Inspired by culture: a council event with a difference

From left: Shahlaa Tahira interviews Cllr Andre Bourne and Mayor Damien Egan.

Setting the stage

Bringing together different perspectives and varied voices is rarely easy, particularly when involving passionate views from stakeholders at the forefront of their fields. Working with Lewisham Council on their bid to become Borough of Culture 2021, we faced the challenge of creating an event that would allow musicians, writers, artists and politicians from different generations to share a platform and celebrate sealing the bid with an invited audience of cultural organisations, cabinet members, creatives and young people from across Lewisham.

Responding to an idea first put to Lewisham Council by Mercury Prize Nominated Grime MC, Novelist, we set about designing an event that would welcome creative talent from across the borough, but also, allow the council to underline its commitment to culture by doing things a little differently. 

Finding the right venue was an important first step to ensuring we hit the right tone and the newly opened Catford Mews independent cinema and event space lent itself perfectly to the inclusive yet exciting atmosphere we were hoping to achieve.

Learning from ‘Lates’

Having spent a lot of time at art events over the years, I have seen how museum ‘lates’ can be really successful formats for attracting diverse audiences and staging a wide-ranging programme over a single evening. With this in mind, my initial vision for Lewisham’s Borough of Culture event was to break down the traditional set up of placing a single stage in front of a seated audience. Instead, we demarcated ‘zones’ of activity throughout the entire ground floor, with the audience invited to explore the space and conversations at their leisure.

Musician Kate Tempest speaking in Lewisham’s Borough of Culture bid film.

Lewisham Borough of Culture interactive map

Keep it moving

Our thinking was to keep people active and engaged throughout the evening, and as part of this, we introduced an interactive space and branded photo backdrop. Linking back to a Borough of Culture ‘cultural gems’ campaign we’d been running on social media, we commissioned a large map of Lewisham and provided prompts for people to pin and share their cultural memories and what culture means to them, with campaign hashtags. 

From left: Raj Forever and Novelist taking questions from the audience.

From left: Candice Carty-Williams in conversation with Rebecca Weef Smith.

Sharing stories

The evening was organised around three sets of conversations: Novelist and Raj Forever, Mayor Damien Egan and Cllr Andre Bourne (Cabinet Member for Culture, Jobs and Skills); and Queenie author, Candice Carty-Williams and Rebecca Weef Smith, editor of Goldie Magazine. While the first two happened sequentially, but in different locations, at the end of the programme, the audience was given a choice of activities - to watch the final conversation, catch the Borough of Culture film showing on Screen Two or simply socialise and network. 

From left: Novelist with Mayor Damien Egan

An evening with Novelist

To kick-off, Novelist hosted a conversation with his mentor Raj Forever, a Lewisham based music producer and chef. The open conversation format meant the audience members felt comfortable asking questions and a really insightful exchange occurred between the speakers and a group of young people from The Albany’s Young Leaders programme. With Novelist being an instigating force behind the event, we felt that starting the evening with his contribution - in place of the expected formalities - sent a strong message. The thread that held this itinerant programme together was undoubtedly the brilliant MC skills of BBC radio presenter Shahlaa Tahira. Our brief to Shahlaa, in addition to weaving in the key messages of the campaign, was to ensure everyone in the room felt welcomed and followed her lead as we transitioned through the programme. She hit the tone spot on. 

Guests respond to conversation between Novelist and Raj Forever.

A creative challenge

By working in this way we challenged our clients to think a little differently about what a Council event could be. At the same time, by bringing different groups together in a single, carefully curated event, we were able to encourage younger generations to speak up in front of political decision-makers and got some really positive feedback from all involved! 

Discover more about the campaign for Lewisham’s bid to be Borough of Culture 2021

Hansi Momodu-Gordon, Content Strategist, Filigree.