What's On - Love Camden
What's On
Camden events, exhibitions, arts and culture.
THIS IS…A Variety Spectacular
The time has come for another free community celebration! Following on from the success of our first outdoor live art event on Ashdown Crescent, Camden, we have been invited back to host another FREE-to-attend, family friend variety spectacular.
There will be Magicians, Hula Hooping, Music, Beatboxing, Bubble Making & much more!
Expect Live performances from Vincent Gambini, Amazi, Ian Marchant, & Conrad Murray. No need to book, just turn upon the day! This is a BSL Interpreted Event.
THIS IS…Kilburn
A celebration of Irish heritage in Kilburn with live music, kids’ storytelling, bodhrán workshops, food and drink and more!
The London Irish Centre presents ‘This Is Kilburn’, a community festival taking place on 20th Aug 2022 in Kilburn Grange Park NW6 2JL from 11am – 5pm in partnership with Camden Council. The festival aims to honour Irish migration to the area in the mid-20th century. Kilburn was such a popular destination at that time that it was once known as “Ireland’s 33rd county”. Expect music, storytelling, bodhrán (traditional Irish drum) workshops, food and drink and fun for all the family. Grab your blanket and join us on the 20th August.
Hillview Festival 2022
Set in and around the leafy Victorian Hillview Estate, this free, family friendly street party brings a rich and dynamic programme of live music, dance, puppetry, poetry, circus skills, a community marketplace, drop-in arts and craft sessions along with other exciting performances and activities to the cobbled streets of King’s Cross.
Our culturally lush festival is packed with an array of amazing local talent including Camden based Cubafrobeat band Lokkhi Terra meets Dele Sosimi; London Bengali musical fusion from Khiyo; a Kerbside Ceilidh with Folk Dance Remixed; fiery Flamenco with La Escuela de Baile; Ska from The Stamford Hill Billy Street Band and so much more!!
The marketplace will include an eclectic mix of stalls offering all sorts of tantalising treats, including taster massage sessions, a variety of food and home-made cakes, arts and crafts, fun and games.
You’ll also be able to relax with a drink at our festive cabaret bar or enjoy tea and cakes in our courtyard café.
We just can’t wait to welcome you for a fabulous day out!
Check our website for programme details and information on how to book a stall.
www.hillviewfestival.co.uk
Day of the Dead: A celebration of life
Dia de Muertos is one of the most important religious holidays in Mexico. This festival is a unique opportunity to come and experience this Mexican tradition in central London.
The packed programme provides a veritable feast for the senses with Mexican arts and crafts, food, live Mariachi music and dance. There’ll also be ofrendas (offerings for the dead), films, poetry, presentations, literature, face painting and family workshops.
The piazza will host an installation of Corn, poetry, book exchange and sale, face painting and other surprises. And if you’ve never experienced an authentic Mexican Market, on Ossulston Street you’ll find over 40 traders bringing the Best of Mexico in the UK.
Bloomsbury Festival
For ten days, Bloomsbury’s streets, parks, galleries, museums and academic institutions will host around 100 arts, science, and culture events.
Since 2006, Bloomsbury Festival has brought an incredible mix of arts, culture and science events to this vibrant quarter every October.
This year’s festival theme is Breathe. Events will focus on our sense of wellbeing, environment and air quality, while also covering self-expression and freedom of speech.
The packed programme includes performance, music, outdoor installations, theatre, exhibitions, tours and talks, and a Discovery Hub for schools and families.
If you’d like to take part in the 2022 festival, email: director@bloomsburyfestival.org.uk
Image from Bloomsbury Festival Facebook
THIS IS…Camden's Young Creatives
Bank holiday weekend will see This is… Camden’s Young Creatives host a one-day event showcasing the best of local young talent on Inverness Street.
Camden resident and artist, Awate, will be curating the exciting day. Awate is a rapper from Eritrea weaving together psychedelic melodies and sharp, witty lyrics. Raised in Camden, London; AWATE is a former Roundhouse Resident Artist, and has gained the respect of artists such as Yasiin Bey (Mos Def), Idris Elba and Pharoahe Monch as one of the UK's finest writers.
