 | |
 The front of DIY Space For London on 27 July 2017. | |
 | |
| Location | 96-108 Ormside St, London SE15 1TF United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 51°28′57″N0°03′20″W / 51.4824°N 0.0555°W |
| Capacity | 160 |
| Opened | September 2015 |
| Website | |
| diyspaceforlondon | |
DIY Space for London was a volunteer-run social centre, music venue, rehearsal space, and creative hub formerly located at 96-108 Ormside Street in South Bermondsey, London. [1] [2]
The space opened in September 2015 after the founding collective at first struggled for two years to find a suitable location. [3] [4]
The collective, started in 2012, raised £20,000 through benefit gigs, events, and community grants to secure a five year lease. [5]
Inspired by other social centres such as 1 in 12 Club in Bradford, their goal was to, "create a sustainable, collectively run space to put gigs on, hold meetings and building a communal infrastructure" that would be "run by its members and open for anyone to get involved in." [4] [6] It had ten interlinked volunteer collectives taking care of running the space. [4]
Whether volunteering or attending, the space was both functionally and legally a members' club. As of June 2017 this was over 5000 members. [7]
Volunteers of the space hosted a radio show showcasing the type of musicians to appear there on NTS Radio between 2016 and 2017.
From 2016 to 2019 the space was the venue for First Timers, a yearly series of workshops culminating in a two day festival that encourages "new faces and voices in bands", in order to "do something about the lack of diversity in the music community". [8]
Over the weekend of 2-4 June 2017, DIY Diaspora Punx (a collective started by Stephanie Phillips of Big Joanie, and also containing other London musicians such as Ray Aggs) put on the first Decolonise Fest at DIY Space for London. Decolonise Fest is the UK's first music festival created by and for people of colour. [9] The second edition of the festival (again mostly held at DIY Space) occurred from 22 to 24 June 2018, with a third over 29 to 30 June 2019.
After the closure of its original venue Power Lunches in late 2015, the space was also the location for Bent Fest, a yearly queer punk festival held in London between 2014 and 2019. [10]
On 12 June 2020 the collective announced due to temporary closures enforced due to the COVID-19 pandemic they had been unable to renew their lease on their current premises and would be seeking a new location. [11] [12]
Artists that have performed at the venue include: [13] [14]
Queercore is a cultural/social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of the punk subculture and a music genre that comes from punk rock. It is distinguished by its discontent with society in general, and specifically society's disapproval of the LGBT community. Queercore expresses itself in a DIY style through magazines, music, writing and film.
Ladyfest is a community-based, not-for-profit global music and arts festival for feminist and women artists. Individual Ladyfests differ, but usually feature a combination of bands, musical groups, performance artists, authors, spoken word and visual artists, films, lectures, art exhibitions and workshops; it is organized by volunteers.
Self-managed social centres in the United Kingdom can be found in squatted, rented, mortgaged and fully owned buildings. These self-managed social centres differ from community centres in that they are self-organised under anti-authoritarian principles and volunteer-run, without any assistance from the state. The largest number have occurred in London from the 1980s onwards, although projects exist in most cities across the UK, linked in a network. Squatted social centres tend to be quickly evicted and therefore some projects deliberately choose a short-term existence, such as A-Spire in Leeds or the Okasional Café in Manchester. Longer term social centres include the 1 in 12 Club in Bradford, the Cowley Club in Brighton and the Sumac Centre in Nottingham, which are co-operatively owned.
The Mr. Roboto Project is a Do It Yourself (DIY) nonprofit volunteer-run cooperative venue and show space in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Since the fall of 2011, it has been located at 5106 Penn Avenue. The structure of The Mr. Roboto Project was modeled partially after the 924 Gilman St club in Berkeley, CA, combined with elements of the East End Food Co-op in Pittsburgh, PA.
Broken Arts was a not-for-profit arts group based in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The group was originally formed in July 2009 and hosted its final event in 2018. The organization relied on the dedication of volunteers and had a total of twenty-eight members as of September 11, 2014. Broken Arts specialized in organizing and running events that were all-ages. These events included concerts, craft fairs, public games, workshops, dance nights, art shows, open mics, and festivals
Kero Kero Bonito (KKB) are a British indie pop band formed in London in 2013. The band consists of vocalist Sarah Midori Perry and producers and multi-instrumentalists Gus Lobban and Jamie Bulled.
