Lucy Peters: print portfolio

Lucy Peters Writer and editor Campaigns: print / digital 1. We are Southbank Centre The brief: we know who we are. Now it's time to tell the world.

2. Name a Seat The brief: so, why would you want to name a seat in Southbank Centre's Queen Elizabeth Hall?

Storytelling: print Here's a sample of some of the long-form stories I've told about Southbank Centre in print.

we are...

50

%

free

half of all our events are free. that’s right – performances, concerts, gigs, exhibitions, talks, debates and activities – for zilch. nothing. nada. we think art should be for everyone, whatever you’ve got in your pockets. just take a seat.

we are

we are...

5,700 events it’s a lot to fit into a single year. whether you want music or art, a show or a debate, a dance workshop for toddlers or a world-class concert by one of our four resident orchestras, there’s always something to put in the calendar.

we are

we are...

5.1

million

visitors

that’s how many of you walked through our doors last year (and 96% want to come back again). millions more came to enjoy our festivals, and 414 of you chose us for your wedding. congratulations, by the way.

we are

we are...

37

UK towns and cities we don’t think you should have to come to London – we’ll come to you. half a million people across the UK saw our exhibitions last year and our festivals travel around the country from Doncaster to Derry.

37 towns and cities? that’s just the beginning.

we are

we are... supporting

gender equality we believe that a world where women can fulfil their potential is better for everyone. one million of you have joined us at our festival Women of the World to help us make this vision real. last year, The Sunday Times named us one of the Top 50 Employers for Women. well, we had to start somewhere.

we are

She heard an orchestra for the first time

here

My mum and dad met on a blind date

here

I discovered I loved classical music

here

He took me out every Saturday night

here

This month: Being A Man festival (see pages 6 – 7)

N A M A G BEIN val 2015 i t s fe DOC BROW

ACTOR & CO N MEDIAN

CHARLIE COND ACTOR

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OU

vourite song What’s your fa man? about being a e’ by the Manic ‘A design for lif s. It's not solely er ch ea Street Pr (it deals with ity lin about mascu ation too), but class and educ in ‘We don’t talk ny iro the bitter ly want to get on about love/we volumes. drunk’ speaks k vourite ar twor What’s your fa ? an created by a m hin’ by Sir David lp do a th wi ‘Boy a se el Ch Wynne, on I used to pass it t. en m nk ba em and was of ten as a child delicate its by transfixed sense of e th by d an e, grac d. ye la sp di it freedom

approach to lif to me that th e basically said ere is no such as a perfect thing man, but you ca always tr y to be a better on n e.

What’s your favourite ar twork created by a man?

‘Christina’ by A Modigliani. H medeo is was the fi rst book of ar t I ev engrossed in er found myself . I found a bo ok my dad had lyin g ar was about 12 ound when I – it featured sexiest nude the paintings I’v Who is your e ever seen to this male role m da odel, the man you something so y. There was just most admir allu e? th Probably Ric e way he pain ring about hard Pryor. H ‘Christina’ is ted women. e overcame ch not a nude bu ild way he capt and racism an abuse, povert y ures her eyes t the d became on and that one loos the greatest e e en blouse has m strap of her time. As an ac tertainers of all ade her my tor, writer an eternal drea comedian I ob d m woman. vi to him profes ously look up sionally, but What’s the on as a man who ne e thing ever ver shied aw y man should from his mis ay own? takes, guilt or regret, he is E m pathy. massively inspirationa l. His whole

IT’S A MAN’S MAN’S MAN’S FESTIVAL How does being a man affect your journey through life?

EKOW ESHUN

WRITER & BROADCASTER

What kind of man do you want to be?

Who makes the rules about masculinity anyway?

Experts, policy makers and contributors from different fields try to answer these questions and others like them at BAM – Being a Man festival, now in its second year at Southbank Centre. There are talks about topics including fatherhood, lad culture, men behind bars, friendship and the work/ life balance, as guests from think-tanks and charities get together to break down the issues As John Donne said, no man is an island, and we get our ideas about who we want to be from our parents and families, from our friends and colleagues, from media and culture and from our private enjoyment of art. As the festival begins, we’ve asked some of the men involved to share the biggest influences on their masculinity and give us a personal take on being a man in the 21st century.

