Spring has sprung 🌸 And with it, the promise of an exciting summer to come seems to hang in the air at the moment, which is shaping up to be a huge one for Hackney Wick & Fish Island and the whole Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park area.

First up? The long-awaited opening of Roach Point Bridge late last week, which finally reconnects the whole area without the lengthy walkarounds, and should enliven Fish Island’s restaurants, studios and public waterfront spaces in the sunshine. Well done to all the businesses who weathered the difficulties of being so cut off, for so long.

Then it’s the annual Queen’s Yard Summer Party (details below) on Saturday, the first in a bumper season of neighbourhood-wide festival events, uniting 20 great HW&FI venues for a day-into-night celebration of great music and diverse music-lovers.

And talking of festivals, the recent arrival of the V&A East’s inaugural exhibition The Music Is Black, has inspired exciting plans for the first summer-long Music Is Black Festival, to be held across select weekends from June through to September at East Bank, across the Park’s open spaces and venues - and beyond. Stay tuned for more info on all that, plus the ongoing season of associated talks, screenings and events also being listed here each week.

Finally, here at The Wick we’re preparing to relaunch our quarterly print edition in a new, premium format in May, with more pages, more in-depth features, art pull-outs and showcases for the area’s brilliant creatives, venues, destinations and events. We’ll be hosting a new series of regular social events too, to be announced at the special 16th birthday edition of the Cultural Interest Group (CIG) meeting next Fri 8th May at The Loop (info below).

If you’re a local business, artist, promoter or anyone else doing great things in this part of East London that you’d like us to shout about, reach out to us now at [email protected]. We’re planning a bold new approach to what local media can be and achieve, just as the area blooms into a packed summer of world-beating culture on our doorsteps. Let’s go...!

🎞️ As part of the ongoing series of talks and screenings in the Music Is Black season at UCL East, this Fri 1st May there’s a chance to see a mediative film about modern architecture and Black history in Manchester, The Great North (main image). It’s the story of the city told through its Black, Asian and Irish communities, set to a soundtrack of local underground sounds by Barry Adamson, A Guy Called Gerald as well as London-based Lord Tusk. The screening will be followed by a conversation between director Jenn Nkiru and UCL’s Dr Clive Chijioke Nwonka.

🏺If you go wandering around the Olympic Park over the weekend, the Yokimono Japanese Market (pictured above) is setting up shop over at Riverside East on Sat 2nd - Sun 3rd May. It’s a gathering of independent Japanese makers - including workshops, ceramics, kimonos, live music and some authentic grub. Entry is free, so head on down to pick up some new items or to just spend the afternoon convincing yourself you don’t actually need a handcrafted tea set.

🕺 AUGMENTED will be performed at Sadler’s Wells East on Fri 1st - Sat 2nd May. It marks a collaboration debut bringing together students from Rambert School and The Juilliard School. The performance uses motion-capture and AI to interact with the dancers' movements in real-time, as the tech responds to the choreography, creating a shifting digital environment that changes with each performance.

🌵Following the success of previous years, Mexico Vivo Fest is returning to Hackney Bridge Sun 3rd - Mon 4th May. A vibrant long weekend celebrating Mexican culture, there’ll be hands-on workshops, live performances, and food and drink tastings. The event bills itself as a place for the Latin community to gather, and for curious Londoners looking to experience the culture.

📸The Everyday and Epic: A Collective Iteration is a selection of recent project work from MA Fashion Photography students at UAL London College of Fashion showcasing at the Wolfson Gallery, Eastbank. The show runs until Fri 1st May, with a private viewing on Thurs 30th April.

🏓 At the Copper Box Arena this week is Stage 1B of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals until Fri 1st May. Witness 56 international teams battle it out across 14 groups in this centenary edition of the World Championships.

🎷 Head over to Grow on Thurs 30th Apr for a Live Jazz Jam wind-down. Hosted by resident band Stratos, there will be an open session for any local talent looking to hop on the mic. It’s a solid alternative to the louder parties kicking off the Bank Holiday weekend. Contact Stratos on Instagram if you’re interested in jamming.

🎉Number 90 is celebrating 9 Years of NorthSouth with Grace Sands on Fri 1st May. Expect a steady rotation of house and garage, with NorthSouth regulars like Dale Mussington, Harry McCanna and Sam Bangura keeping things moving until 5am.

🌞 The heavy hitter of the weekend is the epic Queens Yard Summer Party taking place at over 20 various venues right across Hackney Wick. From the bass-heavy booth at All My Friends to the open-air dancing at Colour Garden, the ticketed event (with only a very few left) runs from 2pm - 2am on Sat 2nd May, and marks the official summer kick-off.

🌴 DISCOTHÈQUE TROPICALE is at the Colour Factory courtyard on Sun 3rd May. Spend the evening with Josh FB and Fred Salt, taking over the decks with a mix of house and afro-disco.

🎤 If you’ve still got your voice left by Sunday, The Lord Napier Star is hosting its usual Pub Karaoke night on 3rd May, kicking off at 6pm, and with a bank holiday the day after, there’s no excuse not to grab the mic.

🌿If you’ve ever wanted a say in how the Wick actually looks and grows, this is your chance to get hands-on with the neighbourhood’s future green spaces. A Community Design and Planting Workshop is on at The Loop Sat 2nd May hosted by the Hackney Wick & Fish Island CDT - for a session specifically focused on Prince Edward Road’s green areas.

📖 The Nunnery Gallery is hosting Publishing 101 in the Arts on Thu 30th Apr. For artists and writers looking to turn a creative concept into a physical object, Jeffrey Choy will give a talk on independent book production in the arts.

👟Hunt for pre-loved treasures this weekend at Flea London, Hackney Bridge Sat 2nd May – Sun 3rd May (and every weekend) where you’ll find everything from old-school sportswear and vinyl to ceramics and furniture.

🗣️ On Tues 5th May the Sarabande Foundation is hosting a practical session on World Building and Brand Identity at their Hertford Rd base. Led by their creative experts Emma Hope Allwood, Christopher Lawson, and Emily Chapps, the event will be breaking down how to build a cohesive world around a creative project.

⚜️Apply now for the William Morris Art Futures Bursary. Inspired by William Morris’s values of art for all and the power of creativity, the bursary will provide £10,000 in funding for 16–25-year-olds with creative potential who face barriers to accessing education, training, materials or mentorship. Apply by Mon 4th May.

📈 London Legacy Development Corporation are hiring for a new Innovation and Partnerships Delivery Leader to be based at their Stratford HQ, working in the Inclusive Growth department. Apply by 11th May.

👩🏼‍💼 Bring fresh talent into your local business with significant financial support by securing one of the final 10 slots in the University of Staffordshire’s Graduate Accelerator Internship Programme. It provides funding for a 160-hour internship, requiring your company to cover only 30% of the cost (£950+VAT) while the University handles the recruitment, payment, and support of the graduates. You can recruit a funded intern from any course including specialists in marketing, digital, finance, engineering and admin. Contact [email protected].

📕 The Wick Book is a stunning limited edition 160-page hardback historic record, looking at 15 years of culture, community and change in the neighbourhood through the pages of The Wick. We’re now down to the last 180+ copies, and they won’t last long…

BUSINESSES: profile your own local venture in a video and share your offers and events to over 8,000 locals via this newsletter and 1,000s more on our social channels. Sign up to The Wick Business Community today.