The Festival of Neighbourhood at Southbank runs from Saturday 4th May – 8th September 2013. Last year’s festival was focused on the world and the Olympics, this year the theme is much closer to home, with events that question what it is to live next to others and what makes a good neighbourhood.
The festival is one of the capital’s largest summer celebrations and incorporates some of the smaller events, such as Yoko Ono’s Meltdown Festival and the thought provoking exhibition, the Alternative Guide to the Universe at the Hayward Gallery. Some other major highlights include the UK Premiere of the astounding circus show, Timber! as well as the return of the exciting and illustrious London Wonderground.
This spectacular festival has been created by local communities from all across the UK and abroad who have lined up an extensive programme of performances, talks, art installations and even an urban outdoor garden. The festival will also see a host of quirky pop-up stalls for each visitor to browse, including pie stalls, fruit and veg stalls and even a community-based cycling café called Look Mum, No Hands!
Visitors to the site will find themselves entering an actual neighbourhood, as the Southbank center will be lit up with an array of colour and surrounded by magnificent greenery. You will be able to take a walk round the urban beach, which takes the shape of a miniature town, or get involved with the Allotment Project and learn to build and tend plants, in fact there are a host of volunteering opportunities for you to get involved in, so make sure you don’t miss out.
There will also be a number of outdoor art installations, such as the large scale murals at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. You can also expect to see topiary figures, poetry installations and a whole host of artists work displayed at the festival. Some of the other themes and tributes you can see at this event include an exhibition dedicated to Lambeth and a weekend dedicated to the Brazilian city of Bahia.
Kids will want to get in on the Beanotown event, as the Queen Elizabeth Hall celebrates 75 years of the popular children’s comic by transforming its interior into the fictional town and hosting a ton of hands-on activities.