentalists Charles Hayward and Test Department, to landmark events such as Rock Against Racism and globally recognised artists such as Blur, Dire Straits and Kate Bush. Revolution Through Music will tell the story of Lewisham's incredible musical heritage and celebrate the grassroots musical culture that that has sprung from the borough, changing the cultural face of London. Embracing contemporary, pop, grime, afrobeat, jazz, global, classical, punk, electronic and experimental, it offers a journey through the diverse musical talent of Lewisham's past, present and future with performances in large and intimate venues as well as outdoor and green spaces.

In March 2022, Mercury Prize nominee, Dave Okumu, curates Love Is Attention, pairing high profile artists with emerging talent. In May 2022, Linton Kwesi Johnson and Black Obsidian Sound System bring to life Rebel Music, tracing the borough's activist history and the importance of Sound System culture to Black, LGBTQI+ DIY Punk Hardcore and Rave communities. In August 2022, global music festival, Beyond Borders, will take over the grounds of the Horniman Museum and Gardens to explore South-East London's Jazz Scene and the sounds of Lewisham's global communities. In October, MOBO Award nominee Novelist curates Underground Lewisham, spotlighting the borough's thriving Grime, Afrobeat and Drill scene and the new genres of tomorrow, at venues and popup spaces across the borough.

O5Fest March 2022
Platforming poetry

In March 2022, internationally celebrated poet, playwright, performer and Lewisham resident Inua Ellams brings his O5Fest to Lewisham. Produced in association with the Albany and Spread the Word, O5Fest comprises five multidisciplinary events with the borough's most celebrated writers.

Climate Emergency April-July 2022
A series of commissions to inspire action on the climate emergency

Lewisham is calling for action on the climate emergency, with a programme of commissions that will inspire and shock people to act. Art, performance, spoken word and dance will bring critical issues to the fore, from air pollution and the impact of climate change on racialized and working class communities to the importance of sustainable living and the future of the earth for youth and generations to come. In a commitment to tackle the urgent environmental crisis in its London Borough of Culture programme, Lewisham has collaborated with many local organisations including Trinity Laban and Lewisham Music.

Commissions include Sun & Sea, the theatrical installation that stunned audiences at the 2019 Venice Biennale, earning its all-female creative team the coveted Golden Lion. The UK premiere will transform the Albany main house with 13 vocalists and 10 tons of sand. A new performance, Hope For Justice, commissioned by Trinity Laban, will be co-created by composer Eska Mtungwazi, Young Person's poet laureate Cecilia Knapp, choreographer Sarah Golding and hundreds of young people from across the borough. Lewisham-based artist Dryden Goodwin and Invisible Dust will present Breathe: 2022 - a striking new public artwork about air pollution that relates explicitly to the death of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah and the wider struggle for environmental justice.

The Climate Emergency programme will include the World Premiere of a new site-specific project created by director, co-writer and Lewisham resident Melly Still with composer and co-writer Max Barton. The Gretchen Question is co-commissioned and produced by Fuel, and will be presented at and in collaboration with Shipwright at the Master Shipwright's House.

There will also be a new work from Lewisham-based Teatro Vivo entitled COMMON, a new collaboration between visual artists Studio Ackroyd & Harvey and performance poet Zena Edwards entitled Seven and a London first outing of Greek artist Andreas Angelidarkis' installation Seawall.

Climate Home From June 2022
Lewisham's new low carbon creative space, designed, built and led by young people

Climate Home puts the voices of young people at the centre of climate justice. A new low carbon creative space, based in Deptford, will be designed and built by the young people of the borough. Delivered by Lewisham based Sounds Like Chaos in partnership with the Albany, the pop-up venue will house an eclectic climate focused programme of performances and events led by young creatives and a network of local partners. It will create training, employment and commissioning opportunities for young creatives and it will place young Black people, people of colour and Lewisham's working-class communities at the centre of climate justice, sparking conversations between local people and those in power.

Mass Dance October 2022
A new outdoor dance performance, co-created with an intergenerational cast of 200

A new, large-scale dance spectacle in Beckenham Place Park, directed by Alleyne Dance, a company co-founded by Kristina and Sadé Alleyne. Working in partnership with IRIE! Dance Theatre and co-created with local communities, Mass Dance will feature an intergenerational cast of over 200 local performers. Mass Dance will serve as a beacon to profile black creative leaders in dance, it will bring to life diverse stories of the borough, with a focus on change and the positive impact of migration on our communities and our home.


