The Hackney Museum is a local history museum whose program of free exhibitions and events explores the nature of immigration through objects, interactive displays, computer programs and oral-history recordings. Staff at the museum designed and delivered a range of bespoke age appropriate workshops for the children of William Patten Primary School that brought different aspects of Hackney’s cultural heritage to life.
Abney Park is a woodland memorial park and Local Nature Reserve in the heart of Stoke Newington, managed by the Abney Park Trust. Staff at the trust organised a series of guided walks for each of William Patten’s 12 classes, focusing on different aspects of the park’s cultural, social and botanical heritage.
Sam Roberts/ Ghostsign Tours, N16
Sam Roberts is an expert on ‘ghostsigns’, and through his organization Ghostsign Tours, conducts detailed research into many local signs. Sam gave a presentation on ‘ghostsigns' to the children at school, and his in-depth knowledge and insights formed the content for the Ghostsign Trail commissioned and produced by us.
Bread are an award-winning design collective in East London working across a variety of disciplines including art direction, graphic design and illustrative typography. Known for their large scale work in outdoor contexts, Bread designed and produced the final painted mural for The Stoke Newington Heritage Mural Project.
Victoria Burns
Victoria Burns is a professional arts producer. She is executive producer of The Longplayer Trust and creative producer at Invisible Dust. Victoria was co-producer of The Stoke Newington Heritage Mural Project.
Sophy Rickett
Sophy Rickett is a visual artist and lecturer in photography at University of the Arts London. She is co-director of White Wall Yellow Door with Ashley Amery. Sophy was also co-producer of The Stoke Newington Heritage Mural Project.
The Hackney Archives are the official repository for the historic records of the London Borough of Hackney, tasked with collecting, preserving and providing access to records that contribute to Hackney's socio-economic and cultural identity. As well as hosting some of the workshops, Hackney Archives also provided some fascinating material for the older children’s workshops.
William Patten Primary School is one of several non-denominational primary schools in Stoke Newington, and it is on a wall overlooking their playground where the finished mural is installed. Each one of the 465 children in the school was offered a history workshop, a trip to Abney Park and a ghostsign tour, as well a poetry session with one of the three professional poets involved in the project.
John Hegley, Aoife Mannix, Francesca Beard
Francesca Beard, John Hegley, Aoife Mannix are poets based in London.
Francesca Beard is a prolific performance poet, runs regular workshops & masterclasses in schools and organisations in Britain & abroad. She has been writer-in-residence for the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace & the Metropolitan Police, & runs workshops for many institutions, including the British Library, the National Theatre and the Natural History Museum
John Hegley is a well know poet, author, songwriter, comedian & educationalist. John was born in Newington Green and has a particular fondness for and knowledge of Stoke Newington.
Aoife Mannix is author of four collections of poetry. She been writer in residence for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Poetry School, Spread the Word, All Change & Apples and Snakes and has toured internationally with the British Council.
Each poet worked with four separate classes at William Patten Primary School helping the children to articulate their own creative responses to the engagement activities we provided as part of the project. Taking inspiration from the material generated in class by the children, they worked together to produce the poem that forms the basis for the painted mural.
White Wall Yellow Door devise, design and produce activity guides, maps and other interpretative material for people visiting galleries, exhibitions and museums with children. White Wall Yellow Door created two public engagement activities for The Stoke Newington Heritage Mural Project; the ghostsign trail and the kid's postcard.