Newham Dictionary of Culture

Newham Dictionary of Culture

What does ‘culture’ mean to people in Newham? Links Studios, based at Community Links in Canning Town, is a production and recording studio that offers music design and sound mixing sessions for local young people. The work they produce is absolutely brilliant, yet when asked about culture, many young people who attend hesitated to describe themselves as ‘cultural’ or ‘creative’. 

Given the young people’s interest in sound mixing and recording, developing a podcast seemed a natural fit.

We held a day-long creative workshop to generate ideas and shape our plans for a Newham Dictionary of Culture podcast, where the group of young people decided what themes they wanted to cover and who they would like to feature on their podcast. We commissioned artist Ada Jusic to capture the discussion that took place in this beautiful illustration:

Young people curated a list of Newham-based creatives that they wanted to interview and across April we organised one-on-one interviews at the state-of-the-art Links Studios. The final group of interviewees included a singer-songwriter, a rapper, a drummer, a DJ, and a chicken shop owner, among others.  

Young people took part in interview training, teaching them how to develop interesting questions and an active listening style. They chose to ask their interviewees how they got into their creative jobs, what it was like to perform or set up their own business, and what role growing up in Newham played in that. The result was a wide range of conversations about how Newham has changed over the last few decades and where the young people and their interviewees found space for creative expression.

In some cases, there turned out to be a lot of similarity between the lives that interviewees had led in Newham and those of the young people. The message that came through clearly was that culture is for everyone, no matter where you are from or what your life looks like. Creativity can inspire everyone and there is plenty of it in Newham! 

While the episodes are being edited, some of the young people are using their artistic skills to design covers for each podcast episode. The artworks feature a dictionary word, inspired by the interview itself and the profession or background of the interviewee. Creating the artwork also meant that young people who were not comfortable conducting an interview had an alternative way to be involved.

For Newham Heritage Month in June we will release the full list of podcast episodes together with their tailor-made artworks. We will also be releasing a bonus track from a creative collaboration that was born out of our two podcast interviews with singer songwriter Swanandonly and rapper Guvna B – both household names in the Newham music scene.

When we had a little extra time in the studio with Swanandonly, he offered to work with the young people and studio team on an exclusive remix of his track ‘Newham Nah Mean’, especially for Newham Heritage Month. Guvna B offered to write another 16 bars for the track and this exclusive collaboration will be released alongside our podcast series.

For the young people, taking part in this podcast project has offered a very unique opportunity not only to interview their local cultural heroes, but also to set their own creative brief on a project with a real public output. Some young people expected they would be working on a dummy episode, so the opportunity to be a professional host and develop a portfolio they could share with the world was really exciting. For many, it grew their confidence in the opportunities they have as ambitious creatives in Newham. 

To celebrate everyone’s hard work when the project finishes, young people are choosing a theatre show they are interested in seeing and we are arranging a trip over the summer holidays. We hope this will allow us to explore new angles on culture and creativity together! 

The podcast will be launched at Community Links on Tuesday 20 June 2023 as part of Newham Heritage Month. You can sign up to join the celebration here.

A preview of the podcast can be heard below:

Culture Within Newham (previously known as World on our Doorstep) is the Creative People and Places programme for Newham. It aims to bring more cultural and creative opportunities to people across the borough. The Dictionary of Culture podcast was initiated by Culture Within Newham, produced in collaboration with Community Links Studios, and supported by Newham Heritage Month.