Power Lunches Arts Café was a music venue, rehearsal space, and creative hub located on Kingsland Road in Dalston, a district of the London Borough of Hackney.
The Tuts were an English DIY pop punk, "three-tone" band from Hayes, Greater London. They received extensive coverage from alternative music radio, most notably Amazing Radio, and from music websites such as Louder Than War which published multiple articles on the group, calling them "one of the UK's most exciting bands". The band, particularly frontwoman Nadia Javed, were the subject of a feature in the ITV series Young, British and Muslim in April 2018.
The Tank is a nonprofit off-off-Broadway performance venue and producer in Manhattan, New York. The organization was founded in May 2003 by a group of young artists and has since moved several times, residing on 36th Street as of 2017. The Tank presents art across several disciplines, produced at no fee for use of the venue to the presenting artists.
Bonito Generation is the debut studio album by British indie pop band Kero Kero Bonito. A follow-up to the 2013 mixtape, Intro Bonito, this album was released via Double Denim Records on 21 October 2016. Bonito Generation produced six singles: "Picture This", "Lipslap", "Break", "Graduation", "Trampoline", and "Fish Bowl". Music videos were created for "Lipslap", "Break", and "Trampoline".
Fluff Fest is an independent hardcore punk festival held each July at the Czech town of Rokycany. A significant event for the DIY music scene of the Czech Republic and the punk subculture of Europe, it is associated with movements such as veganism, anarchism, feminism, anti-fascism, and straight edge. It features an international lineup of bands from diverse punk rock genres including hardcore, crust punk, emo, and grindcore, as well as talks and zines. Catering is provided by local animal rights organization Svoboda zvířat.
The Montague Arms was a music venue located at 289 Queens Road, in the Telegraph Hill ward of Lewisham, on the borders of Peckham and New Cross in south-east London from 1967 until 2018. The pub venue was known for its eccentric decor; which at some point included old fishing-boat lights, a 19th Century carriage containing a stuffed zebra, and an old diving suit.
Big Joanie is a British punk band formed in London in 2013. Its members are Stephanie Phillips and Estella Adeyeri. Founding drummer Chardine Taylor-Stone left the band in 2023. After a few singles and EPs they released their first album in 2018 with Thurston Moore and Eva Prinz's Daydream Library Series, and have since signed to Kill Rock Stars in the U.S.
GHUM are a London-based post punk band, formed in 2016. They released their debut album, Bitter, in June 2022.
Loud Women, stylised in all caps as LOUD WOMEN, is a nonprofit music promoter, online zine, festival and record label, established in London in 2015, and focusing on female DIY artists and female-led groups.
Chardine Taylor-Stone is a British feminist activist, writer and musician. In December 2015 Taylor-Stone founded Stop Rainbow Racism to campaign against the performance of ‘Black face’ at LGBTQ+ Venues. The campaign began in response to a performance by Drag queen Charlie Hides at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern. Taylor-Stone was the drummer for the band Big Joanie, started in 2013. On 5 October 2023, the band announced that Taylor-Stone had left, replaced by an interim drummer for their European tour that month.
Nekra is a hardcore punk band from London, England formed in 2016. It consists of Spooky Ruño (vocals), Kai Stone (bass), Alexandra Graves (guitar), and Paula Darias (drums). They opened the first Decolonise Fest at DIY Space for London in 2017 and have two releases out on cult label La Vida Es Un Mus. Members of the band have also played in Child's Pose, Turbo, Efialtis, and Frau.
Decolonise Fest is the UK's first music festival created by and for people of colour. The first event happened at DIY Space for London in 2017.
First Timers is a yearly series of workshops in London, England, culminating in a two-day festival that encourages "new faces and voices in bands", in order to "do something about the lack of diversity in the music community".
Charmpit were a British punk band formed in London in 2016. Its members were Anne Marie Sanguigni, Rhianydd York Williams, Alex Iossifidis (drums), and Estella Adeyeri (guitar). They released one album on Specialist Subject Records.