PRESS RELEASE: 14th June 2025
HERE: WATERLOO FESTIVAL RETURNS, CELEBRATING COMMUNITY AND CREATIVITY
Waterloo Festival, the annual celebration of arts, community, and heritage hosted by St John’s Waterloo and produced by The Bridge At Waterloo, returns from Thursday 10th to Sunday 13th July 2025 with a weekend of exhibitions, concerts and events.
This year’s theme – “HERE” – reflects on and celebrates everything that makes our neighbourhood and community what it is today: all that brings us here, together.
Following last year’s Festival, which looked back at the area’s transformation from marshland and pleasure gardens into a thriving part of London, this year’s programme shifts focus to the present – highlighting the shared places, activities, people, the art and stories that shape our area today, and hint at its future potential.
The Festival will set focus on what makes our 21st-century inner-city community, inviting a broader understanding of belonging, place and placemaking: residents, wanderers and commuters, physical and digital spaces, the community of yesterday to the utopian ideals of future community building. Drawing inspiration from two centuries of community in Waterloo, we will reflect on our dynamic togetherness, shared spaces and diversity, investigate the challenges faced by and shaping modern communities, and explore new ways to gather together.
Euchar Gravina, Artistic Director of Waterloo Festival, said:
Building on last year’s success, this year’s Festival will once again be a celebration of coming together - showcasing work by local artists, creative groups and organisations, and supported by the participants and volunteers so eager to welcome everyone back! There’s something powerful about gathering in a historic community space like St John’s to reflect on the present and dream about the future.
Our programme this year features:
Exhibitions
We’re delighted to present a diverse array of exhibitions at St John’s:
The London Group returns with a garden sculpture show interrogating the Festival’s theme, alongside sculptures by Morley College students, artists and tutors.
An exhibition featuring works by artists connected to Waterloo including paintings, drawings, photographs, and audio-visual installations, alongside research by the Waterloo Local Heritage Society.
New paintings from the Drummond Street Artists, a collective of artists with lived experience of homelessness.
The creative output of local art clubs at St John’s Waterloo and Coin Street, as well as schools like Oasis Academy Johanna.
Music and Stories
On our Opening Night, we begin with a special performance by the award-winning Streetwise Opera, joined by local and London-based choirs and singers – a fitting start, as singing together has always been one of the most powerful ways to bring people into the same space at the same time! You’re also welcome to join a relaxed ekphrastic recital in the churchyard, where writers from our Creative Writing Club will share their work alongside The London Group artworks that inspired them.
On Friday evening, join us for the return of the New London Chamber Choir, renowned as one of the UK’s most extraordinary vocal ensemble. The choral concert will centre around Lucio Berio’s iconic The cries of London, alongside other works that reflect on our urban landscape and its connections. Earlier in the afternoon, the amazing participants of our year-long project ‘Make Music’ present their new compositions led by and alongside the team from Goldsmiths Alchemy.
On Saturday, we present DEEP. Listening in partnership with Mental Fight Club and IKLECTIK, drawing on Pauline Oliveros’ concept of Deep Listening – “going below the surface of what is heard… to connect with the acoustic environment, all that inhabits it, and all that there is.” A late afternoon workshop will lead into an evening concert, produced and presented by IKLECTIK, and featuring rare solo performances by international artists Abul Mogard and NWAKKE, as well as softshadow’s Deep Sea Sound Fishes, “a playful, participatory experience inspired by Pauline Oliveros where audience members are invited to ‘fish’ for sounds using voice, gesture, and imagination”.
And before that, join us in the churchyard gardens for a free early evening storytelling session with the captivating artists of London Dreamtime who have been meeting for their monthly workshops at St John’s Waterloo.
On Sunday afternoon, enjoy our luscious garden at the annual free outdoors jazz and blues gig, and in the evening, come along for the festival debut of The Horse Improvised Music Club, bringing an exciting event of improvised and experimental music, all curated by Waterloo-based artists and their friends.
Community and Workshops
And finally, plenty of opportunities to meet your neighbours and participate in the festival fun:
Gentle Chair Yoga session on Saturday morning
#Love ESOL Saturday Picnic, a relaxed afternoon where you can practise English, meet new people, and find out about free language classes in the community
Open Air Sketching Workshop led by London Group Artist Barbara Beyer
A chance to meet local organisations, and wonderful partners to our Festival, Coin Street, Waterloo Community Counselling and the Mental Fight Club at their stalls and through their activities on Saturday
Bring-and-share lunch on Sunday afternoon with St John’s community and congregation
Several Festival events, including all exhibitions, are free, with others bookable online (or, depending on availability, at the door). Our events are open to anyone and the spaces are accessible. Do get in touch if you’d like to offer your time as a volunteer!
Outreach and Engagement Officer Abigail Tripp adds:
This year’s Festival is a wonderful chance to celebrate and build on the community connections we’ve been nurturing since reopening St John’s in 2022. It marks the end of a busy year of projects and offers the perfect moment to welcome even more new faces through music, creativity and shared experience!
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Download this Press Release here. For further information and images, please contact: artisticdirector@stjohnswaterloo.org
