Jubilee fun at Summer Festival

We were delighted to receive a grant from the Arts Council’s Let’s Create Jubilee Fund this summer (administered by the London Community Foundation). It enabled us to put together an exciting set of events to enhance our Summer Festival & Open Studios. 

In the spirit of the Jubilee Fund and our own Festival, we devised a series of creative bunting-making workshops celebrating everyone’s individual interpretation of place. 

Our local communities, schools and visitors took part in this project and their one-of-a-kind bunting flags became amazing decorations wound around our buildings at our Summer Festival. 

In addition to the flags made over our Open Studios weekends in Bloomsbury and Deptford, we received contributions from Action Space, Arts 4 Dementia, Kids Club for the Tybalds Estate and Bourne Estates, Tidemill Academy, Knots Arts, the HCA Make and Mend group and many more. 

In total we received 164 beautifully crafted flags and many more went home with our visitors as treasured memories. 

Always eager to get involved, 13 of Cockpit’s makers added their creative inspiration to the workshops, generously giving their time and supplying extra materials for the eager hands. In Bloomsbury, we were joined by milliner Judy Bentinck, textile designer Majeda Clarke, weaver Eva Dennis, knitwear designer Zoe Miller, jeweller Ellen Monaghan and metal sculptor Jacky Oliver.

In Deptford, we had the talents of textile designers Alice Burnhope, Page Denham and Ashley Knight, artist-printmaker Kethi Copeland, woodturner Jason Lock, denim fashion designer Wuzzy Omiyale and marbling expert Lucy McGrath. Our thanks to all for their wonderful contributions. 

The Let’s Create Jubilee Fund also gave us the opportunity to engage two musicians to add to the atmosphere around our building on both Sundays. We invited Stelios Kyriakidis to play his original compositions on classical guitar, bringing a relaxed and warm atmosphere during the weekend at Bloomsbury. 

Teenasai Balamu, a talented singer-song writer, performed for us during the weekend at Deptford, and told us: “It was an honour to play music for both artists and visitors while also having the pleasure of soaking in the art around me. It was warm, cheery, Sunday afternoon, perfect to explore the diverse array of artists residing at the studios and check out their creations. Overall, it was an inspiring environment to be in, and invoked feelings of reassurance for an artist like myself to stick to what makes us all so fulfilled and happy!”  

To assist our colleague and project leader, Maxine Clark, Cockpit recruited an MA Student on the Arts Admin and Cultural Policy degree at Goldsmiths’ College. Maxine was joined by Chih-Lin Cheng who helped bring the project to life and managed the bunting studios over both Cockpit Summer Festival weekends.   

“It was a great pleasure and honour to be involved in the whole process of planning and preparation for the Cockpit Jubilee bunting project. When I saw how happy everyone was and the variety of crafts I was exposed to, it made all the hard work and worries worthwhile. Thanks to the Cockpit Jubilee project manager Maxine, she was always reliable and amazing during the whole project, and every staff in Cockpit for all their advice and help, and everyone involved in the Jubilee bunting workshop. I had a wonderful and unforgettable time.” 

We were very excited to be working with photographer Ope Odueyungbo at both Bloomsbury and Deptford. He captured the Cockpit Jubilee and the Cockpit Summer Festival in a fresh and contemporary way and his images have been used in this article. 

“Super grateful to have been in attendance this year. I absolutely loved capturing the festival over the two weekends as it gave me a chance to meet so many new people as well as experience the vast variety of creative talent Cockpit Studios have on show.”