Alice Billings Connects

Hive Curates developed a year-long programme aimed at making the arts more accessible through events that promote heritage, cultural traditions and well-being. Alice Billings is a grade II listed building in Stratford, which had been vacant for over 10 years. Hive Curates worked with Creative Land Trust to bring the building back into use and integrated into the social fabric of the area before the official opening of the new Alice Billings House.

Alice Billings Connects successfully launched with the first event series Balance Art and Wellbeing in May 2023, as a part of Mental Health Awareness Month. The launch accompanied the installation ‘It’s Nice to Be Nice: Healing Garden’ by artist Eve De Haan. The event promoted mental wellness and highlighted the important connection between art, wellbeing, and community featuring Sense Collective and Kim Gichinga, followed by a weaving workshop throughout the afternoon; with a mesmerising dance performance by East London Dance to end the day.

Alice Billings Connect celebrated Pride month in the area, with a special burlesque workshop from the talented Lolo Brow.

We worked with Tropical Theatre to facilitate a walking tour, ‘Mind the Gap’, drawing on Newham’s history and heritage through poetry. Participants responded to writing prompts as they walked and collated the writing and ideas into a structured piece of art to share.

Throughout the Summer, Hive Curates commissioned a film to be made in collaboration with US.MAN.DERE, a collective founded by Amos Mukombero and Kamila Szymkiewicz, born and raised in Newham. The film, which screened in Autumn 2023, celebrated the stories of local people and engaged young people in filmmaking.

Hive Curates worked with local photographer Sylvie Belbouab to work with local women’s groups. Sylvie visited community groups in Newham, speaking with South Asian women to archive their heritage and unique perspectives for future generations. She met with Sister’s forum and Muslim sport association during the annual dragon boat race in the Royal Docks, the Ladies group in Plaistow, The Renewal Programme community café, a group of South Asian deaf women, Dovetail coffee mornings, and a community garden in Forest Gate.

Anjali worked with community groups to create a zine celebrating women’s stories of their experiences of home. The zine was created through a workshop with local residents. Profits from the zine supported Sister’s Forum, and is still available for purchase online or in our Broadworks shop. Through this project we celebrated the resiliency, rich culture and vibrancy of these women and created a platform for story sharing and initiated a conversation about belonging.

As a part of our Black History Month programming, artists Fungai Marima, Rebecca George, Xuan Sinden facilitated ‘Housing Memory’. This workshop used a combination of collaging and body moulding to touch on themes of memory, displacement, trauma, belonging and home.

Hive Curates commissioned artist Andy MacManus to activate other buildings in the local area, installing vibrant window vinyls in XIX Nineteen and The Westbridge Hotel. Andy used the heritage of both businesses as a starting point. As XIX Nineteen is on the site of a former theatre, opera house, cinema and music venue it has in one form or another been a venue that has showcased creativity and culture. The Westbridge Hotel is a former coaching inn where people, and horses, stopped on their journeys to refresh. Today, XIX Nineteen is still a creative space serving food and cocktails, and The Westbridge Hotel is still somewhere people journey to even if the stables is no more. Thinking of how Alice Billing Connects aspires to offer a creative workspace, amongst many other things, to help people on their creative journeys lead me to connect the dots and explain some of the typographic elements in the design.

The use of circles connect the two designs and are inspired by the colourful illuminated globes above your head when you make the short journey between the two businesses. The vibrant colour palette and use of similar motifs also connect the two designs. Finally there are excerpts from a poem called "On the Pulse of Morning" by Maya Angelou that instill a sense of hope and positivity for the future.

In January 2024, the exhibition ‘In/Out’ at Gerry Raffles was co-curated by artist researchers Justine Hounam, Anne Isaksson and Jacqueline Rana. The exhibition examined the interplay between internal contemplation and external manifestation, inviting viewers to explore the dual nature of obscured, overlooked, and concealed aspects of the human experience, unearthing narratives often sidelined or buried within conventional historical accounts. The exhibition featured work by: Adam Moore, Ali Darke, Anne Isaksson, Anne Marie Williamson, B.A Adeyemo, Carolyn Whittaker, Claudia Brazzale, Darryl Brown, Dave Watkins, Jacqueline Rana, Jaeyeon Choi, Jamshed Khan, Jane Woollat, Johanna Bolton, Justine Hounam, Madalena Daniel, Mai Nguyen Tri, Natalia Jezova, Nigel Grimmer, Paul Greenleaf, Pippa Healey, Rachel Shannon.

The year-long programme closed with an artist market, celebrating the spotlight on crafts, culture and heritage in the area that the programme championed. Alongside the market, there were dance workshops and musical performances to wrap up the years events.

It has been an incredible year working across Alice Billings Connects to support the creatives in the area and develop this new resource for artists and communities. We cannot wait to see how the project continues to flourish and resonate through the new Alice Billings House.