Friday 11th July: Summer Of Somewhereto

Yesterday I spent the day in South London at a new cultural centre on Peckham high street which has been scouted and taken over by initiative "Somewhereto_" which actively finds empty buildings in central locations to offer as free space.  For the month of July is a new festival called "Summer Of Somewhereto"  with a similar set-up in other cities thru Northern Island,  Scotland, Wales and England.  The hubs allow open access for young people to use as they wish to explore and practise their skills from rehearsal space for performing arts & music to studio space for visual arts or simply using Wifi and holding meetings.  

Since setting up my own studio, I have never got over the novelty of having my own environment to feel independent and secure to work in my own way.  For this reason I fully appreciate the luxury of having a designated destination to be able to have a neutral ground in which to escape your home environment and feel free to explore ideas and express yourself.  This is why I wanted to support this charity and join up as a mentor to offer advice and encouragement to young people coming to make use of this new space.  Yesterday was the launch of the first day which was opened by ambassador PlanB who gave an amazing talk, Q&A session and meet'n'great opportunity for everyone to have a one on one chance to ask a specific question.  Here he is cutting the ribbon of the site along with Kay Davis who is artist in residence for the festival with her own work exhibited and also heading up curating a group show of submissions.  

If you are between 16-25, check out the site to get your talent, business or creativity seen by your generation, the media and talent scouts ....... sell your products, services, designs, film or music direct to crowds from your community and beyond........ boost your skills with free expert master classes...........  visit https://somewhereto.com/summer

(All photos by me except group shot of mentors by Shakira Payne - inc. TJ Morgan,  Aaron Roach Bridgeman, Jo Burford, Faraz Osman, Cassandra Stavrou, Drew Davies,  Nikhil Shah, Syco Entertainment )