Lambeth Town Hall was alive with music tonight at the launch of the Brixton Time Machine, an impressive social and cultural heritage project.
The event, at the Assembly Rooms, Acre Lane, featured live music, poetry and video presentations from a range of Brixton artists, fuelled by Caribbean food provided by Refill.
The Brixton Time Machine, curated by the Brixton charity Raw Material, has seen young people collating media about entertainment and how it has changed since Victorian Times.
One of the project’s coordinators, Tim Brown, told the Blog: “We’ved honed it down to music theatre fashion and film as the for cornerstones of Brixton over the last 100 years.
“A lot that bears through the architeture of the High Street – with the history of places like the Ritzy Cinema.”
He added: “We set it up as a project for young volunteers to get involved in.”
The talented researchers set about collating records from Lambeth Archives, based at Minet Library, and the South London Press. They also set about interviewing Brixton residents in Granville Arcade about how they feel the area has changed. Video packages also recorded interviews with entertainers past and present.
Thanks to a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, they have published a book with their findings and will also produce a DVD and CD. Through the project young people aspiring to a career in the media received training in research and media skills.
Volunteer and musician Potent Whisper, who has a studio at Jamm Studios, Brixton Road, said: “It’s very interesting to see how things have changed over 100 years to where we are now as musicians in Brixton. It’s great.
“Being involved in the project has really given me an insight into how things work here – into the history of the place.”
See Potent Whisper’s performance below.
@1Brixton from The Brixton Time Machine on Vimeo.
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