Press Release: 20 November 2020   Illusionarium, the Havering festival of illusion and light will return for 2021 and there is up to £3,000 available for commissions in Romford Town Centre! Romford BID, Havering Changing and The Mercury Shopping centre have joined forces to support a festival for the borough in January, come rain or shine and they are asking local businesses and residents to be part of the fun.   The first opportunity in the build up to the event includes the opportunity to create a public artwork to be displayed as part of a family trail in Romford TownCentre, and the festival team are urging local businesses and creatives to apply.   “A light festival is a great opportunity to celebrate during the dark months of January and February and we would love to see as many local people and businesses to get involved as possible. We know that we have a huge community spirit in Romford and Havering and would like to help make that truly grow in the new year!” say...

The 4th annual Romford Film Festival kicks off today with 'Kings of Mulberry Street' - a feel good film from South Africa where two local boys try to defeat local crime lords through Bollywood charm and 'Puppet Killer' a pseudo horror comedy that cleverly utilises every classic Horror Movie in its screentime to have you rolling in your seats! We are really proud that the festival is going ahead in its physical form and showing almost 200 films from around the world in 5 days. It could posibly be the first one since the covid-lockdown in March. It is so important that we do not let the pandemic collapse the great independent film networks that are created through festivals and we hope that the independent film industry is robust enough to prevail! We have been working with the festival since its creation, voluntarily supporting the brand, design and student volunteers that usually run the day to day festival - we also support the running of the ECG Film Festival that run...

It’s been bubbling up in the background for a while, but we can finally announce the creation of a ‘brand-spanking-new’ social artists network in Havering ! Created by the self-proclaimed-uber-social local collectives Brennan and Burch, Bluerskies Mindful Creatives & The NO Collective. Our first socially distanced gathering will be in two weeks where we will watch some short films at The Romford Film Festival and have a chat! Simple but effective! Wednesday 18 August 5:45pm (films start at 6pm) to 8:30pm Premiere Cinemas The Mercury Shopping Centre Mercury Gardens Romford RM1 3EE We have been craving a creative network locally for a long time, and hopefully we will do our local artists justice. Booking is essential, but payment is not! For now our network will be ran voluntarily, and we will always do our best to keep it cheap and cheerful! Especially considering our creative economy at present! You can find more about YAYmates in our community page on our website click HERE #com...

On June 17th, Natalie, our co-founder and MD was asked to host an international conference on the importance of cultural regeneration and creativity in public spaces. Organised by OCA Magazine and The Eurasian Creative Guild, 11 countries were represented in the call with over 25 participants joining to speak about their work and to gain inspiration for post-COVID-19 projects from each other. The main discussion points meandered around how although artists are innately flexible to their working conditions, our inspiration within public art is the positive change for its audience (the people) and members of the public should be central in reviving a creative presence in towns and cities around the world. Whether this be by online discussions, postal activities or socially distanced gatherings, the people are the beating heart of the city and there is duplicative and catalysing power between residents and artists working together. You can watch the full conversation at ‘ECG TV’ the offic...

The NO Collective were commissioned to organise a 'Havering Changing' test event in January 2020. Havering Changing is a new programme funded by 'Arts Council England' and aims to revitalise engagement in culture and creativity in Havering under it's 'Creative People and Places' national programme. We created and facilitated eight light & illusion themed artworks for the festival which lasted for the whole of January. The sculptures (many interactive were made alongside local artists, art students, local people and staff of The Mercury Shopping centre, where the sculpture trail was based.  Here are some images of some of the works including 'Romford Consellation' which was produced collaboratively by members of the public at a special family ' Make Day' hosted by The NO Collective's Gill, 'The Cloud' w hich was designed and conceptualised by Havering College students, Bluerskies Creatives and collaboration facilitated by ...

The Brooklyn International Performance Art Festival Is the Best Thing To Do This Month!   Performing as part of the wider NO Collective - we will be performing 'BIPAF' as part of the festival, hosted in Brooklyn New York.   Hyperallergenic.com  says:   "While most Americans celebrate Independence Day with backyard barbecues and booze, in Brooklyn we’ll be celebrating with the launch of the Brooklyn International Performance Art Festival (BIPAF), which, as you may expect, isn’t your typical art festival.   With 12 spaces, 24 days, and some 200 participants, BIPAF is more of a mass performance, where everyone from performance artists and curators to critics and gallery directors is working together to perform a festival. It’s an event comprised of hundreds of events; it’s grassroots and communal;  it’s an informal institution offering institutional critique"