I just had a really inspiring weekend so I thought I'd better write about it. It was also pretty magical and full of coincidence-serendipity-synchronicity moments and incidents which won't surprise those who know me but even by my standards it was pretty packed with 'em.
I mentioned briefly in another post something about the dreamcoat thing I do. I've been doing it a few years now and whenever, wherever I do it it's always a very special experience. Last weekend I ended up doing it at 3 places within 24 hours. First at my friend Nancy's birthday in a pub in Shepherd's Bush which was great fun. Then I took it to a 'Slumber Party' at a warehouse in Hackney, more of that later. The third place was Brixton Village Market where an organisation called Spacemakers were putting on a small carnival as the weekly Saturday event they do there. The Village market is the indoor market next to the main bit of Brixton market and the Spacemaker people have stepped in to make good, helpful and creative use of the empty shops and spaces there, they describe better what they do....
Our approach is to start with what is already there: the stories of a place and the people who live there; its unused or underused buildings; the skills and experience that exist within every neighbourhood and workplace; the desires of everyone connected to a place or project.Our role is as a catalyst, bringing out the possibilities which were already present in a situation and making connections which might not have been obvious
- between local communities, property owners, local authorities, policy-makers and others.
- between the energy, enthusiasm and deep pragmatism of grassroots projects and the reputation, specialist knowledge and resources of established institutions.
- between the creative explosion of projects making temporary use of empty space and the long-term future of our local economies and communities.
And this seems to be happening there - alongside the local fishmongers, butchers, grocers, cafes from all delicious corners of the globe, hairdressers, dressmakers, you also have things like shops that are art installations, a no-frills cabaret venue, community project stalls, even a little temporary theatre. It's all really creative, lovely stuff but the best bit is the atmosphere - you really get the feeling that these people are supporting each other and enjoying being part of this vibrant place. And it was so nice to go somewhere like this and feel like a visitor rather than a customer, I didn't feel like I was having 'lifestyle products' thrust at me, I felt like these people were here doing things they enjoyed doing, and honestly hoped others liked and that making a living from it was almost an add-on! It was like the low-fi, openminded artiness of Berlin combined with the relaxed but noisy and friendly community-ness of Greece but with a bit of Brixton spice thrown in!
Here's few examples of what I'm on about....
Vivian runs the hairdressers on the corner, 3 doors up is the Community shop where Himi works. I 'did' the Dreamcoat first at the Community shop, a bit later I went to Vivian's shop. Vivian got Himi's dream which was that hugs were the standard greeting so of course we ran straight up the lane and gave Himi hugs!
The Community shop is involved in some great projects which if you haven't heard about you should give yourself a treat and have a look at some of the very positive things that are going on around us at the moment - and maybe even get involved in them! Try Transition Towns and The Brixton Pound.
This is Hassan with a truly enticing table of goodies from the Brixton Cornercopia - one of the best deli's I've ever found. Not only is the food incredible - I had a big chunk of chicken and mole (that's a mexican chilli/chocolate sauce not the little blind hole digger) bean pie - but it's all sourced from the other market stalls, they invite people to make chutneys, pies, suaces, marinades etc to sell in the shop and from this stall here Hassan was collecting recipes and the stories of them from passing folk to add to their blog community.
Serendipity/synchronicity alert!
As I said earlier there was a lot of serendipity buzzing about that weekend, this little tale is the cherry on that spacey cake. So to go back to Friday night and the warehouse in Hackney - I came out of there into the very cold night/morning and went to wait for my bus. There was another girl waiting there, looking a bit fed up, she told me she'd been waiting for the 142 for an hour. I asked if her night had been worth it thinking there might be some redemption there but no, she shook her head and told me not really. She asked the same back to me and I said 'well yes actually' and told her the reason why - which was the dreamcoat. She brightened up a lot at this, and then a bus appeared and she jumped on with a big smile and wave.
The next day, as you now know, I'm at Brixton market, in the sweet shop and I hear someone shout 'DREAM POCKETS!!' at the door. Yes, on the other side of London, the complete stranger I'd told about my coat in a bus stop the very night before magically appeared next to me! So I think we have to be friends! Luckily she's dead nice.
