Addictive TV were asked to create an installation based on Orchestra of Samples for the opening event, a three day spectacular in early January 2019 which saw over 70,000 people attend! Each evening our work was projected on the Waltham Forest Town Hall every 20 minutes and featured a large number of local musicians from across the borough who we’d filmed and sampled playing all manner of instruments. The WF19 events team originally put out this open call which brought in a whole host of incredible local talent, plus we also worked with Soundthread, the London East Jazz Network and the Muslim Cultural Forum to find even more artists in the Borough.
Inspired by the thirty year old concept of the European Capital of Culture and the more recent UK City of Culture programmes, London Mayor Sadiq Khan in early 2017 announced the brand new initiative of London Borough of Culture. And with London being the size it is, what a great idea – bear in mind some London boroughs are larger than some cities! 22 out of London’s 32 boroughs entered their bids and in February 2018 it was announced that Waltham Forest was the winner to become London’s first ever Borough of Culture. And this just happens to be where we are based! From January to December 2019, London’s inaugural Borough of Culture takes place, with events happening all year across the entire area.
Here’s a re-formatted version of the piece we created for the opening.