Copeland Cultural Quarter full of life


book fair in Bussey Passage

Royal Court’s Theatre Local is having a very successful second season at the Bussey building. It is wonderful that the building and the Copeland site, saved from demolition by Peckham Vision’s campaign, are now the home to so many creative activities and enterprises – theatre, art, music, dance, studios, workshops, community meetings and more – with further potential. The Copeland Cultural Quarter, now organically materialising, must be nurtured and not destroyed by property development plans. This is a key for the town centre future. Read more…

Introducing the new Montmartre: it’s Delboys manor, Peckham SE15

It’s not as odd as it sounds – the deprived south London area is rebranding itself as the capital’s contemporary art hub, much like the Parisian district during the 19th and 20th centuries  By Simon Tait   27 March 2011

Scarred by tragedies like the murder of Damilola Taylor, and laughed at as the home of the Trotter family of TV’s Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em, Peckham, Southwark, is defying its image to become London’s new Montmartre.

Artists are the fulcrum of a ten-to-15-year plan to be launched in May for Peckham’s rebirth as the capital’s cultural heartbeat, perhaps an embodiment of the Big Society in which residents, businesses and the local authority have come together. “Peckham is the place” says gallerist Hannah Barry. “It’s where people are coming to find the best in international contemporary art”.  read more Continue reading “Introducing the new Montmartre: it’s Delboys manor, Peckham SE15”

Real life in Peckham town centre

On 26th November the Peckham Multiplex showed a one hour film called ‘Consume Peckham’, which consisted of 18 short films, each focusing on a different business based in Peckham town centre. The work of film students from Chelsea, the film wove together a tapestry showing the many sides to Peckham’s Rye Lane, and beyond. Its aim was to show the link between cultures and commercialism. There was a great turnout – the cinema was full – and a terrific buzz, to see the collection of short student films about some of the businesses in the town centre.

It was a very good show from first year students. And it was recognisably the place we know! It showed the people of Peckham in a true light, and that the town centre does have a lot of life in it in its various forms, though with lots of space for improvement. For those there, many really interested in the revitalization of the town centre using all our assets – people, buildings and commerce – it will have stimulated further thoughts on how to do this and about the nature of thecommercial dynamic, and its potential. Click here for more reports. http://www.laurieeggleston.org/2009/11/consume-peckham-culture-commercialism.html   and here  http://helengraves.co.uk/2009/11/ozzies-cafe-peckham/

There have been a number of requests for another showing and the producers are looking into that. So if you couldn’t make it there may be another chance. Email info@peckhamvision.org if you want to join the mailing list.

Emerging Artists Find a New ‘Blank Canvas’ in London

Special Report: Contemporary Art New York Times  By Alice Pfeiffer: October 14, 2009
Peckham, a run-down district of London, south of the Thames, is said to have the capital’s highest concentration of knife crime, hairdressers and gospel churches.
Now, add up-and-coming artists: in easy reach of some of the capital’s leading art schools, the area’s low prices and vast, empty industrial spaces are attracting experimental avant-garde collectives, studios and galleries — a countercultural challenge to the established North-of-the-river world of the Frieze art fair and the gentrified East End.
“Peckham is the land of the free. It’s like a blank canvas,” said Hannah Barry, an enterprising 26-year-old who founded her eponymous gallery last year in a warehouse of a former cricket bat factory.  At the end of an industrial road populated by factories and faith groups, Ms. Barry and her co-director Sven Mündner, 31 — both graduates of Cambridge — put on 15 to 20 shows a year, showcasing young emerging artists. Ms. Barry and Mr. Mündner have also put on an annual sculpture show since 2006, on the roof of an abandoned parking garage nearby. “We felt there was room for an ambitious sculpture park in London,” Ms. Barry said. In June, she and Mr. Mündner took Peckham to a global audience, with a show, the “Peckham Pavilion,” on the fringes of the Venice Biennale.  read more …

South City Radio Bussey building broadcast

The first ever South City Radio broadcast from the Bussey Building was recorded in July 2008, with a panel and a participating public audience in a lively debate on Peckham’s contribution to London’s cultural life, and the natural organic growth of the cultural life in that part of the town centre in and around the Bussey building. Read more…

As Southwark Council begin (October 2008) consultation on the Peckham Area Action Plan, highlights of the broadcast are now available to listen here in the South City Radio programme ‘Primer Public Forum: The Future for Peckham’