Croydon announces year of music and art events

Croydon has unveiled a yearlong timetable of music and art events as London Borough of Culture 2023.

Street festivals, dance, music and theatre productions will run from April until March 2024.

The programme was arranged by This is Croydon, a partnership between residents, cultural groups and the council.

Jason Perry, the borough's executive mayor, said it was a chance to "showcase" the people of Croydon.

The year of events will begin with Oratorio of Hope at Fairfield Halls, a performance led by London Mozart Players and Grammy-nominated and Croydon-educated Tarik O'Regan.

It will include more than 250 of the borough's young singers and instrumentalists.

In April, Caribbean Influencers, an exhibition developed by the Museum of Croydon, the National Portrait Gallery, artists, volunteers and the borough's Poet Laureate Shaniqua Benjamin will open.

Other events include a Music Heritage Trail and the first play about Croydon's black composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, premiering in June.

The borough, which is home to artists Stormzy and Loyle Carner, will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop with a range of events.

By Harry Low, BBC London

There is a frisson of excitement at Boxpark as the borough of Croydon takes the torch from Lewisham.

The dancers and dignitaries might have descended on East Croydon, but the razzamatazz is unlikely to provide much of a consolation to those residents worried about how they will find the cash to cover the 15% rise in council tax that comes in next month.

Street traders at Surrey Street market say the cost of living and the rise in rates will only make life more difficult.

"It's going to kill people… it's getting worse," said Jonny Herbert, a trader for 63 years.

Pollock's Toy Museum, forced to close earlier this year, will pop up in the Whitgift Centre and, the Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra will return to the UK for the first time in 20 years for a concert.

Caterina Loriggio, creative consultant for Croydon London Borough of Culture, said she hoped the year of events would "enable change".

The London Borough of Culture programme is a cultural policy from the mayor of London, and is supported by Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Sadiq Khan said that This is Croydon will be a "spectacular celebration of the borough's unique identity".

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