Creative Challenges Throughout 2022
Twelve challenges to inspire mass creativity and positive change

Twelve creative challenges, one per month, will inspire creative activism and mass participation. Launching in January with a dance challenge that will invite every schoolchild to learn and perform a signature Lewisham movement sequence created by IRIE! dance theatre in partnership with The Midi Music Company. The year will also include a craft challenge in collaboration with Cockpit Arts. A gardening challenge timed with National Creativity and Wellbeing Week will mark the opening of a new Healing Garden at University Hospital Lewisham, in partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society.



LEWISHAM, LONDON BOROUGH OF CULTURE 2022, PROGRAMME OVERVIEW

Day One - 28 January 2022
Across Lewisham

Day One marks the beginning of Lewisham's year as London Borough of Culture 2022. A joyous borough-wide celebration will see a series of curated performances, workshops and creative challenges taking place across the day to showcase the rich creativity of Lewisham. Events will take place on the hour, every hour; live music ‘commotions' at transport hubs will kick start the day pairing Trinity Laban composers with local music-makers, and a mass collective dance moment led by Alleyne Dance and IRIE! dance theatre will get the whole borough moving.

Creative Challenges Throughout 2022
Across Lewisham and online

Twelve creative challenges, one per month, will inspire creative activism and mass participation. Launching in January with a dance challenge that will see every schoolchild in the borough learn and perform a signature Lewisham movement sequence created by IRIE! Dance Theatre in partnership with The Midi Music Company. The year will also include a craft challenge in collaboration with Cockpit Arts. A gardening challenge timed with National Creativity and Wellbeing Week will mark the opening of a new Healing Garden at University Hospital Lewisham, in partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society.

Climate Commissions

Lewisham is calling for action on the climate emergency, with a programme of commissions that will inspire and shock people to act. Art, performance, spoken word and dance will bring critical issues to the fore, from air pollution and the impact of climate change on racialized and working class communities to the importance of sustainable living and the future of the earth for youth and generations to come. In a commitment to tackle the urgent environmental crisis in its London Borough of Culture programme, Lewisham has collaborated with local organisations including Trinity Laban and Lewisham Music. Programme details below:

Breathe From April 2022
Across Lewisham

Breathe: 2022 will be a striking new air pollution-focused public artwork that will appear across Lewisham on sites close to the South Circular Road. Presented by art-science organisation Invisible Dust and created by Dryden Goodwin ten years on from his first creation of Breathe - depicting his five-year-old son exhaling and inhaling - this new work will relate explicitly to the death of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, the growing battle for climate justice and the power of the collective. Breathe: 2022 will relate the global health emergency to the daily lived experience of local Lewisham residents and activists. Five participants from local activist groups including Choked Up, Mums for Lungs and the Ella Roberta Family Foundation, will sit for the artist to be drawn and recorded as they ‘fight to breathe'.

From late April - November 2022 oversized sized stop-frame artworks forming ‘walking zoetropes' will take over key sites close to the South Circular (with the support of Transport For London and Network Rail). The 2+ million people who view this artwork will be actively engaged as they ‘animate' it as they move pass - and may experience empathy as they take an involuntary ‘gasp for breath' themselves.

Sun & Sea 23 June 10 July 2022
The Albany

Sun & Sea, the theatrical installation that stunned audiences at the 2019 Venice Biennale, earning its all-female creative team the coveted Golden Lion will receive its UK premiere as part of London Borough of Culture 2022 and LIFT 2022. Co-presented by the Albany, LIFT and Serpentine, it will transform the Albany main house with 13 vocalists and 10 tons of sand. Sunbathing characters will offer up a range of seductive harmonies and melodic stories that glide between the mundane, the sinister and the surreal. From the sprawling tapestry of their lives will emerge a piercing exploration of the relationship between people and our planet, captured in one afternoon on a crowded beach.

Hope For Justice 17-18 June 2022
Hope For Justice is a project co-created by composer Eska Mtungwazi, Young Person's poet laureate Cecilia Knapp, choreographer Sarah Golding and hundreds of Young People from across Lewisham. Newly commissioned by Trinity Laban for London Borough of Culture 2022, this project will be a rousing call to climate action. Over a year in the making and devised collaboratively throughout, this cross-art form work layers choral and instrumental music, dance, spoken word and protest.

Climate Home From July 2022
Climate Home, delivered by Lewisham based Sounds Like Chaos in partnership with the Albany, is where young people reclaim their space. Based in Deptford, it will be a radical new creative space, designed and built by the young people of the borough. The new venue will house an eclectic climate focused programme of performances and events led by young creatives and a network of local partners. It will create training, employment and commissioning opportunities for young creatives and it will place young Black people, people of colour and Lewisham's working-class communities at the centre of climate justice, sparking conversations between local people and those in power.