BAM – Being A Man takes place from Friday 27 – Sunday 29 November

MAT T HAIG

NOVELIST

role model, Who is your male admire? t os m u yo an the m I wanted to When I was a child There was a . od wo be Clint East on on TV as Clint Eastwood se films. his all d he tc and I wa er ything I He epitomised ev ould be. And sh an m a t gh thou e of me. He sit po op e he was th rdly had to ha was so tough he he didn’t es im et m So k. spea hung out He e. m na even have a and en m with beautiful wo bad guys. ot sh d an ns ta orangu e world was a It seemed like th u were Clint. simple place if yo a difference? who are making Who are the men e destabilising e are those who ar o are honest nc re ffe di a ing The men mak eans. Men wh ply at being a man m stereotypes of wh or mental health problems or sim el fe ty ali all xu we se at eir th about th lnerabilit y an feelings of vu out. ab lk ta n’t ld about those hum ou el, as men, we sh but sometimes fe

DJ NIHA

L

What’s your favourite song about being a man?

‘If I was Your Girlfriend’. It’s a strange and beautiful song about all the things it’s hard to do as a man like express need and softness and a desire for intimacy. Men often assume that masculinity is about projecting strength and denying weakness. Here Prin ce suggests the opposite – that real strength is about the abil ity to express vulnerability and openness. I’m with him on that .

What’s your favourite artwork created by a man?

Ralph Ellison’s novel The Invisible Man. It’s a deeply poetic book about maleness, blackness and the psychology of race and prejudice and difference. It’s also absurdist and satirical and a delight to read. It’s a book I turn to time and time again as a way of making sense of the world around me. Without it in my life I’d be quite lost.

R ADIO P RESENT ER &

BROADC A

STER

Is there any thin g else yo The Bein u want to g A Man share ab fe who I am out bein as a hus stival has genuin g a man? about co band, fa ther, son ely helped me to nversati , brother ons ove r where I s reappra b is li a To questi p into an old-sc anter, to questi nd friend. To thin e on ho o being an n what masculi ol way of thinkin [those momen k ts n Essex-b orn lad. it y means and n g and combat th ] ot feel g a uilt y abo t. ut 3

Coming soon: Big Wedding Weekend

A WEDDING LIKE NO OTHER Are you popping the question this Valentine’s Day? Did you put a ring on it under the mistletoe?

Or do you wish you could? It can be a long journey to achieve that magical walk down the aisle, but this summer, lucky couples have the chance to make their big day effortless in a massive celebration at Royal Festival Hall.

Usually, betrothed couples have to reckon with seating plans, bouquets, the perfect white dress or dapper suit, and the cost of getting everyone together to celebrate.

But at the Big Wedding Weekend we can help organise everything for as little as £2,450.

For £2,450, enjoy • A ceremony

• Photos

• A band

• Entertainment

• Flowers

• Up to 40 guests*

And for £3,450, enjoy all of the above plus • A sit-down meal

We’re inviting happy couples to get married together on the famous Royal Festival Hall stage, before enjoying a spectacular party. It’s a chance to feel like a star as you enjoy your big moment on the stage where legends like Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Nicks and Miles Davis performed, in a building loved by millions of Londoners.

THE BIG DAY Big Wedding Weekend takes place on Saturday 27 August 2016, as part of Southbank Centre’s dazzling Festival of Love.

*Extra guests can be invited at additional cost

Over 100 couples have got married with us to date.

We asked some of them about the experience…

‘Our two sisters, who lived in a shared house in Camden, thought we'd be perfect together so they cunningly devised a ruse to set us up on a blind date.

Despite Caroline tripping on her heels 20 yards along the road (and literally falling for Simon) we took a chance on a second date in Brighton where Simon romantically held Caroline's hand on the roller-coaster – well actually, to be honest, it was fear!

‘Seventeen years later, we wanted to celebrate our partnership with a really grand gesture and what could be more spectacular than [to do it] on the stage with a choir and an organist at one of London's most iconic 20

Caroline and Simon

venues. There were so many memorable moments, from the morning preparation through to the speeches and the evening reception. However, walking down the aisle followed by our three children to the fanfare of music and the cheering of the crowd really did set the heart soaring.’

