Bring on the arts - Blog Archive - 2012 Paralympics

Our vision

Abigail, Spitalfields Festival Executive Director12 April 2012

Spitalfields Festival means different things to different people – to some it's three weeks of familiar and new music in June, to others it's a winter alternative to mainstream seasonal offerings and to others it's their first chance to play, compose or hear music. Starting 32 years ago when taxis would not go as far as Brick Lane, the festival has developed from a single event to a year-round music programme throughout Tower Hamlets with two major focal points in our June and December festivals as celebrations of music and the area. It has built its identity on high quality music, a commitment to sustained involvement within the local community and a belief that as an area Spitalfields and its people have a special creative quality. Six months in from joining the festival, it's an incredibly fertile time to be involved. In these times, the need for the arts to offer chances to look through a different lens outside of everyday perspectives, to connect people as individuals and as communities and to celebrate life in all of its complexity remains vital. And there's a spirit of action and collaboration within the five host boroughs through initiatives such as Create08, a celebration of art, culture, festivals and performance in the five Host Boroughs, through the City's arts groups and through businesses that are active in the area.

For the Festival it's a time to maintain our commitment to promoting really high quality artists and music in the area and to connecting with all parts of the community. Through partnership, in a connected way and for the long-term.

Open Weekend is a really great opportunity for us to try something different, hook up with fellow organisations in the area and to celebrate the possibilities of the arts to make a difference. For Open Weekend Spitalfields Festival is doing two things.

Firstly we're working with lots of other producers, venues and artist in the area to celebrate the arts in Spitalfields. Spitalfields Opens Up, as part of Open Weekend and Open Rehearsal, is a cluster of activity by some of the locally based organisations and comes out of our shared commitment to this extraordinary area. Over the course of the weekend Bishopsgate Institute, Arts Admin, Spitalfields Market, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Tower Hamlets Arts and Kinetika, Barbican's AfroReggae project, Kinetica Museum and ourselves are opening up and offering opportunities to people in and around Spitalfields. From a drumming performance to talks by artists about their practice to flashmob singing, our aim is to celebrate Spitalfields and its creative energy with residents and visitors alike.

Secondly, within Spitalfields Opens Up, we're producing part of the programme – a slightly sideways take on the idea of Open Rehearsal and interpretation of the spirit of the Games. From the starting point that there can never be enough singing in the world and that absolutely anyone can sing, came the idea of open rehearsals breaking out spontaneously around the area through the weekend, all converging on Sunday 28th September in an allcomers performance in Spitalfields Market.

Our aim is to push the spirit of Open Rehearsal as far as possible – it's open to anyone, the location will find you, it will come and go in the course of a weekend and you can do as much or as little as you like. For us, as a Festival sustained by high quality music and a year-round commitment to opportunities for the community, this feels like the right way to celebrate the start of the world’s greatest festival.

Who knows what the coming four years will bring. The London 2012 aims are uncompromising in their aspiration and the sheer scale of the thing is breathtaking, but the opportunity for East London and East Londoners is real. I can see one way to clear the fence on this one - bring on the arts.