Festival of performance, history and debate in Waterloo taking place online

Waterloo Festival, an online extravaganza of art, music, environment and heritage
and a celebration of the diverse communities of Waterloo and the South Bank, is
now fully underway and running throughout June 2020.
Festival director Euchar Gravina said: “I’d encourage everyone to take a digital
wander through Waterloo Festival. You’ll find articles on curious aspects of
Waterloo’s history, you’ll meet the artists, performers and community leaders who
are making Waterloo the fascinating place it is today, and you’ll have your spirits
lifted by all the local partners who’ve come onboard to bring us fresh and inspiring
things to look at, listen to and think about.”
Highlights include:

•  A short film by World Land Trust and Orchestra for the Earth made specially
  for the Festival. Think Mozart meets Borneo
•  The history of Coin Street Community Co-op and how the South Bank has
  changed over the last 30 years
• Former Fairtrade boss Harriet Lamb talking sustainable energy, car-free
  zones, carbon zero schools and getting greener sooner
• Interviews with members of the St John’s Waterloo Ugandan congregation on
  campaigning for Ugandan human rights and standing up for African women
  and men during the HIV epidemic
• LGBTQIA+ art and artists shaking up the way we look at art and tackling
  intersectionality
• Lambeth gallery Hart Club promoting artists with neurodiversity and brain
  injury – and designing the Waterloo Festival website
• World Press Freedom discussions with leading figures including Global Head of Reuters Alessandra Galloni and Rebecca Vincent of Reporters WithoutBorders
• Historical curiosities from Matt Brown of The Londonist including What did they do with the old Waterloo Bridge and the clown in the goose-pulled chariot
• Waterloo stories including Persepolis by Miki Lentin about a meeting between a volunteer and a refugee at a refugee centre with the backdrop of ‘End Game’; playing at the Old Vic
• Finding out about Jewish refugee Hans Feibusch whose murals adorn St John’s Waterloo and who turns out to have been the most prolific church mural painter possibly in the whole history of the Church of England

Coming soon:
 A premiere of remotely recorded Waterloo voices singing the two notes that
make up a 1960s minimalist composition by American La Monte Young,
recreated for Waterloo Festival by performance artist Rita Says and the Jerico
Orchestra.

Chair of Waterloo Festival and vicar of St John’s, Canon Giles Goddard, said: “Back
in 1951, our home – St John’s Waterloo – was rebuilt as The Church of The Festival
of Britain. That festival was intended as a ‘tonic for the nation’. This year’s Waterloo
Festival is another extraordinary achievement: a community coming together to
enrich each other’s lives and prove that once again our neighbourhood is a place of
resilience, hope and renewal.”
For updates, follow us on:
Twitter @waterloofestiv
Facebook @thewaterloofestival
Instagram @waterloofestiv
#TogetherWaterloo