Climate Conversations - Throughout 2022
Locations include Goldsmiths University, Trinity Laban, Horniman Museum and the Albany

A programme of talks, discussions, debates and workshops, inspired by the history of social activism in Lewisham, will address the climate crisis. Taking place in person and online, it will act as a bridge between the main creative programmes of London Borough of Culture 2022, opening up opportunities for people to share, converse and connect with the year's themes. Residents and visitors alike will be able to engage with leading artists, scientists and thinkers, and to make their own voices heard.

Lewisham People's Day - 16 July 2022
Mountsfield Park
South East London's longest running free festival returns after a four year hiatus. Now in its 35th year, Lewisham People's Day is a celebration of music, art and community where emerging artists take to the stage alongside established and international performers. Lewisham People's Day has over 25,000 visitors a year, 100s of performances across five stages, and over one hundred exhibitors, including the very best international food and drink.

Liberty Festival 22-24 July 2022
The Mayor of London's free festival celebrating the ambitious work of D/deaf, disabled and neurodiverse artists is coming to Lewisham in July 2022. Liberty Festival will showcase a diverse programme of ground-breaking art and performance, interactive installations, a thought-provoking symposium, new commissions and participatory workshops for all ages. The festival will offer an inclusive and accessible experience, with relaxed and BSL interpreted live performances, audio described visual art and quiet areas. Presented by The Mayor of London in partnership with Lewisham, London Borough of Culture 2022.

Revolution Through Music

Home to Mercury Nominee Dave Okumu, Kae Tempest, MNEK and Jessie Ware, Novelist, Moses Boyd, Ray BLK, TIRZAH, Mica Levi and more, Lewisham is a fertile breeding ground for the UK's most innovative musical talent. Its rich musical history spans decades, from Sound System pioneers Smiley Culture, Dennis Bovell, Saxon Sound and Jah Shaka; Jules Holland and iconic 70's band Squeeze; post-punk experimentalists Charles Hayward and Test Department, to landmark events such as Rock Against Racism and globally recognised artists such as Blur, Dire Straits and Kate Bush. Revolution Through Music will tell the story of Lewisham's incredible musical heritage and celebrate the grassroots musical culture that that has sprung from the borough, changing the cultural face of London. Embracing contemporary, pop, grime, afrobeat, jazz, global, classical, punk, electronic and experimental, it offers a journey through the diverse musical talent of Lewisham's past, present and future with performances in large and intimate venues as well as outdoor and green spaces. Programme details below:

Love is Attention March 2022
Venues and outdoor spaces across Lewisham
Curated by Deptford resident, Mercury Prize nominee and award-winning songwriter, producer and musician, Dave Okumu, Love Is Attention will showcase Lewisham's vibrant contemporary music scene. Emerging talent will play alongside high-profile artists in an explosion of musical activity.
Presented in association with FORM.

Rebel Music May 2022
Venues and outdoor spaces across Lewisham
A celebration of Lewisham's activist history, told through its music and Sound System culture within BAME, LGBTQ+, DIY, Punk & Hard-core and Rave communities. The programme includes an outdoor Sound System Trail and a poetic work by legendary Dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson co-commissioned with Southbank Centre. There will also be a learning programme in association with Goldsmiths, University of London, Sound System Outernational & Alchemy Music, a Vogue Ball hosted by Turner Prize Nominee Black Obsidian Sound System, a punk and DIY strand featuring Test Department and film screenings in association with Deptford Cinema. Presented in association with Joe Strummer Foundation.

Beyond Borders - August 2022
Horniman Museum and Gardens

A festival of global music will take over the grounds of the Horniman Museum and Gardens in collaboration with FORM and Kilimanjaro. Beyond Borders explores Lewisham's musical output through an international lens, showcasing the borough's explosive Jazz scene and global and contemporary music communities from South East Asian to West African and beyond. A diverse, genre-defying programme suitable for all ages. Presented in partnership with FORM and the Horniman Museum and Gardens

Underground Lewisham October 2022
Venues and outdoor spaces across Lewisham

In October 2022, MOBO Award nominee Novelist curates Underground Lewisham, spotlighting the borough's thriving Grime, Afrobeat and Drill scene and the new genres of tomorrow, at venues and popup spaces across the borough.

