This week, the latest online feature in our rolling Nightlife Campaign looks at campaigning organisation Save Our Scene, who are busy making a big impact on helping grassroots live music venues survive in troubled times.

From their base in Main Yard Studios, the small team have been working on a Lifeline Fund which takes some of the financial risk out of putting on new music artists and nights, funded by a £1 levy on tickets for some of the biggest shows, including the likes of Coldplay and Harry Styles recent gigs at Wembley.

Read the full story here:

Meanwhile, Fish Island’s exciting independent, femme-owned and queer-led arts space, Algha’s Plantroom, is exactly one such example of a venue that’s fighting against a heady mix of rent, rates and bills increases, licencing conditions and the cost-of-living pinch.

They recently held an urgent fundraising party, and have set up a Gofundme page to help in their ongoing rescue mission. Do contribute if you want to see them deliver a truly creative programme in the months ahead, ranging from daytime movement sessions to their own signature Playbody parties, exploring themes of radical intimacy and new forms of club experience.

We’ll be hearing more about their struggles and plans in the next print edition of The Wick, due to land in early August, so look out for that soon, too…

🎭 After being razed and rebuilt, The Yard Theatre reopens its doors for the first time tonight Wed 14th Jul with Philosophy of the World. Created by collective In Bed With My Brother, the show twists the strange rock history of The Shaggs - a 1960s sister band forced into existence by their father's psychic palm reading - into a sweaty, vibrant rebellion. Running until 1st Aug.

🖼️There’s a new month-long artist in residence at Two More Years from today Wed 15th Jul. Not As It Was is an exhibition from Kat Hayes, exploring loss through abstract paintings of the destructive natural forces that shape our physical world. The works consider moments of rupture, the possibility of eventual renewal, however distant, and the emotional landscapes forever changed. 

🎤Tonight, Wed 15th, Stratford East hosts Brown Sauce Comedy Club again, celebrating the best of Asian comedy. Ahir Shah will headline alongside fellow comedians Shazia Mirza, Mark Silcox and Sharlin Jahan, with the evening hosted by Preet Singh. Check out the rest of the events going on this week as part of the South Asian Summer programme here.

🎾A temporary outdoor sports court has landed in the Olympic Park, which means Pop-up Padel Tennis is available all summer, until 30th Aug. Sessions at Mandeville Place can be booked for 60, 90 or 120 mins with racquets and balls all provided free.

🤖MSC Connected Environments students at UCL East are showcasing free art and tech show Sense, Deploy, Communicate from Thurs 16th Jul - Aug 2nd. Check out the gadgets and digital tools tested and built all over the Olympic Park, trying to find new ways to connect tech with the real world.

🌮Get ready for a day of eating, drinking and dancing at A Willy Nice Day taking place at Hackney Bridge on Sat 18th Jul. You can grab tacos from Sonora Taqueria, pizzas from Dough Hands, hotdogs from Max’s Sandwich Shop, fried chicken from Around the Cluck, meat skewers from Auguste, and ice cream from Beku. The daytime outdoor kicks off at 1pm, with an indoor after-soiree running until 2am. Best of all, every single penny of profit from the ticket sales goes directly to Save the Children.

Check out local culture reviews, features & interviews every week on thisisthewick.com

🎙️Tonight at 7pm, Wed 15th Jul, it’s Open Mic Night at No90. Girls Dem Club will be taking over the boat for an evening of talent and energy, bringing a line-up of local singers, poets and performers together for some midweek summer fun.

🍹Pisco Disco is at Colour Factory on Thurs 16th Jul with headliner Chilean electronic underground DJ Raff, joined by AUKA, whose bass-heavy percussive sound draws on South African, Chilean and Welsh heritage. Pisco cocktails in hand, sunshine on your face and one complimentary drink on entry courtesy of ProChile.

💿Grow host their monthly Sweetnighter Summer Party on Fri 17th Jul, with SweetNightJoe bringing back Italian vinyl DJs Danger Boys (Whodamanny & Milord) for a night of vinyl disco, funk, and global grooves.

🌞Breakthewire Day Party will take place on Sat 18th Jul at Crate - featuring Tomoki Tamura, Cromby, Leeds collective Spud Sounds, and resident Amy Os.

💼 The Line are hiring for a Head of Development to drive fundraising and partnerships for their community and outdoor art programs. The full-time, permanent role is based at Here East with a hybrid office/wfh structure. The position offers a salary of £51,000, and the successful candidate will lead strategic income generation from public funding, trusts, and corporate sponsors. Applications by 5pm on Thurs 30th Jul.

🍸Gigi (of Fish Island’s own Pirate’s Hub) has started a fundraiser for new project Gwenda, an Italian-inspired cocktail bar and small plates restaurant that will be opening along the canalside this summer. Check out their campaign page here to watch the preview video, explore their early menu concepts, and help bring a vibrant new hub to the neighbourhood.

💡 Applications are open for Hackney Council’s Project Innovation Fund if you are a small, local community group, resident collective, or grassroots social enterprise with an income of less than £250,000. The grant is designed to help small organisations test out fresh community ideas, strengthen partnerships, and trial projects that support communities typically underserved by major systems. Application by Aug 31st via Hackney’s Grants Portal.

🏆 Submissions are open for the biennial East London Art Prize, a major platform celebrating the incredible diversity of art made in the cultural hive of East London. Headed by Bow Arts and supported by a network of local partners (including East Bank and the V&A East), the prize is open to artists living or working in eligible East London boroughs, including Hackney and Tower Hamlets. Twelve shortlisted artists will be featured in a group show with access to mentoring grants, while the overall winner will receive a £15,000 cash prize and a solo exhibition at the Nunnery Gallery in Bow. Apply by Aug 16th.

🏳️‍🌈 Hackney Council and Hackney Giving have launched their latest Pride365 Grants Programme. Grassroots groups, local creatives, and voluntary organisations can apply for funding to support LGBTQIA+ cultural activities and heritage projects that directly take place within the borough and engage Hackney’s local communities. Applications are open to organisations with a turnover of under £300,000, and the deadline to get your project proposal submitted is Jul 27th.

🖼️ Entries are now open for the 9th John Ruskin Prize, a multidisciplinary art prize open to all artists, designers and craftspeople, of all nationalities, aged 18 and over. Run by The big Draw, and supported by the Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust, this year’s theme invites you to question the role of the maker today - what does it mean to create with an awareness of consequence, while also posing the challenge: must art serve a purpose beyond itself? Selected works will be exhibited at Trinity Buoy Wharf in 2027, and four winners will receive prizes totalling £9,500. Apply before 17th Nov.

📕 The Wick Book is a 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 100 copies.

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