Arts Bridge partnered with Triangle Children and Young People Community Centre in Tottenham to celebrate the legacy of the Windrush.

A high percentage of Tottenham’s population is of Black Caribbean decent with many of the elder residents identifying as members of the Windrush Generation who emigrated to the U.K. in the 50’s. Within the borough there are also high numbers of Black African and Eastern European residents as well.

With this in mind, we wanted to bring the community together to celebrate and commemorate the Windrush Generation - their hopes, dreams, expectations, the harsh realities they faced when arriving in the U.K. and the legacy that their determination has left behind. Given the demographic of the borough, themes and experiences that would resonate with the residents.

Throughout September and October 2014, Arts Bridge delivered Drama-based workshops to all the groups and service users at Triangle Centre - over 900 people aged 18mths to 60yrs+

The workshops explored stories from the BBC archive from interviews with elder Caribbeans who travelled on the Empire Windrush and also invited participants to share their experiences of emigrating to the U.K. and/ or of how Tottenham has changed since the arrival of the Windrush Generation.

Triangle playscheme attendees (local children aged 7 - 11yrs) were then invited to participate in an intense theatre-making week during half term. During the week they used all the stories collected from the pre-course workshops to create a play. The project culminated in a community performance at Bernie Grants Arts Centre.

‘We Bring de Colour’
Image courtesy of Bespoke Diva (insta: @bespokediva)