Celebrate Life Events

April 2019, Black Cultural Archives, Brixton

 

On a Tuesday evening in Brixton, South London, an extraordinary event took place at the Black Cultural Archives. This iconic building is the only national repository of Black history and culture in the UK and it stands in Brixton’s Windrush Square, named to recognise the important contribution of the African Caribbean community to the area. 

​

The event was organised by Celebrate Life Events, a small, hard-working team of volunteers who have been working with communities for 9 years combining the arts with a message of peace. Whether it be a large-scale music event or an intimate workshop, the fundamentals remain the same: bringing people together of all backgrounds, ages and cultures, and giving them the space to share their humanity, wisdom and creativity. 

This event was no exception.  

​

The particular purpose of this evening’s gathering was to promote and showcase a new initiative: the ‘Get Creative with Peace’ workshops. Celebrate Life has been carefully crafting these interactive sessions using Prem Rawat’s simple message of peace, alongside reflection, activities and creative expression such as poetry and art.

​

They have been developed for teenagers, to be run in London schools and youth centres, as an introduction to the more in-depth ‘Peace Education Programme’ run by TPRF. With the shocking rise in knife crime and youth violence across London there is a need verging on desperation for creative solutions to address the problem of violent crime at the source. 

 

Eight short video clips from the ‘Get Creative with Peace’ workshops were shown, facilitated by Kaysen and Lisa from Horizon Alternative Education. This dynamic duo are already providing educational workshops, courses and mentoring in schools and are trialling some of the ‘Get Creative with Peace’ clips in London schools with positive results. 

 

An important part of the workshops, and the essence of what Celebrate Life is about, is creativity surrounding the subject of peace and self-discovery. This was demonstrated during the action-packed evening with live music, beatboxing and poetry from Marv Radio, Loussin-Torah Pilikian and Uncle Errol. When Loussin spoke at the end with a spontaneous, freestyle poem, she perfectly captured the feeling in the room. As one participant said: ‘Just allowing yourself that freedom to be human, and to share your humanity with other human beings, is a wonderful experience.’

 

The event was standing-room only as people packed into the space, and afterwards the room was buzzing and people didn’t want to go home. 

Celebrate Life is now planning five more events at the same venue using the Get Creative with Peace videos and interactive activities. 

 

Please support us here: https://www.gofundme.com/get-creative-with-peace

 

More info:

Black Cultural Archives: https://blackculturalarchives.org

Horizon Alternative Education: https://www.horizonalted.co.uk/