Camberwell Arts - End of an Era

Big news, bittersweet news - I have resigned from the Camberwell Arts Committee. After three fantastic years with the CAF crew, I need a bit of a break. It’s been such an unbelievable experience, but I am now officially wrecked and in need of a little R&R.

Back in early 2018, only a few months after coming to London, I reached out to Chair Kelly O’Reilly to see if I could lend a hand to the festival. I felt like a stranger in my town and needed something grounded in the community to balance out the VIP events at Tate.

I immediately found a home and through working with the festival I made Camberwell, and London my home. I started out on volunteers and parties, and then took up open studios when a colleague had her baby. I someone ended up managing the website and a lot of the artist relations, and when COVID came the whole summer festival, streamed live from my living room.

I’m bad at break-up’s though, so I’m staying on as a Trustee for now. Hopefully sometime next year I’ll be ready to look at some long-term planning or fundraising. In the meantime, I’m just waiting until the day comes when I can have a glass of wine with the team again.

Maybe moving away from Camberwell allowed me to have enough distance from the town to consider taking a break. Or maybe it’s missing the adrenaline rush and endorphins from a physical festival and instant feedback. All I know is that it’s made my time here in London so far, and whilst I’ve got a few new projects percolating, I’ll always end up coming back to Camberwell in one way or another.

To leave on a special memory. Sitting outside the Remarkery Brixton in June 2019 for the closing part of the CAF19 Festival, I had an experience completely alien to most people living in Zone 2, London. I had been racing around all weekend making sure to visit every open studio, I was tired, and my feet were ruined. But from the very uncool position of arriving first I got to watch 50+ people arrive, and I could genuinely say hello to every person who came down the steps. Only two years on from arriving in SE5, I felt I had lived there my whole life. I was part of a vibrant cultural community and I was home.

Thank you to Kelly O, Kelly B, Nuala, Debbie & Matthew as well as Francesca, Laura, Ruth, Anna and all the volunteers, and committee members and artists and partners and the whole of Camberwell damnit!

Look through my Camberwell Arts Archive.