Shoreditch Town Hall Announces First Town Hall Takeover

Shoreditch Town Hall today announces the first ever Town Hall Takeover, taking place on Saturday 29 October, featuring a packed programme of free theatre, dance, music and art activities happening throughout the building, aimed at families and young people up to the age of 14. The line-up includes a number of events from local East London organisations such as Hackney Shed, Hackney Playbus and LandSky and there will be workshops and activities led by independent Hackney artists.

Deputy Director of Shoreditch Town Hall James Pidgeon said today, "Whether you're after hula hooping, storytelling, a disco for 0-6 year olds or just some dancing to live up-tempo Balkan and Turkish music, Town Hall Takeover has something for everyone as we throw open the doors of Shoreditch Town Hall for the first event of its kind in the building. As a flagship venue for Hackney and our local community it's incredibly important for the Town Hall to produce such events as part our programme, welcoming people to the building from across the borough, as well as from further afield. It's also particularly brilliant to have so many local organisations and Hackney-based artists involved in the delivery of activities on the day, helping to ensure that this is a real event for our local family audiences and one which we hope will become a regular fixture in the Shoreditch Town Hall calendar."

The confirmed activities include:

· Hackney Shed will be offering up a taste of the building's past in their workshop which celebrates Shoreditch Town Hall's rich heritage. From the ground-breaking days of early medicine in the basement, to the wild trance nights of Whirlygig. http://www.hackneyshed.org.uk/

· Kazzum with their brilliant 360-degree sensory HeadSapce. http://www.kazzum.org/

· Trans-Siberian March Band: this group of Balkan brass party-starters will play riotous Balkan, Gypsy and Turkish tunes, up-tempo Russian Songs and even upper-tempo Klezmer. http://www.transsiberianmarchband.com

· East London Dance bringing something for all dancers of all abilities...and parents too! http://www.eastlondondance.org/

· Baby Loves Disco UK: a daytime dance party for parents and carers with babies, toddlers and young children (0-6 years) with real club DJs spinning and mixing retro floor-fillers.http://www.babylovesdisco.co.uk/ (Entry to Baby Loves Disco UK involves a £4 fee)

· Marawa the Amazing and her troupe of fabulous Majorettes lead a mass hula hooping workshop.http://marawatheamazing.com/

· LandSky with the help of some wonderful storytellers, will be creating poems in response to the Town Hall's magnificent and sometimes mysterious architecture. http://www.landsky.org/

· Hackney Playbus turning areas of The Ditch into an incredible play space. http://hackneyplaybus.org

UpstArt Theatre looking at how playing games is a serious business! (Upstart's production Phone Home also runs in the Council Chamber from 21 - 30 October) http://www.upstart-theatre.org.uk

The day is free to attend (although there is an entry fee of £4 for Baby Loves Disco). All under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.

Shoreditch Town Hall gratefully acknowledges financial support for the Takeover from UCL through the Volunteering Services Unit's One-off Grant Scheme funded by the Lloyds Scholars programme.

About Shoreditch Town Hall:

Shoreditch Town Hall

380 Old Street, London EC1V 9LT

020 7739 6176 www.shoreditchtownhall.com
A vibrant destination space in East London, sitting at the heart of one of the most exciting areas of London, Shoreditch Town Hall was for over 100 years one of the grandest Vestry Halls in the city. Having ceased to be a home for local government during the 1960s it was restored and reopened as an independent venue in 2005. Now the Town Hall is a home to original and adventurous arts and artists as well as a distinctive contemporary performance and events programme. Recent renovations have brought the magnificent Victorian grandeur of the Assembly Hall and Council Chamber and the warren of untouched, atmospheric basement spaces to the forefront of the 21st century, including an increase in seated audience capacity and state of the art hydraulic technical rig in the Assembly Hall, and the installation of an internal passenger lift for the first time in the building's history.

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