Fatoumata Diawara, Cero39, & more for FREE Walthamstow Garden Party 2018

Walthamstow Garden Party 2018

Saturday 14th to Sunday 15th July 2018
Lloyd Park, Forest Road, Walthamstow, Greater London, E17 4PP , England MAP
FREE

Daily capacity: 34,000

The FREE Walthamstow Garden Party, a weekend of music, theatre, arts and crafts, food and family activities in Walthamstow’s Lloyd Park on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th July 2018. has announced the initial line-up.

The Barbican Music Stage will feature Cero39 blending influences from Latin pop culture, indie, reggaeton, hip hop and dembow; Adrian Sherwood and Creation Rebel (Creation Rebel were originally the backing group for reggae great Prince Far-I), and London African Gospel Choir performing their own twist on Paul Simon's 'Graceland' on the Saturday, while Sunday has Fatoumata Diawara (pictured above), 47soul who was originally form Jordan, and Dona Onete from northern Brazil.

The Glittering Plains dance tent features local DJ talent, with Electronic 17, Soul Picnic, You Should Be Dancing, We Can Be Heroes, and nu-disco pioneers and headliners Faze Action.

The News From Nowhere Stage includes performances, demos and workshops for everyone to get involved in. MovE17, a dance group for people of all ages and abilities from Waltham Forest, will be performing a work inspired by RAIN by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, set to the original score by Steve Reich. Local performing arts school X7eaven Academy will present a showcase of local young people’s dance, and Walthamstow Youth Circus will be performing on trapezes, ropes and hoops.

Create London and William Morris Gallery are teaming up with local makerspace Blackhorse Workshop, who will take over the Useful & Beautiful Maker’s Marquee presenting Body Builders: an experimental workshop for local makers to learn new skills and create some ‘festival fashion’, activated by the wearer’s body movement. For the fourth year, the area is supported by local business The Stow Brothers.

Fellowship Island brings together local food and drink producers, urban growers and people from the local community to explore ways of cultivating a closer connection with nature and community in the city. This area is supported by the National Lottery’s Awards for All.

The Earthly Paradise Tent highlights local talent with performances from local choirs Natural Voices and Choir 17, plus choirs from Frederick Brenner Secondary School, St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School, Barn Croft Primary School, and Greenleaf Primary School who will also be bringing along their samba group.

Barbican Young Poets will perform a selection of poems related to the Barbican’s 2018 season, The Art of Change, which explores how the arts respond to, reflect and potentially effect change in the social and political landscape.

Stephen Vitkovitch of Byrd Out presents Danalogue (Dan Leavers), one half of duo Soccer96 and a third of acclaimed jazz-dance trio, the Comet is Coming; and Philou Louzolo, Pan-African sounds from urbanised cities, the Sahara and Africa’s many jungles.

And, on Saturday 14 July, an evening for young people includes the Urban Flames Choir run by Urban Development, the winner of the borough’s Battle of the Bands competition, plus a performance from Drum Works.

Louise Jeffreys, Artistic Director at the Barbican, said: “We are delighted to be working with Create and Waltham Forest Council to deliver the fifth Walthamstow Garden Party, mixing performances by artists from across the globe with the best local talent in Waltham Forest. Whether you’re looking to see the internationally-renowned musician Fatoumata Diawara live on stage or want to find out more about some of the incredible creatives based in the borough, there’s something for everyone at this year’s Walthamstow Garden Party.”

Cllr Clare Coghill, Leader of Waltham Forest Council, said: “Walthamstow Garden Party is a fantastic celebration of Waltham Forest’s thriving culture and communities. We are excited to see such an excellent line-up for the fifth edition, in particular some of the areas curated by artists living and working in the borough, which demonstrate why the Mayor of London chose Waltham Forest to be the first ever London Borough of Culture. As we launched our bid to become the Borough of Culture at last year’s Garden Party we will be giving a taster of our plans for our year of culture at the event this summer.”

This is a FREE event - but someone's still paying. To help keep it free, please donate through 'Keep It Free' - a fundraising campaign asking people who enjoy the festival to give what they can to help invest in local artists and organisations, attract the best talent from around the globe and to keep the festival free for all.

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