Havering Rising!

Havering Rising! is the second season of A Good Life – a borough-wide programme designed to improve access to activity, support wellbeing, and strengthen Havering’s creative sector.

After the first nine months of establishing Havering London as a new organisation, Havering Rising! marks a moment where this programme begins to be felt more visibly across the borough. It’s about turning ambition into action: embedding culture in public space, supporting local creativity, and developing the conditions for a more connected and confident Havering.

Central to this season are new Our Stories community commissions, funding local artists and residents to tell the stories they want to tell about the places and people where they live. Alongside this, our beautiful and deeply personal Poetic Place programme continues to bring spoken word into the everyday, onto hoardings and billboards, fostering a sense of belonging and pride.

For the first time, Havering London unveils major new public art commissions by internationally renowned artists Richard Woods and Joanne Tatham & Tom O’Sullivan. These works mark a seminal moment for Havering, creating permanent cultural works championing local heritage. From celebrating Havering’s green spaces with Wood’s commission, to reflecting on the present and future through Tatham & O’Sullivan’s new piece for Romford, these commissions place art at the heart of the public realm.

Running alongside this is the continued development of Havering’s A Green Life artwork, shaped through workshops across the borough. This work asks how creativity can help us rethink our relationship with the natural environment – encouraging collaboration, improving biodiversity, and imagining a greener, healthier place to live and work.

A standout beacon of Havering Rising! is the Community Venue Network: 13 community organisations receiving over £150,000 in capital investment to expand cultural activity where people live. This co-operative, place-based model is a world-leading approach to cultural infrastructure, demonstrating how shared resources can create richer, more resilient opportunities. The network opens its doors to the public on A Good Life Day on Saturday 21 March, inviting residents to see the collaboration in action.

This summer, Market Town is one of the most ambitious moments of the season – a large-scale celebration of Romford’s 775-year-old market. Developed in partnership with Romford BID and Greenwich+Docklands International Festival, the project animates Romford through Suburban Legends, mass participation and public spectacle. At its centre is the reimagining of the historic Romford fountain Meet Me by the Fountain: a new light and sound work that documents Romford’s history while confidently reclaiming it for the 21st century.

Havering Rising! also launches Mega Mega: Romford’s Suburban Sound Revolution, beginning with the announcement of its curators and the start of a major new heritage project. Led by Curator Katherine Green and Executive Producer Danny Donelly, founder of Suburban Base Records and the legendary Boogie Times Records, the project celebrates Romford’s nationally and internationally significant contribution to music and club culture.

In July, Skatepark Revived will celebrate one of the UK’s only Grade II listed skateparks, Rom Skatepark, as it enters a new phase of renewal and long-term sustainability. New commissions from young people, street artists and a filmmaker capture this pivotal moment, honouring the park’s past while shaping its future as a valued civic space.

Havering London is partnering with Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch to work with Dr Nic Abraham, whose innovative Digital Wonder is exploring ‘Escape Room’ digital technologies in Havering schools, working with older adults as part of Creative Health Havering ambitions and introducing new technologies for young people in alternative provision.