Developer Landsec, the owners of Lewisham shopping centre, is backing Brockley Max with a sponsorship deal largely focused on legacy projects in recognition of Brockley Max’s 25th anniversary.
The support from Lewisham Shopping Centre will help towards the costs of this year’s community arts festival and fund a range of initiatives celebrating the festival’s long-standing contribution to the local arts scene.
A key project will be the creation of a self-guided mural trail, with a specially commissioned map by cartographer and former Brockley resident Clare Seldon. It will feature artworks commissioned by the festival organisers during the past 25 years.
Murals in Brockley, Ladywell, Crofton Park and Honor Oak as well as some well-known examples in central Lewisham will feature on the map.
Three new murals will also be commissioned as part of this year’s Brockley Max festival.
One will be located on the exterior of Pistachios café in Hilly Fields, celebrating the park’s importance to the local community, with another on the gates of the Ladywell Playtower site.
Lewisham Shopping Centre will also commission a mural on the Molesworth Street façade of the site. Local artists are invited to submit ideas for the mural from now until April 17.
Brockley Max will oversee the commissioning process, collaborating with Lewisham Shopping Centre’s in-house art team.
A similar project run by Lewisham Retail Park developers Amro in conjunction with Brockley Max last year saw artists Matilda White and Luke Smile create artworks celebrating singers and entertainers from the borough.
Developer Landsec has ambitious plans for the redevelopment of Lewisham shopping centre which will include the building of about 1,700 new homes and a large park built on the roof of the new centre. It is also planning a 500-capacity culture, music and arts venue on the site.
Art installations and performances by people with lived experience of sanctuary seeking will orm part of the programme at the iconic Max In The Park day festival on Saturday June 6.
Accompanied with storytelling and workshops, these will celebrate and reaffirm Lewisham’s status as the UK’s first Borough of Sanctuary and will also mark the 130th anniversary of Hilly Fields park being saved as a green space for the community.
Applications are open for refugees and those from a sanctuary-seeking background interested in creating art installations, hosting workshops and storytelling opportunities during the festival. Details can be found at https://brockleymax.co.uk/jobs/