One of the many things that make Brixton unique is its sense of community. It’s typified by two relatively new local businesses working with Empowered From Within, a development programme for young people, to offer valuable opportunities. Alan Slingsby reports
It’s Thursday night upstairs at the Bricks/Ton of Brix venue on Coldharbour Lane and young people are playing chess, listening to and performing music and just hanging out.
They are from Empowered From Within (EFW) an artist development and mentoring programme for young creatives and artists.
As well as chess, they have a lot of other games to choose from thanks to Otter Chaos board game café on Atlantic Road who are supporting EFW by loaning games from their range of thousands for the event, making it a night out with a difference.
Brixton Immortals domino club are also supporters, introducing the young people to the game or refreshing their knowledge of Brixton’s traditional table sport.
Run by Michelle Killington, a social activist from Angell Town, EFW provides safe spaces where young people can have an outlet for their creativity and discover how they might use it to make a living.
This includes one-to-one mentoring and guidance, career help and advice, work and performance opportunities and experience and workshops from a range of experts.
And Bricks has stepped forward to offer its space for this community project along with games from Otter Chaos.
“Because of all the serious youth violence that’s taking place in Brixton, I want young people to know that there’s mentors out there who believe in them and who want to support their needs,” says Michelle.
“I’ve realised that a lot of young people are socially excluded now. They spend a lot of time in their bedrooms, and they need an excuse to come out.
“There’s also the cost of living, which is an issue.
“Making most of the events affordable by being free, there’s no barrier to them turning up. And by including games as a way to engage with them, it means that they don’t have to get involved in activities they may not be comfortable with.
“They can just turn up and socialise, and they can come up with an idea over a game of chess.
“I think there’s something beautiful about playing games because it brings you back to an innocent time. It takes your mind away from Instagram – social media – by just using your mind to outwit somebody. And in that space you can also feel relaxed to talk about a project.”
Before launching EFW, Michelle ran – among several other community initiatives – an Artist Development Programme for two years. “It was all about getting young people work because that’s what they wanted, money”.
But she realised this could mean they could miss out on their childhood.
“I want to help them keep that inner child [alive] by playing games and by not always worrying about them getting work.
“They are already gifted as young people in terms of their talent. But what I want to harness is looking after their mental health by being a child and just enjoying a space where they can be free to explore the inner child.”
For those young people who, for whatever reason, cannot or do not want to venture out of their homes, they can still stay in touch with the scheme online, says Michelle.
Practical hep for young people is not the only feature of Empowered From Within.
“I feel that Brixton has still got a bit of culture about it, but it’s slowly going in terms of gentrification,” says Michelle.
“By having this space, I’m keeping the culture alive, keeping the community connected, keeping young people safe, but together.
“And the young people come from all different areas of London, not just from Brixton. They come from Lewisham, Deptford … all over.”
She says the idea is that every three months there is a public event at Ton of Brix where the paying customers downstairs can come to the workshop, mingle with the young people, and play games as well.
The next is scheduled for 23 January.
“In all the projects I do with young people my ambition is for young people to get better than they’ve had in the past, so we can stop endless killings because young people don’t feel that have opportunities. I want to give them opportunities,” says Michelle.
Kyla Ocean is not only host for the event. She also photographs it …
Giving something back – it feels right
Tom Broadbent has been running Ton Of Brix – now renaming as Bricks – since May and is no stranger to Brixton.
Born and raised in Peckham, he spent a lot of time in Brixton in his youth and has been working in hospitality since 18, when he became assistant manager of a pub in Peckham.
He was also the manager of the Gold Coast venue in the Acre Lane building which now houses the Blues Kitchen.
At the same time, he started running his own events and a DJ agency.
In 2017, he opened Tola, a late-night bar and music venue in Peckham.
“I’m focusing my work on Brixton because Tola is up and running and ticking over quite nicely,” he says.
The recent closures of the Dogstar on Atlantic Road after about 30 years and Barrio Brixton on Acre Lane after 10 years, as well as the Rum Kitchen on Coldharbour Lane earlier this year after eight years, are testament to the precarious nature of the business Tom is in.
He says perseverance “and a love for what you do” are needed. “There’s nothing else I’d rather do,” he adds.
“I think it’s going to require a lot of hard work, and it’s going to take a while, but I like to think we could realign the venue with the local community, which is one of the reasons we’re working with Michelle and other community outreach projects,” Tom says.
The other projects include We Are Many, a live band jam session featuring the long-standing Youthsayers band every Wednesday, starting tomorrow (6 November).
“it’s basically a platform for the younger musicians to become experienced in hosting events and jam sessions and working with music venues,” says Tom.
“We’re also starting a Thursday night event called Process, which is aimed at helping young people learn how to produce electronic music, working with MPCs (music production centres) and synths and software programs.
“As a music venue, we rely on the local community to survive.
“So it makes sense, and it only it feels right to me, to give something back to that community and to provide the space as a platform for people to come and develop their skills and to grow as individuals.
“I think it’s important for venues to provide that platform to young people to be able to develop their skills.”
Tom wants the venue’s doors to be open to be a platform to young people.
Once the three projects currently he is currently working with – Empowered From Within, Process, and Youthsayers’ We Are Many – are established, “we can open up to others,” he says. “It’s a big thing for us.”
Empowered from Within is funded by Brixton North Big Local.