Jon and Sinéad ‘We had our son, Levi, in March and time (and money) was always going to be an issue when planning a wedding. The package that the Big Wedding Weekend offered was fantastic and the price was excellent too. Plus we got to get married at a world-famous music hall in a fantastic and different way!

We had known each other for a few years but bumped into each other on a night out and it was pretty obvious there was something there straight away. Sinéad texted her friend that night to say she had met the man she was going to marry... and she had!

‘The ceremony was magnificent. The music, the setting, the atmosphere, seeing all the other couples and their guests and being able to share our special moments together… it was truly incredible.’

‘To be on the great stage was truly memorable... It was such a special moment for both of us and our friends and family.’

Rita and Rob

Since 1951, Royal Festival Hall has seen the best artists in the world take to its stage. Here are just a few of the famous names who have stood in the spot where you’ll say ‘I do’.

Kate Bush

Miles Davis

Bob Dylan

Stevie Nicks

Joni Mitchell

Daniel Barenboim

David Bowie

Jacqueline du Pré

Patti Smith

Rita and Rob

‘It was Rita's birthday and I, Rob, had just moved to the area. I spotted Rita walking past me in the local pub and jumped up to buy her a drink.

We couldn't stop smiling at each other and nearly three years to the day, we were smiling again on stage at the Royal Festival Hall.

auditorium, music, art and views were amazing.

‘We wanted to do something special and we love the South Bank. When we found out that there was going to be a wedding weekend, we jumped at the chance.

Coming in for the rehearsal, we knew straight away it was the venue for us. The staff,

‘To be on the great stage was truly memorable. When we were signing the register, the choir sang 'It must be love', and as we turned around, the whole audience were on their feet singing to us! It was such a special moment for both of us and our friends and family.’

Rosie and Sara

‘We met courtesy of DIVA magazine! For two years we spent weekends alternating between Southampton and Aberystwyth. Rosie kept telling Sara that moving to mid Wales would be the best thing she ever did and eventually Sara agreed with her.

‘Our first meeting was at Waterloo station, so getting married at Southbank Centre, 14 years later, felt like completing the circle. The whole day was fabulous. If I had to choose a favourite bit, walking down the ‘aisle’ at the start was pretty amazing!’

To book your place at Big Wedding Weekend, find out more or attend a free open evening email weddings@southbankcentre.co.uk 21

This month:

Nordic Matters

Detectives in snowflake jumpers.

IKEA meatballs. Abba. Hygge. The Northern Lights. The Nordic countries loom large and mysterious in our imaginations. But do we know as much about them as we think we do?

From January until December this year, Southbank Centre’s Nordic Matters journeys into the heart of the region to uncover strange truths, enviable statistics, and the problems that haven’t yet been solved. We investigate the headline stories of the Nordic nations, including victories for gender equality, the countries’ unique approach to young people’s rights, and traditional methods of sustainable living.

The twelve-month programme offers insights into the Nordic way of life through music and dance, theatre and literature, art and design, fashion and food, and talks and debates.

To give you a taste, here are some facts that might surprise you about the Nordic countries – and some insights from a few of our experts.

Nordic Matters takes place throughout 2017.

Chosen from a number of international applicants, Southbank Centre is the sole recipient of a grant from The Nordic Council of Ministers for a new festival celebrating the very best of Nordic art and culture.

The festival takes place throughout 2017 and is one of the biggest cultural-political partnerships of its kind.

The Council brings together representatives of the governments of Denmark, Sweden, Norway Finland and Iceland, as well as the three autonomous areas, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland Islands.

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Greenland Greenland is 80% ice.

Due to climate change, it is melting at 287 billion tonnes per year (that’s 110 million Olympic-size swimming pools).

The Sámi

The Inuit people make up 88% of Greenland’s population.

10% of the Sámi people herd reindeer, owning an average of 70 each.

Iceland

The Faroe Islands

Iceland is inhabited by 319,000 people and 10,000,000 puffins.

The Faroe Islands are grazed by 70,000 sheep.

The islanders created one of the world’s most famous jumpers, worn by Sarah Lund in the TV show The Killing.

Iceland created the world’s first parliament. It was also the first country ever to elect a female leader.

