The Fight for Peace Young Creatives have been doing some incredible work since the project launched in 2022, and we’re excited to have received funding to take part in Newham Heritage Month 2024.
The National Lottery funded project provides grants of up to £100,000 for organisations to produce projects which amplify and preserve the rich history and heritage of Newham, and this year, the Newham’s community voted for the theme ‘Places and Spaces.’
This is a perfect opportunity for the Fight for Peace Young Creatives to shine the light on our history and how our home in North Woolwich came to be, emerging from our humble beginnings in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.
‘The Blue Box in Newham: Home of Champions’, will be a documentary film which takes viewers on a journey through the history of Fight for Peace, and how we came to be. The project will also highlight the importance of community spaces like ours in bringing people together and provide services to young people and their families.
The project will be led by former Fight for Peace member and self-employed filmmaker, Aladdin who will take a lead role as director, working with a close-knit team, Amet, Zaynab and Andrei.
Together the team will research, plan, film and edit a documentary telling our story, along with an ‘in the making’ short film which aims to give audiences access to the behind the scenes elements of the project.
Through the filmmaking process, interviews with Fight for Peace staff, members, alumni and community members will be preserved among the rich Newham Archives located at Stratford Library in order to inform, influence and inspire those who want to find out about the history of Newham. These films will be showcased at our London Academy as part of the Newham Heritage Festival which takes place throughout the month of June.
This opportunity couldn’t have come at a more fitting time, as Newham embarks on its bid to be come the next London Borough of Culture 2025, while Arts Council England have marked Newham as one of their priority places for cultural engagement, so we are excited for this talented production group to contribute to the rich history of our local area.
The planning stage kicks off this week, and we are eager to see what creative ideas the team come up with to tell the story of Fight for Peace so far!
Resources and project news will be available on the Newham Heritage Month website from May, along with a range of other important projects.
And don’t forget to follow us on our Instagram and LinkedIn channels to stay updated with the project through behind the scenes coverage and much more, and we hope to see many of you at our event in June!
