Wandsworth Arts Fringe Grants 2022 Awarded

The Wandsworth Arts Fringe Grants help artists, makers and community groups realise their creative vision for the festival and engage with Wandsworth communities. For 2022, Wandsworth Council has distributed £32,382 among eighteen creative companies, including local community organisations and internationally acclaimed artists, for projects taking place over this year's festival (Friday 10 - Sunday 26 June 2022).

Supported by the 2022 grants, we see the return of some WAF veterans, including learning disability-led theatre group The Baked Bean Company, winners of last year's WAF Audience Choice Award, with a street party on Battersea High Street in collaboration with Riverside Radio; and Share Community, who will be bringing the glamour with an eco-fashion show led by disabled artists with support from students and alumni from the Royal College of Art's MA Fashion programme. New to WAF, Windows of The Soul is a collaboration by visually-impaired artists, sighted artists, doctors and patients, shining a light on living with visual impairment through art.

Commemorating the 50th anniversary of Pride in London, Shed Project will offer a radical quilt-making workshop exploring the legacy of textiles in the queer community; and from fabric to fight club, playwright Gary Thomas presents his new play Wrestling for Pleasure, telling the story of a group of LGBTQ+ friends from the 1990s to the present day, brought together through their love of wrestling.

On Saturday afternoons throughout Wandsworth Arts Fringe, artist and 'Nan Kid' Leon Clowes will be welcoming visitors into local libraries for a chat, and doing what his grandmother did: darning socks, flower arranging, and painting watercolors, while the radio plays stories of people who were raised by Grandma.

Exploring our histories - personal, political and cultural - is an exciting theme for WAF this year. Back to the Beginning, a project from Wandsworth creative mental health charity Sound Minds, reflects on our social and cultural heritage and how it influences our lives today. Homegrown heritage heroes Black Heroes Foundation return with Stories of Windrush: The Story of Flip Fraser, who was creator of the iconic show Black Heroes in the Hall of Fame; and in literature, award-winning poet John Agard and contemporary literature group Renaissance One present two spoken word events, placing curiosity at centre-stage.

Local dance company Ballet Soul return for 2022 with a live performance developed from their film Othello21 - a contemporary dance retelling of Shakespeare's classic play - as part of the WAF Dance Showcase, a new programming strand for 2022 celebrating the wealth of dance talent and training offered in the borough. Ballet Soul will also offer free movement workshops to 200 young musicians from World Heart Beat Music Academy. This will be one of several WAF Grants projects offering local people the opportunity to get creative, including Wandsworth recording studio On Da Beat, who are set to host a series of hybrid live/digital open studio workshop with performances from up-and-coming local artists, alongside established talent from across South London.

Marcus Megastar returns to WAF with The Music Of The Night, a spectacular new show featuring Wandsworth's Gemini Dancers, new music co-written with hit songwriter Michael Garvin (Waiting For Tonight, Jennifer Lopez), costumes by Haus Of Ra (whose Creative Director has worked with Dior and Lady Gaga), and Marcus' trademark prosthetics.

Also in music, the streets of Wandsworth will be filled with the likes of Purcell, Handel, Schubert and Fanny Mendelssohn when Wandsworth Street Concerts arrive with a new series of free outdoor classical music concerts, staged outside Wandsworth's St Anne's Church. And All Saints Church are going green with an eco-inspired music festival, featuring free concerts ranging from classical to jazz and beyond.

There's plenty of fun in store for WAF's littlest visitors too. Following a fantastic tour of Wandsworth housing estates in summer 2021, Jellyfish Theatre return with a new outdoor adventure for families in their travelling Wagon of Dreams, pitching up at Wandsworth estates throughout the festival. And Vintage Vendetta's Meg and the Magic Toyshop, an interactive theatre show for under 5s, will delight young audiences at Wandsworth's libraries with storytelling, songs and dancing.

Wandsworth can discover art on their streets with Roehampton Resounded, an immersive art and sound journey through Roehampton and the Alton Estate; and Sol Golden Sato's Happy Feet, a giant painting made by visitors' dancing feet, popping up at Alton Arts Hub.

"I am so delighted to see the arts get back on its feet and have the opportunity to bring 'Meg in the Magic Toyshop' to Wandsworth Fringe 2022. Theatre can be such a wonderful creative outlet and I am so passionate about the opportunity to share it with children who were robbed of the experience of live theatre during the past few years." - Merrilyn Greer, Vintage Vendetta

"I'm thrilled that my project 'Nan Kids' will be part of WAF 2022, this will be my first time at this amazing festival. Really looking forward to meeting local families, and the conversations that will happen with everyone who comes to the installations." - Leon Clowes

"Relocating to Wandsworth has been such a blessing, so it is with massive gratitude that On Da Beat join the 2022 Wandsworth Art Fringe to celebrate our borough and our fourth summer. We hope that our contribution to WAF can continue to spark the fire in the next generation of audio engineers, producers, beatmakers, artists and music execs." - On Da Beat

"At Shed Project we are so excited to include Queer Lives and Art: Radical Quilt Making as part of WAF2022, especially given the important timing, marking 50 years of Pride in London. We look forward to celebrating and reflecting on the history and experiences of the Wandsworth LGBTQIA+ community." - Shed Project

"We are super excited to be returning to WAF with our brand new show this year. We're really grateful for the support from Wandsworth which makes it possible for us to offer free family shows in public spaces across the Borough." - Jellyfish Theatre

"We are very excited that Wandsworth Street Concerts will be part of WAF2022 and grateful for their support." Chris Jeanes - Founder & Artistic Director of Wandsworth Street Concerts

The WAF Grants are funded directly by Wandsworth Council, primarily through the Wandsworth Grant Fund, which sets aside £20,000 to support WAF activity each year, with a maximum award of £2,000 per project. This year, WAF has been able to award an additional £12,382 to successful applicants as part of Wandsworth Council's commitment to supporting the cultural ecology in the borough get back on its feet after COVID-19 limited cultural and community life for many Wandsworth residents.

Wandsworth Council's Cabinet Member for Community Services and Open Spaces, Councillor Steffi Sutters says:

After two years of digital, hybrid and socially distanced festivals, we are thrilled to be safely bringing WAF back into our theatres, pubs, schools and galleries once again, as well as on our streets and screens. The WAF Grants support some of the most exciting and ambitious projects taking place in the borough this June, including some inspired collaborations between our creative communities and established artists. This year, we welcome back creatives working at an international scale, alongside homegrown talent and WAF veterans - and I can't wait to see them transform our borough for WAF's thirteenth year.

Tickets for Wandsworth Arts Fringe 2022 will go on sale on Weds 27 April 2022.

Find out more about the 2022 festival: www.wandsworthartsfringe.com

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