Castlehaven Community Centre
'We have a brilliant relationship with Lauderdale House. We share the same aims of promoting the arts and developing self-esteem and confidence in people of all ages and giving them opportunities that signpost them to other places in their lives.' Frances Shank, Assistant Director of Castlehaven Community Centre
It’s our belief that all people should have access to arts activities. For a number of years we have arranged for professional artists to work with people living on the Castlehaven Estate which is located in a particularly deprived part of Camden.
By introducing them to imaginative artists from a wide range of art forms we have enriched their lives, opened their eyes to new opportunities and given them greater confidence in their abilities.
Diverse events we have organised at Castlehaven Community Centre include:
Music workshops: 14 – 17 year olds spent time in Castlehaven’s music studios learning the arts of song writing, performing and music production. One individual who made the most of his studio time is up-and-coming rap artist Olasemo Abiola, aka ‘Frownz’: his music videos have recorded more than 250,000 hits on YouTube and both the Islington Tribune and the Camden New Journal have written pieces about him.
Radio workshops: Residents of Castlehaven worked together to create a radio drama learning performance, production and scriptwriting skills in the process. The project succeeded in uniting people of different generations. Read more about the radio workshops by clicking on the 'case study' at the bottom of this page.
Dance workshops: Participants enjoyed sessions spent choreographing, creating and rehearsing dance routines that were performed at Castlehaven festivals. We also arranged an event, ‘LauderDance House’, which formed part of the national Big Dance Festival. Young people from Castlehaven joined up with children from our drawing and painting class and, instructed by Carlos Cortes and eight international dancers, created a new piece.
Fashion workshops: Young people were asked to design T-shirts and shoes in a manner that reflected their own style. The workshops were great fun and served as an important creative outlet.
We are looking forward to sharing a successful, productive relationship with the Castlehaven Community Centre for years to come, improving the quality of residents’ lives by organising innovative and exciting art projects.
