And the City, Spitalfields, Whitechapel, Stratford, Hoxton, Canary Wharf and Hackney were venues for more than 400 events.
Since 200 bells 28 churches including St Paul’s Cathedral, rang to signal the beginning of the festival, churches, galleries, museums, markets, restaurants and outdoor venues showcased some of the most interesting artistic events in London.
Star of the East
The Lonely Planet’s latest guide calls East London the capital’s rising star.
That is perhaps why the London mayor’s office lent its support to the Festival – there is a conscious move to expand local creativity “and bring the unique quality of East London to audiences around the world.”
Mayor Ken Livingstone said recently, “East London, with its rich past and present, has long been a real creative hotbed in London.”
“The Festival demonstrates the current vitality and creativity of an area that is transforming itself with the advent of the 2012 games.”
During the festival, Brick Lane, Spitalfields and the Columbia Road Flower Market as well as the Barbican Centre, the Theatre Royal at Stratford, Wilton's Music Hall, the Whitechapel Gallery and other venues welcomed the visitors.
Global London
The East End reverberated with the sounds of the Caribbean drums of the Kinetika music company, enchanting Sufi music (at St Ethelburgas Church) and the poignancy of Marta Michalowska’s exhibition ‘Gdansk-Polish Lives Found in translation’.
The Kinetikas’ foot-tapping performance ‘Imagination: Our Nation,’ which was inspired by the Nobel Prize-winning Derek Walcott, expresses the dynamic between identity and cultural exchange.
“In London we can celebrate our unique position of living in a city which houses the world. We have an opportunity to participate, through the arts, in a positive dialogue between cultures,” said one of the artists.
Economic regeneration
East London is home to a very diverse ethnic population comprising Turkish, Bengali, Arab, Jewish, Chinese, Caribbean and other communities. Areas like Hackney and Stratford, which are counted among the most deprived zones in Britain are reporting an increasing population.
Therefore, the development of a cultural landscape makes the difference. East London’s bohemian mood and rising prominence in the arts fraternity has made it attractive to artists, writers and visitors alike.
And the London 2012 Games regeneration plans should definitely establish the East as a must-visit place in London.