Mass Dance October 2022
Beckenham Place Park

A new, large-scale dance spectacle in Beckenham Place Park, directed by Alleyne Dance, a company co-founded by Kristina and Sadé Alleyne. Working in partnership with IRIE! dance theatre and co-created with local communities, Mass Dance will feature an intergenerational cast of over 200 local performers. Mass Dance will serve as a beacon to profile black creative leaders in dance, it will bring to life diverse stories of the borough, with a focus on change and the positive impact of migration on our communities and our home.

Here Now Us
A programme of events, activities and performances co-created with local communities, amplifying less heard voices and tackling the topics that matter to the people of Lewisham.

Will We Be Happy Here - 9-15 May 2022
The Albany & various workshop locations

Created and made for learning disabled audiences, We Will Be Happy Here is Spare Tyre's sensory interactive installation and workshop experience that explores the desires, ambitions and the things which connect everyone across their differences. Each performance is personalised for the guests and their access requirements.

Sonic Phở part of Cội Rễ / ROOTS June 2022

Presented by New Earth Theatre and the Museum of the Home, Sonic Phở brings food and stories from the Vietnamese diaspora together in one unique audio experience. Kicking off with a supper club and chef demo, audiences will be able to immerse themselves in a multiverse of story, sound, taste and smell over a steaming bowl of Phở. Sonic Phởwill amplify the voices of Deptford's Vietnamese community the largest in London.

Moving Day August September 2022

Presented by Entelechy Arts, Moving Day is a site-specific theatre performance devised and performed by Glorious Age, a collective of Lewisham residents 65+, in collaboration withcommunity and health professionals. It asks how can we be supported to continue to grow older, in community, as valued and contributing members? In our journey into old age, what do we take with us and what do we leave behind?


The Home: Roadshow 21 March 15 April 2022

Created by Christopher Green, The Home: Roadshow offers up a feel-good experience for care home residents across Lewisham asking: what does it mean to be cared for? Created as a direct result of the pandemic it allows care home residents to connect with those who care for them, as well as the world beyond the walls of their care homes.

Artists of Change Throughout 2022
Artists of Change will place artists at the heart of Lewisham Council during London Borough of Culture 2022. The artists, selected via an open-call, will take up residence in the Council's Climate Emergency and Sanctuary Borough Teams. Working closely with Counterpoints Arts, they will test new ways of connecting residents with Council policies, encouraging thinking from different perspectives to result in a fairer and more inclusive service. New work, co-created with communities will be presented as part of Refugee Week in June 2022, in a high-profile moment to amplify the theme of migration and climate justice.

In Living Memory - Throughout 2022

Presented with Goldsmiths, University of London, In Living Memory will create a compelling new story of Lewisham's past told by the borough's diverse communities in their own words. Oral histories will be brought to life by new bold cultural outputs, which will transform the borough's public spaces throughout 2022 and populate a new digital museum of Lewisham life.

- Pioneers and Protests - The powerful legacy of the 1981 Black People's Day of Action, led by IRIE! Dance Theatre

- Lewisham under water: Remembering Lewisham's 1968 floods - Connecting an event over 50 years ago with the current climate emergency.

- Tomorrow is built today - The untold story of Lewisham's pioneering black-led self-build movement

- Where to, now that the sequins have gone? - Uncovering the history of Lewisham's lost gay venues of the 1970s-90s, and the role of queer spaces. 
- The story of social dancing in Lewisham and why it matters now - Lewisham's social dancing scene brought to life through the story of the iconic Rivoli Ballroom

- A Caribbean couturier in Lewisham - The forgotten textile legacies of Windrush Generation women, told through design collaborations . 
- Birthing Lewisham - A story of post war Lewisham: family making across diaspora, queer and working class communities. 
Creative Futures - Throughout 2022
Across Lewisham

A programme of training opportunities will support young people to enter creative careers and show them what the arts and culture sector has to offer. The programme is designed to address and remove barriers to creative careers for young people who are from ethnic minorities, working class backgrounds or who identify as being disabled.

Lewisham 2022 Creative Change Fund - Throughout 2022
Across Lewisham

Lewisham has pledged to support local creativity and imagination in the borough with a funding scheme that pairs local schools, voluntary and community sector organisations with artists to lead on their own cultural activities as part of London Borough of Culture 2022. Funded by Lewisham Council, Deptford Challenge Trust, Lewisham Homes and Phoenix Community Housing, the initiative will shine a light on the rich cultural diversity of Lewisham, bringing the borough to life with live performance, film screenings, street art, creative writing and greening projects to transform neglected spaces. Winners of Round One will be announced shortly and a second round will open in January 2022.