Arts festival comes to Tottenham

A new festival celebrating the local creative scene through art, music and discussion is coming to South Tottenham.

Markfield Road Festival will span three days, from the 9th–11th of September, and is set to feature a host of local artists and performers. The festival builds on the area’s annual open studios – now in their twentieth year – and is being co-hosted by four local enterprises; Gaunson Creative Studios, The Cove Studio, Ten87 recording studio and Craving cafe.

First on the line-up is a mini poetry festival from Spoken, a Tottenham-based platform which aims to create community- based cultural conversations. The poetry performances will take place at The Cove Studio (a previously disused warehouse), from 3pm until late on Friday, 9th September.

Various artworks and activities will take place at Gaunson Creative Studios throughout the festival. Across Saturday and Sunday, the Haringey-based artist and musician Steve Folk (aka Steven Thompson), will be ‘live painting’ a large-scale abstract piece. An installation of latex works by the local artist Patrick Jones will be on show, as will an immersive installation by the travel photographer Ethel Davies, who brings photographs taken with Victorian technology into the 21st Century.

Ethel said: “The idea is that there is another viewpoint, arguably imaginary, that exists, merely by virtue of seeing the world differently. I feel it’s an almost undiscovered art form that I want the onlooker to appreciate.”

Malene Oddershede Bach, creative director of Gaunson Creative Studios and The Cove, said: “We wanted to create something that families from the community can go to and explore the creative scene in one space and crowd.”

A carnival workshop is set to take place at Earlsmead School, meanwhile a range of panel discussions at The Cove are intended to introduce creative careers to the community. On Saturday, for example, ‘Being Independent’ will explore the mechanics of independent record labels and the music industry. Later that day, Dreph – the artist best known for his large-scale street portraits – will host a Q&A.

Throughout the festival there will be live screenings of Monika Tobel’s work. The Tottenham- based interdisciplinary artist commonly explores ecology, interspecies connection, and communication. And, to top it all off, Ten87 and Craving will play host to live music and DJ sets until late on Saturday and Sunday. Local musicians including Lux Jury, Island Fox and Ben Murphie are all set to perform, while the hip-hop duo Backyard Bully are headlining on Sunday night.