28 Jun Go Africa Summer Festival 2023 – Inspiring the Community

Members of the FC Designer Workspace were pleased to take part in the annual Go Africa Summer Festival held all day on Saturday 24th June,  with the community of Andover Estate & Six Acres.

The Go Africa Community Hub CIC’s main purpose is to improve the Islington African Diaspora communities and neighbours understanding of each other’s cultures and is a movement to mobilise the Islington African Diaspora creative communities, in particular, the Islington South & North area to collaborate and showcase positive skills, talent, art, cuisine, literature, and African World music. 

The Go Africa Festival 2023, part of the Mayor of London’s Cultural Community Programme, aims to inspire pride and community visibility for the Islington African Diasporas and to integrate with the wider borough. A range of Islington based businesses and organisations set up stalls to showcase the various services. These ranged from food, music and youth projects and included our own FC Designer Workspace offering of workshops, courses, studios and hiring facilities.

Anna from the Go Africa team commented on the festival: “On behalf of everyone at Go Africa Community Hub, I wanted to give you all a warm thank-you for the support you gave to us to make the event a true achievement. The day was blur to be honest, I lost a stone running around, however Hawi (from FC Designer Workspace) was great so humble.

“The local community having the opportunity to meet each of you and to talk to you as well as the young business start ups from the African  Diaspora made everyone feel special. Most importantly that the voices of the local community were heard.

“I also want to thank the Team at Brickworks, OCN, Bright Start, the Islington Community Partnerships and ClayTime CIC, Metrobox, London Metropolitan University, Supporting Homeless People, 54 Corker Walk, Andover Community and Minority Matters for supporting us and allowing us to use their areas to bring the community together during these hard times with the cost of living crisis – to smile, socialise and party, especially the children of Andover Estate and beyond.

“The energy people created was tangible and I would love for all of us to work together to keep this positive spirit to continue.”

Hawi added: “The Go Africa event provided a great opportunity to introduce what we do at the FC Designer Workspace to the local community. I was happy to speak to the residents about what we do and show examples of the garments created at the space. It was a busy day and I met many people interested in the upcycling and stitching classes.”