Lights, Camera, Action on the Midsummer Street Party

Our newest team-member and Development Administrator, Phil Chandler talks about his first few weeks at Spitalfields Music and being thrown in at the deep-end of cinematography!

Our Development Administrator, Phil

As the newest recruit to the Spitalfields Music team, I had envisaged my first few weeks being full of inductions, lots of reading and hunting out the best coffee shops. Little did I know that I was soon to be thrust into the world of online fundraising and amateur film-making, charged with the task of creating a video for our Midsummer Street Party fundraising campaign. Alongside our Development Manager Camille, and armed with little more filming experience than some shaky footage of a teenage Spanish holiday, we headed out into various Spitalfields locations to conduct some interviews with the Street Party organisers and participants.

After a few hours of fumbling with tripods and voice recorders, we reviewed our footage and created a short clip with the help of our in-house editing wizards. With our video deemed fit for public consumption, we put together the rest of our fundraising campaign and it was ready to go: our fundraising hit the web!

The project made for an exciting first month at Spitalfields Music, and donations for the Midsummer Street Party have been rolling in via the campaign’s Just Giving page. The party will capture the magic of Spitalfields and the diversity of its residents, and combine the fantastic work of both our Festival and Learning & Participation teams. Learn more about the day from the finished product of our first foray into filmmaking – and don’t forget to donate!

Check out Phil’s handiwork below!

Donations can be made online via www.justgiving.com/midsummer

Find out more about the Midsummer Street Party on the website.

My favourite place for… delicious pancakes

In a Shrove Tuesday special of Our Favourite Places, Spitalfields Music’s Development Manager, Camille De Groote divulges her passion for pancakes courtesy of our local Crêpeaffaire.

When I was asked to share my favourite place in Spitalfields with our blog readers, I did not have to think twice! Crêpeaffaire is my favourite place in Spitalfields, bien sûr. I am a massive pancake fan; whatever shape or size they come in – with egg and salmon for breakfast, delicious ham and cheese for lunch or yummy chocolate crêpes for desert! Every Saturday morning I make fresh pancakes – it’s my start to the weekend. However, during the week, having access to delicious crepes only 10 steps from our office is perfect! I always look forward to picking up my favourite snack on the way to our awesome Festival venues (Christ Church Spitalfields, Shoreditch Church, Village Underground and many more!)

Crêpeaffaire is my favourite place, because they do my favourite food, and they do it incredibly well indeed! I could do with a Bananalicious crêpe right now – banana and Belgian chocolate, mmmmmmm!

Camille De Groote
Development Manager

Crêpeaffaire, Spitalfields is at 16 Horner Square, Old Spitalfields Market, London EC1 6EW

Staff Pick: Christmas Market

With the Winter Festival starting in under 24 hours(!), our Development Administrator, Camille De Groote, shares why she thinks our opening event is not to be missed.

We are now well into December and as we all know, in London, I feel even more than anywhere else, there is absolutely no chance of escaping the Christmas madness that takes over the city – reindeer petting, fun (and slightly dangerous) ice skating, crazy shopping sprees, and much, much more …  For some, it’s a bit too much. For others (like me and I know at least one of my dear colleagues), it’s the best time of the year! So I will go around quite a few Christmas markets, but the one I look forward to the most, is our very own in Spitalfields!

Spitalfields Music’s Christmas Market will feature a gospel choir, a string quartet, a brass band and a magical puppetry group, and excerpts from the acclaimed Homeless Oratorio so it is fair to say that it is going to be one of a kind! Taking place in Crispin Place (part of Spitalfields Market), the market is free for all to enjoy. We will be raising funds for Crisis, a national charity for single homeless people, based just around the corner from Spitalfields, which does incredible work in the local community.

I am particularly looking forward to the performance by the Crisis puppetry group. I recently joined them for a rehearsal and I was mesmerised by the striking life-like characters of the puppets (which are handmade at Crisis!) and the touching acting of the puppeteers.

Come and join us for the festive launch of the festival. I promise, the groups performing will leave you with plenty of warmth to get you through the cold days!

The Christmas Market is from 12-4pm tomorrow, Saturday 10 December, in St Crispin’s Place, Spitalfields E1 Market.

P.S. don’t miss the Water Poet’s Christmas Fayre on Folgate Street after the Christmas Market closes!