Breaking The News
News has the power to make and break elections. Turn everyday people into overnight superstars. And bring them crashing back down to earth.
We base our opinions, decisions and arguments on it. It shapes the world around us – and the way we make sense of it.
But can it ever be truly objective? And is the news you consume the same as everyone else’s?
From the Great Fire of London to #BlackLivesMatter
Explore five centuries of UK news through broadsheets, blogs and objects from our own collection and re-examine era-defining stories close-up.
From reporting on Jack the Ripper to the Profumo Affair. Covert newspapers operating under Nazi suppression. Or political power struggles faced by Margaret Thatcher. And coverage of the Grenfell Tower fire to the war in Syria. Plus chart the rise of social media with fallouts from the celebrity clashes of #WagathaChristie to public outrage in light of the boy on the hospital floor.
Summer At Hawley Wharf
Join us this summer at Camden Market Hawley Wharf, where our canal-side quay will be filled with deckchairs and live music, with a vintage record fair, incredible global food vendors to visit in Waterside Halls, as well as free balloon artists and bubbleologists, entertainers, face painting and glitter artists to keep little ones happy.
Summer at Hawley Wharf runs every weekend until the end of August.
SEE THE FUTURE - 23-24 JULY
Come with us on a journey to another dimension with our futuristic weekend of events. See our cyber-stilt walkers, mirror ball people, and make your own space ship! Tickets now on sale for our giant roaming robot, science crazy show with Sharky & George, and other-worldly VR experience.
FUN OF THE FAIR - 30-31 JULY
It's all the fun of the fair at Camden Market Hawley Wharf this weekend. From an old-school organ grinder, to circus performers and crafting, you're sure to leave with a new skill or two. Look out for tickets to our circus workshop and mesmerising giant bird puppet show
THIS IS…Culture
Camden Black Creatives is pleased to announce that we will again be taking part in the Camden Together Season 2022. This year it will be a 1 day event and will celebrate the cultural diversity of Camden and will be held in the heart of Camden Town Inverness Street, on Saturday 1st of October.
The festival will celebrate culture through: Outdoor live Fashion show Live Music Art Food & Drinks Dance Poetry.
Summer Sounds Festival
The electrifying free music festival returns to Coal Drops Yard 10-21 August. This year, the programme features classical, folk, jazz and experimental musicians, alongside an exceptional array of dancers and performers. Expect familiar favourites as well as exciting new acts for you to enjoy. King’s Cross Summer Sounds is produced and directed by Martin Collins and presented in collaboration with Anthony Whitworth-Jones, English Folk Dance and Song Society, Kings Place, Lafayette and Tête à Tête.
Staged in the beautiful outdoor spaces of Coal Drops Yard, join us for a mesmerising 12-day programme of music and performances, including the likes of Paco Peña and Friends, Tacla and the London Community Gospel Choir.
With live concerts every evening from 6.30pm to 8.30pm and from 1pm to 6pm on ‘Family Sundays’, King’s Cross Summer Sounds is London’s most inclusive free music festival. Check out the full programme here.
Lily van der Stokker: Thank You Darling
Camden Art Centre presents the first institutional solo exhibition in London by Lily van der Stokker, one of the Netherlands’ most celebrated contemporary artists.
The exhibition will bring together a group of works made by van der Stokker between 1989 and 2021, which address ideas of society, home, friendship, work, finances, illness and care; as well as speaking to this extraordinary contemporary moment. While some works have previously been realised in other contexts and spaces, others are presented across Camden Art Centre’s galleries for the first time. The exhibition will also include a number of original drawings on paper and works on canvas produced over the last 30 years.
Van der Stokker draws her images with an exacting care and precision, configuring them against one another for the specifics of each space, before scaling them up and executing them directly onto the gallery walls. Her monumental wall paintings – with their distinctive colour palate and highly decorative motifs, including flowers, clouds, patterns and curlicues – play on apparently clichéd stereotypes of femininity, but her work has a depth and toughness that belies its saccharine aesthetic. For more than 30 years she has immersed herself in the supposedly mundane material of everyday life, taking seriously the intricacies of the small, the personal and the overlooked, while at the same time forging a radical feminist practice in a language she has made entirely her own. Behind its apparent softness and sincerity – once described as ‘so sweet it can kill’ – her work remains both provocative and radical.
