Trinity Laban is launching Hope 4 Justice, a free outdoor event featuring a performance piece involving students from 26 schools.
Created as part of the Mayor’s London Borough of Culture project 2022, We Are Lewisham, over 1,000 young people will be protesting about the climate emergency at the event, using new songs and music, spoken word and choreography.
The creative team behind the project includes former London’s Young Poet Laureate Cecilia Knapp and choreographer and Trinity Laban alum Sarah Golding.
Part of the performance will be paying tribute to the memory of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, a local girl who was the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as the cause of death on her death certificate.
Zahra, a student from Brindishe Manor involved in the Hope 4 Justice event, said: ‘ Lewisham is my home, it always has been, but it's changing rapidly.The pollution is getting worse everyday, every minute, every second. Aren't you ashamed that the first person to die of pollution was a little girl from Lewisham, who was just like me? The songs that we will sing shows that we care, we care about Lewisham.’
Knapp said: ‘Having the voices of Lewisham’s young people and communities at the centre of this piece is crucial and so exciting; it is their future we are talking about with this piece.’
Another student from Brindishe Manor, Rosie, said: ‘These songs mean to me that we can make a change in Lewisham and make it safer for us to live in.’
Hope 4 Justice will take place at Mountsfield Park, Catford, on 18 June. Follow the event with the hashtag #TLHope4Justice
