| London: RampART 2009 and beyond... |
Despite rumours to the contrary, rampART Social Centre and Creative Space is very much alive, well and ready to connect.
We’ve had our problems over the past year, not least because we’ve been preparing for an eviction that hasn’t happened. Bowl Court was amazing but, ultimately, devastating. In its short life it showed us what a social centre can potentially realise but it also took energy and resources away from rampART and left us with a building in dire need of renovation and an exhausted and dissipated collective.
So much for the past. Now for the future...
A renewed rampART collective has been fixing up the building and getting it ready to be a fully functional social centre again. The bailiffs might come tomorrow but we’ve decided to take that chance. In the spirit of the social centres movement and in keeping with all temporary autonomous spaces, we’re living as if the future has already happened. This means that we’re ready to re-open the building for events, meetings, workshops, exhibitions, crash space and anything else that establishes a base for realising a more egalitarian and socially conscious world.
rampART already hosts the London Free School and the Radical Theory Reading Group and is the base for East London Food Not Bombs. We’ve established a rota to ensure better opening times and what we need now is proposals for projects which can make full use of the facilities. We’ve got a large library/meeting room, an even larger hall with a stage and our own PA system, as well as smaller meeting rooms and a well equipped kitchen.
We meet every Monday at 7pm to plan activities and hear proposals. If you need space to realise a project or if you’re already involved in one and want to meet others with the same aims we would love to meet you. Alternatively, if you would like to help run the social centre or would just like to find out more about rampART, come and join us for a cup of tea either at the meeting or at the first of our regular cafe evenings, January 15th 2009, starting at 7pm.
rampART Social Centre and Creative Space, 15-17 Rampart Street, E1 2LA
http://www.rampart.co.nr/