Stephanie and Alia with Anna and Lottie from Platform — Stephanie and Alia with Anna and Lottie from *Platform*

The day started out very rainy and cold. We thought it may be nice to wander through Burgess Park before breakfast. This is the largest park in Southwark, complete with a fishing lake and other sports facilities. It was a zone that was heavily bombed during the air raids of WWll and since it was unrecoverable, they decided to clear it up and make the area into a park. After a very brisk walk, a stop at Park Life Cafe for coffee, a Pan au Chocolat and Croissant, we enjoyed all the daffodils emerging in full bloom as the first signs of spring, then headed home to get some work done. 

Later we emerged to make our way back to Islington, about 5k North of Mondays visit to London Youth, to visit another youth agency called Platform. It was good that we left with ample time since after two buses, two trains and a two-hour ride through jammed traffic, we made it just in the nick of time to meet with Lottie Manzie and Anna Bennet. Thoroughly soaked and bedraggled, we came in the door and were promptly offered us a hot beverage and a seat at their in house Cafe. We found out that the Cafe, along with renting out their facilities to outside organizations during the hours youth are at school, help generate the funds needed to supplement the support they receive from the Borough of Islington, which pays for the building and their youth work. We were interested in this funding structure since it affords them a space is gorgeous and functional while allowing them to deliver wonderful programming. They are also able to hire some of their senior youth as part time staff, one of whom guided our tour through the spacious building. He walked us through the many studios including drama, music, recording/sound and a computer lab describing some of the programming and skills he had learned in his years there. We passed through the beautiful mirror lined dance studio where we encountered a youth taking advantage of the free space to practice his dance routine, before ending off in the basement which he described as his favorite room in the building; an large grotto flex space perfect for a teen night dance party or show.

Platform is part of a set of youth services in the neighbourhood, including Lyft and Rosebowl. All of these locations offer varied arts programming for teens ages 13-19. While they don’t necessarily share our mandate in art for social change, they described finding that through their creative programming, thier youth often end up leaning towards leadership projects that make a difference in their community resulting in ‘art for social change’ to emerge as a natural outcome. Islington is also a high needs area with many marginalized populations, which is why Platform was mandated by the Borough. We noticed the correlation to Calgary’s landscape; where areas deemed low income and high needs tend to be (fittingly) highly socially serviced. While sometimes almost feeling over serviced, we did not see this as a negative thing, as the need is there and youth from the area are provided with free and diverse programming, while youth from all around the City also travel to the community to access these valuable services. We ended off our visit back in the Café as youth started pouring into the building after school. It ended up being our favorite place in the building, as it seemed like a space youth felt at home in, with a mural painted across the wall by some of their own, and a sense of comfort and belonging where they could intermingle, play games and connect.

Beautiful architecture at Battersea Arts Centre — Beautiful architecture at *Battersea Arts Centre*

Warmed up and inspired, we snapped a couple pictures, said our goodbyes and went on our way to find some dinner before seeing a show at Battersea Arts Centre, the parent company of Doorstep Arts, which is the company that brought us on this trip. The Arts Centre is in an old 1891 Suffolk red brick and bath stone building repurposed from an old town hall, and later damaged by a major fire in 2015. It features towering stone columns, chipping plaster frescoes, a beautifully tiled floor of a multitude of colours, and a maze of eerie corridors and stairwells. As recommended by Jade of Doorstep Arts, we used our time before the performances to explore the charming building chock-a-block full of art installations around each corner and in every nook and cranny. From interactive pieces where you need to balance items or collaborate with friends to complete a circuit and make a variety of sounds, to pretty dancing dandelions in seed, to embroidered tapestries about kindness, there is a little something wonderful at each turn. One of our favourites was the animated exit sign where a little green fella comes to life, goes on adventures and raises and closes actual curtains. Also, the “joy” piece was great: You high five a wall and then a chandelier of hands applauds happily. 

Fairness by Kristy Harris and Josef Stanley-Jackson, installation at Battersea Arts Centre — *Fairness* by Kristy Harris and Josef Stanley-Jackson, installation at Battersea Arts Centre

Determination by Nik Ramage — *Determination* by Nik Ramage

Hope by Caroline Russell, installation at Battersea Arts Centre — *Hope* by Caroline Russell, installation at Battersea Arts Centre

After exploring the building, we watched the show Daughter, which is actually by a Canadian collaborative, although we never managed to catch it while in Calgary. This piece, a 70-minute monologue enacting male fragility, toxic masculinity and mis-guided cultural norms, was powerful, intense and off putting as you are led to fall in hate with the main character. The Bouffon influenced piece is a reflection of society with elements that everyone can reluctantly recognize and relate to. When the piece ended and the lights went out, there was an instant sigh of relief from the audience. We were left feeling pitted and uncomfortable and so remained glued to our seats for the post-show talk, which was very helpful in breaking down the goals and revelations of the impactful work.

Adam Lazarus: Daughter image courtesy of Battersea Arts Centre — *Adam Lazarus: Daughter* image courtesy of Battersea Arts Centre

After, still reeling from the intensity, we were guided through the immersive virtual reality experience “Unreal City”, a 30 minute tour for 2 participants at a time. With a virtual reality headset, we were physically led through a world where we could interact with people with disabilities and learn to understand some of their barriers.  Unreal City played with our sense of what is reality and what is not as we explored the fabricated world, walking through the screen at the ‘theatre’, down a corridor, and into the ‘bedroom’ of one of the actors, where we took off our headsets to find ourselves in the real physical bedroom accompanied by the in real life character from the show; a non-virtual performance imbedded into the middle of the show. We left Battersea late but inspired and ready for a new day.

Unreal City image courtesy of Battersea Arts Centre — *Unreal City* image courtesy of Battersea Arts Centre

Platform And Battersea Arts Centre, Thursday March