Fitzrovia Fete
Following the success of last year’s launch event, the fabulous Fitzrovia Fete returns for a second year.
Fitzrovia Fete is the brainchild of Emily Baker and Jack Fawdry who run Pollock’s Toy Museum, the oldest toy museum in the country.
Once again, the streets will be closed to motor traffic, becoming a playground to delight adults and children alike. Expect street games, Punch and Judy, a magic show, free craft workshops, toy theatre and live music. There’ll also be local food stalls selling all sorts of stuff including homemade cakes and cups of tea.
Image: pollockstoymuseum.co.uk
THIS IS...York Rise
The biggest annual block party in town, with music, food and drink, stalls, theatre and art. Welcome to York Rise Street Party!
Every year, York Rise and Dartmouth Park Road come to vibrant life with stalls, music, theatre and more. It’s the biggest annual neighbourhood get together in NW5, and everyone’s invited.
Camden Fringe 2022
The 16th Camden Fringe is hitting north London in August 2022 and over 200 events have already been announced.
Previous fringe events have encompassed new writing, opera, musicals, stand-up, sketch comedy, dance, cabaret, poetry, opera, mentalism, improvisation and Q&As. Shows take place throughout the day and generally last one hour.
The Camden Fringe is a performing arts festival, established in 2006, which takes place in Camden during August. Anyone and everyone is welcome to apply.
The Camden Fringe was set-up as an alternative to Edinburgh Festival, offering performers the chance to try out new material and different ideas in a supportive setting with less time and financial commitments than EdFringe did at the time. The Camden Fringe aims to give anyone the chance to perform and showcase their talents, from very experienced performers and companies, to ambitious newcomers. Since 2006 the Camden Fringe has gained a reputation for supporting acts, providing helpful information and guidance for the acts involved.
Everyman Presents: Screen on the Canal
On the bill this year are blockbuster bangers, family favourites and cult classics. A movie on the banks of the canal on a summer’s evening. What more could you ask for!
Screenings include Dune, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Free Guy, West Side Story, Belfast, King Richard, Matilda, and Encanto Sing-a-Long for the performers amongst us.
The Lollipop Lounge is also back! Enjoy your film on the grassy steps of Granary Square amidst the super-sized lollipops installation. Adding a little bit of colour to your day.
You can also see all the tennis action from Wimbledon, catch up on the Tour de France and enjoy live music performances.
Films run throughout the day and every evening. The movies will be screened from the canalside steps on Granary Square. The comfortable staggered seating ensures everyone gets a full view of the screen. This is an un-ticketed event. Please arrive early to avoid disappointment.
THIS IS...… Summer at Scene & Heard
Following a week of Creative Arts Activities for local children age 7 – 11, we will have a sharing of work in our courtyard for Camden families and friends. Free to all.
Lauderdale House Open Air Summer Season
Join Lauderdale House for their annual outdoor Tea Lawn performances! Bring a picnic and enjoy a variety of music and family-friendly fun.
Including: Hegley & Cannelloni Family Show
Ian Shaw
Jay Phelps Quartet
The Tootsie Rollers
Musical Theatre Singalong with Tim McArthur
Rooted Beings
‘Rooted Beings’ invites you to embark on a meditative reflection on the world of plants and fungi.
The exhibition considers what we might learn from plant behaviour, and the impacts of colonial expeditions on the exploitation of natural resources and indigenous knowledge.
You’ll see botanical archives from Wellcome Collection and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew displayed alongside works by artists Gözde İlkin, Ingela Ihrman and Joseca, with new commissions by Patricia Domínguez, Eduardo Navarro, RESOLVE Collective and Sop.
The Regent's Park Music Festival
The Regent’s Park Music Festival will bring alive the Bandstand with music every Saturday & Sunday afternoon starting June 18th (including Bank Holiday Monday on 29th August) to 25th September.
Programmes will be varied and include local Concert Bands, Jazz Big Bands, small groups, and Choirs. You can be there with family or friends, enjoying the music and the beautiful park surroundings.
More details on the performers can be found on www.regentsparkmusicfestival.org.uk