(Norway, Sweden and Finland)

southbankcentre.co.uk 020 7960 4200

In their own words Nordic experts and artists discuss their homelands ‘Contrary to what people often think, Nordic countries are neither socialist nor collectivist. They are free-market, capitalist societies that have realized that in this day and age, there are a few basic services that a country has to provide for its citizens to ensure innovation, efficiency and high quality of life. I mean policies such as paid parental leaves, affordable day care, great public schools, free higher education, universal healthcare and smart government.’

Anu Partanen, author of The Nordic Theory of Everything

Åland Islands

Why does the world love Swedish music?

Norway Norway aims to become climate neutral by 2030.

However it is the 8th largest exporter of oil in the world.

Sweden Sweden exports more chart music (for its size) than any other country.

Sweden was the first country in the world to offer paternity leave.

90% of Swedish fathers now take it.

‘Inaction on climate change, increasing xenophobia, widening political polarity, growing gender inequality, the heavy reliance on the petroleum sector…’

Moddi, Norwegian singersongwriter and activist

Faroe Islands

The UN ranks Norway number 1 for human development, gender equality and political stability.

What are the most important political issues Norway is currently facing?

Finland Denmark The Danes are often voted the world’s happiest people. However, 8% of the population take anti-depressants.

The Danes work fewer than 28 hours a week.

Two thirds have jobs in the public sector.

90% of Danes enjoy the same standard of living.

Finland was the first country in Europe to give votes to women.

Rated the least corrupt people on the planet (by Transparency International), the Finns are internationally renowned for their crime fiction.

Åland

‘I’m guessing it has to do with how good we are at speaking English, especially the pronunciation. In my case and in the case of many of my musician friends, we grew up able to learn instruments and had access to rehearsal spaces for young people.’

José González, Swedish musician What are your chief memories of growing up in Finland?

‘The winters are long and dark; summer is short but every day endless.’

Sophia Jansson, niece of Tove Jansson, creator of The Moomins

Camping is allowed everywhere on the 6,500 Åland islands.

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For a full list of events see pages 8 – 9

EVERYBODY DANCE NOW! TAKE TO THE FLOOR Want to join in? We’ve asked expert dancers from some of Urban’s dance companies in residence to share some steps. Try them out at home and then come to a free workshop to perfect your groove.

‘To dance tango,’ says Bruno from Tanguito, ‘you need to put yourself in the dance completely, forgetting the world around you.’ He and his partner Nati lead the Argentine Tango Social dance, which is hosted by DJ Tony Walker. ‘We can spot really good dancers by the quality of their connection with their partner – we talk about “one person, four legs.” Those who are shy will definitely benefit from tango.’

1&2 1. Tango is a partner dance, 5. The leader steps back with so find a friend and decide their right foot, placing it who will lead and who will behind their own left foot. follower follow.

At the same time, the follower takes two steps, 2. Assume the tango stepping forward with position: stand facing their left foot and then each other with the with their right foot, which leader’s left hand holding is placed next to the the follower’s right hand. leader’s right foot.

The leader’s right hand 4 should be on the follower’s 6. The leader swivels on their waist. The follower’s left heels and brings their left hand should be on the foot in to join their right leader’s upper arm. foot so feet are placed together. At the same 3. The leader takes a step time, the follower brings forward on the left foot, their left foot around their while the follower steps right foot so that their feet back on the right foot. The are placed together and leader then takes a step they are facing the leader. forward on the right foot, while the follower steps back on their left foot.

4. The leader steps to the left on their left foot, and leaves their right foot with its toe on the floor.

At the same time, the follower steps to the right on their right foot, and Find out more at the Argentine Tango Social leaves their left foot with Dance on Friday 25 March on The Clore Ballroom floor, from 12 noon until 4pm. the toe on the floor.

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‘Summer’s (almost) here and the time is right for dancing in the street...’

Our annual celebration of culture inspired by the city, Urban, has returned, bringing not only hip-hop karaoke, urban gardening and spoken-word poetry, but also dancers getting down in style in every corner of Royal Festival Hall.

BRUNO F ROM TAN GUITO PR ESENTS.. .

THE TANG O

leader

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A B

5

6

A

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southbankcentre.co.uk 0844 847 9911 Calls cost 7p per minute plus your phone company’s access charge.

ESENTS...

