Raise the Roof Festival
On Saturday 9th October 2021, Your Place hosted a free music, comedy and storytelling event called ‘Raise the Roof’, at Rathbone Market. This was part of the Rathbone Roots festival and Newham Unlocked Festival series in collaboration with the London Borough of Newham.
As well as celebrating local talent, Raise the Roof aimed to raise awareness of the homelessness crisis in Newham on the eve of World Homeless Day (10th October). Right now in Newham, 1 in 23 people are without a home, this is the highest level of homelessness in the country.
The festival was hosted by Quincy, aka the ‘Cockney Prince’, who performed alongside fellow comic Victor Daniels, a regular in the comedy circuit’s top venues. There were also performances from hip hop artist AURA-KL and indie folk artist Navina, some of which have had personal trials and triumphs with homelessness.
One of our resident’s Jordan (AURA-KL) performed four of his own hip-hop tracks and then spoke to our host Quincy afterwards on stage about his experience of homelessness and how Your Place has supported him.
Please see video link to a clip of their performances. All of the acts were born and bred in Newham, and showcased the incredible talent and diverse culture Newham has to offer.
“I was made homeless due to COVID-19 pandemic. I just found myself in this circle where you cannot pull yourself up because everything was happening at once, being at Your Place helped me to slow down, focus and re-strategize and move forward. I decided to live out my dream of being a Rapper at the start of lockdown whilst street homeless and unemployed. Music has given me the strength to keep going and document my experiences, I’m grateful to have the opportunity to share it.” – Jordan (AURA-KL) resident of Your Place
Thank you to all our acts who performed on the day, to the London Borough of Newham and Festival.Org for making this happen, and to all the Your Place team who were there on the day.
“We’ve been next to Rathbone Market for almost 60 years, and it is great to have been part of this free festival for the local community. We had some fantastic local artists and comedians performing – some of them are our own residents – helping to raise awareness of homelessness on the eve of World Homeless Day. Covid has taught us we are stronger when we come together, so let’s continue to support one another.” – Amanda Dubarry, Chief Executive
“Huge thanks to all our performers. They all smashed it! To Quincy, AURA-KL, Navina and Victor – you brought so many smiles and laughs to the local community, and spoke so well about the work we do here in Canning Town. It’s so great to be back involved with events like this, which have been so badly missed during the past couple of years. Hopefully this will be the start of more to come next year.” – Naomi Mullings, Community Partnerships Manager
