Art Assembly

Art Assembly is a one-day festival featuring a dynamic programme of workshops, talks, displays and performances from leading arts organisations across the UK.

The first Art Assembly was delivered by Art Fund in partnership with Waltham Forest, London Borough of Culture 2019, to explore how art can make a difference to communities. See below for details.

Art Assembly 2019 - Walthamstow

The first Art Assembly took place in Walthamstow on 23 November 2019, with a line-up that featured a dynamic programme of workshops, talks, displays and performances, all within walking distance of William Morris Gallery.

On the day, some of the UK's leading arts organisations showcased their pioneering projects – from transformative theatre performances to art activism addressing a range of issues from mental health to climate change.

Featured partners in 2019

Grizedale Arts

Grizedale Arts' outdoor classroom hosted a series of workshops with people from partner villages across the globe, giving people the chance to learn about self-build, fermentation and bakery, and see how craft skills can benefit wider culture and society.

Based at the historic site of Lawson Park farm in the Lake District, arts organisation Grizedale Arts focus on craft skills, collaborative production and the expertise of makers. Their projects pursue the idea of ‘a valuable function for art’ through commissioning, curating, making and education.

Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA)

The team from MIMA showcased the innovative ways that they engage with their communities to reflect the voices, stories and experiences of the extraordinary people they serve.

MIMA play a key role in the cultural life of the Tees Valley and wider North East. Their work with local communities encompasses urgent themes: climate change, migration, inequality, ageing and wellbeing. Through exhibitions, collection displays, learning activities, projects and community-focused initiatives, MIMA promote creativity as part of everyday life.

Arts Catalyst

Arts Catalyst invited artist duo a place of their own (Sam Vardy and Paula McCloskey) to consider approaches to climate change and the environment, against the backdrop of Walthamstow Wetlands.

Over 25 years non-profit organisation Arts Catalyst have worked with more than 170 artists on projects that focus on how environmental issues affect local communities – staging exhibitions, events, performances and publications that bring together arts, science and technology.

Synergy Theatre Project

Synergy Theatre Project’s latest play To My Younger Self examined the issue of knife crime and featured a cast and crew of professional actors and artists with lived experience of the criminal justice system. Written by Natalie Mitchell (Ackley Bridge, Eastenders), the play came to Art Assembly as part of its tour of schools and colleges across London in November 2019.

Synergy Theatre Project uses theatre and related activities to help prisoners, ex-prisoners and young people at risk of offending work towards rehabilitation and resettlement, while bringing public attention to wider issues surrounding criminal justice. Their work is founded on the belief that theatre can be transformative, and challenges perceptions of both prisoners and society.

Heart of Glass

Artist and mental health activist the vacuum cleaner and arts organisation Heart of Glass brought elements of their Madlove Take Over Festival to Walthamstow. In a pop-up space at Bangs Hair Salon on the High Street, artists shared their work while visitors enjoyed a moment to relax, with free haircuts, styling, manicures and cups of tea.

Heart of Glass are a social arts organisation based in St Helens. They run an annual festival, Take Over, which reimagines public spaces through art projects. This year they are collaborating with the vacuum cleaner, who is bringing his utopian mental health design project, Madlove, to St Helens.

Talk Art

Actor Russell Tovey and gallerist Robert Diament hosted a special live edition of their popular podcast, Talk Art, with special guest, Turner Prize 2019 nominated artist Helen Cammock.

Talk Art is a podcast dedicated to the world of art, featuring exclusive interviews with leading artists, curators, gallerists, and well-known art lovers.

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Main image credit: Naomi Edmondson, Survival Techniques / Talk Art image credit: Tom Lardner for Plus Agency, London