NA DANCE PR N E H C U M O E FR VICKI IGBOKW

1. Stand in a neutral position with your feet together 2. Step your right leg out to the side and then step your left leg to the right, so that you’re back in a neutral position 3. Repeat the move to the left: step your left leg out to the side and step your right leg to the left 4. You can think about it as step, together; step, together 5. Once you’re comfortable with the step, add your own groove with the rest of your body. When I teach this move, I like to think ‘too cool for school’! Let the beat be your guide and the pulse will set you free.

P THE TWO STE

‘Dancing is a sure way to a happier life’ says Uchenna Dance founder and creative director Vicki Igbokwe. And there’s the added bonus of learning some hot moves for your next work do or Friday night out.’ Vicki started Uchenna dance to share steps from house dance, waacking, vogue and African dance with students and performers. Her moves featured in the opening ceremony of London’s 2012 Olympic Games.

Uchenna Dance is in residence on The Clore Ballroom floor on Wednesday 30 and Thursday 31 March, from 1pm until 6pm.

ABIOLA F ROM Pineapple Community is a community dance empire, which has made dance available to teachers and communities in London and the UK for the past 15 years.

Instructor Abiola thinks there’s one big secret to great dancing: ‘If I teach someone a routine and they put their own little spin on it, that makes it more interesting to look at – and also if they look like they’re having a good time.’

PINEAPP LE COMM UNITY PR ESENTS.. .

THE SMU RF

Pineapple Community is in residence on The Clore Ballroom floor on Tuesday 29 March, from 2pm – 6pm.

TS...

PRESEN Y N A P M ANCE CO GANG D D IR B M FRO SIMEON

P M O T S G AN G D R I B THE

Simeon Qsyea thinks people should learn to dance because ‘it’s something that’s been in our history since man was made... As soon as there’s music or a simple drum beat or a tap or a click of the finger, there’s something that engages us and makes us want to move our bodies.’

The BirdGang Dance Company founder has brought thoughtprovoking hip-hop-based moves to the BBC, Sadlers Wells, the X Factor and The O2.

Birdgang Dance is in residence on The Clore Ballroom floor from Monday 4 – Wednesday 6 April, from 1pm – 6pm

1. Standing in a neutral position with your feet slightly apart, bend and straighten your knees so that you are bouncing to the beat 2. Make your right hand into a fist and slowly bring it in a half circle around and in towards your chest (this is on the one count) 3. Extend your arm as if you’re punching somebody (this is on the two count) 4. Drop it to your side and repeat with your left arm, one two 5. Once you’re comfortable, you can walk forwards instead of bouncing, or move your chest in and out, as if you’re breathing, to the one-two count

1. Stand with your feet slightly apart and your arms at your sides 2. Raise your left leg and bend your elbows so that your fists are at shoulder height 3. Stomp your foot and at the same time, send your fists down towards the floor and nod your head 4. Then with your feet planted on the floor, bop your head like the Churchill dog while rotating your upper body 360 degrees. Move your chest and shoulders to the front, then to the right, to the back, to the left and to the front again.

You’re swaying all the way round, as if you were drunk!

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This month:

London Literature Festival

HOW SOON IS NOW?

5 – 16 OCTOBER 2016

I SAW HUGE BUILDINGS RISE UP FAINT AND FAIR, AND PASS LIKE DREAMS…’ In 1895, the writer HG Wells imagined a time traveller’s journey through the fourth dimension, thousands of years into the future of London. He returns to tell a tale of fantastic landscapes, androgynous people and a society both horrifying, and mysteriously familiar.

USE OUR TIMELINE TO DISCOVER WHAT OUR EXPERTS PREDICT WILL TAKE PLACE OVER THE CENTURY TO COME.

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‘Within 10 years, cell phones are going to become our all: ID, passport, entry codes, inextricably linked to our identity with all our history carried around with us.’

- LAUREN BEUKES

‘I predict that we’ll happily eat in-vitro meat in 10 years time.’

-THOMAS THWAITES

25 YE ARS

10 YE

ARS

Through visions of society and technology, the future of gender and the changing natural world, yesterday’s science fiction provides strange hints of today’s realities. This year, our London Literature Festival investigates groundbreaking literature and asks writers and thinkers to imagine the future from the perspective of our rapidly changing times.

‘Trump will be revealed to be a sleeper agent for a sinister Illuminati-style government (I am being satirical, legal team of Donald Trump).’

- NIKESH SHUKLA

AUTHOR AND DESIGNER THOMAS THWAITES DISCUSSES TRANSHUMAN EXPERIMENTATION ON TUESDAY 11 OCTOBER. How do you think human relationships with other species will change in the years to come?

I think that the non-human animal rights project will succeed in its mission to see some animals granted some of the rights of humans… I’m interested in the idea of victimless meat: growing meat in vats rather than rearing a whole sentient being just so we can eventually eat its muscles.

MARGARET ATWOOD INTRODUCES HER NEW NOVEL HAG-SEED ON THURSDAY 6 OCTOBER. Which idea about the future proposed in your fiction would you posit as the most likely to come true?

Many are equally horrible, but it seems as if the use of the blood of young people to rejuvenate rich older people – as posited in The Heart Goes Last – is already in process.

RICHARD DAWKINS TALKS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF IDEAS ON TUESDAY 11 OCTOBER. What are your fears and hopes for the future?

My hope is that we will increasingly govern humanity’s affairs by reason, based on objectively and publicly verifiable evidence.

My fear is that this will not happen and that superstition, religion and prejudice will continue to plague the world.

ETGAR KERET PRESENTS HIS NEW BOOK OF ESSAYS, THE SEVEN GOOD YEARS, ON SUNDAY 16 OCTOBER.

AUTHOR AND JOURNALIST GAIA VINCE TALKS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE PLANET ON TUESDAY 11 OCTOBER.

I think that the greatest challenge was and will always be to serve as an interface between a child and a world that often makes very little sense. Technology may advance but human behavior will stay unpredictable and often difficult to explain.

‘In physics there’s a possibility that 50 years will be enough to deliver the long-sought Theory of Everything, and physics will reach quietus.’

-GAIA VINCE

-RICHARD DAWKINS

‘Will we still have a liveable planet 50 years from now? Kill the oceans and it’s game over for oxygen-breathing mid-range mammals – the oceans make 60-80% of our oxygen.

Superheating them and dumping them full of plastic may spell our doom. That’s the fear. The hope is that we’ll be smart enough to avoid this fate. Care to bet on it?’

‘Out beyond 50 years, selfsustaining colonies may be established on Mars. Human travel to other star systems lies way beyond 50 years, but radio communication from extraterrestrial scientists is an ever-present possibility.

However, the intervening light centuries will rule out conversation.’

-MARGARET ATWOOD

-RICHARD DAWKINS

NIKESH SHUKLA PRESENTS HIS NEW ANTHOLOGY, THE GOOD IMMIGRANT, ON THURSDAY 6 OCTOBER.

100 Y E

- LAUREN BEUKES

My fear is that we miss the opportunity to act as a cohesive global society to address the environmental challenges we face and end up in a situation in which a small population thrives but many struggle in poverty.

My hope is that instead we face up to the crises ... and negotiate a way to share the world’s resources.

‘In 50 years’ time, the majority of our energy will be generated from carbon-free sources.’

ARS

‘In 25 years, sex with robots or in virtual space will be normal, and in some cases, preferred.’

What are your fears and hopes for the future?

ARS

What challenges do you think parents will face ten, 25 or 50 years from now?

50 YE

YEAR S

southbankcentre.co.uk 020 7960 4200

LAUREN BEUKES TALKS ABOUT HER WORK IN SOUTH AFRICAN SCI-FI ON SATURDAY 15 OCTOBER.

What will immigration look like 50 years from now?

What are your hopes for the future?

It could go two ways. One way: Britain embraces the whole ‘no man is an island but Great Britain is so piss off foreigners’ ethos. And that’s it... what does Britain have to offer then?

Or it could go that Britain realises what good work is being done in the cities, in London, Bristol, Manchester and Birmingham, that it has an outward-facing attitude to the world ... and it’ll thrive because people love our big dumb accents. I don’t know. Can you tell I don’t feel hopeful?

I hope more men will figure out a meaningful way of being in the world, stepping away from the ridiculous and destructive ideals society holds them to, that we are complicit in, that masculinity is tough and savage, that they must be the providers and protectors ... and that anything less is a humiliation. Because that sense of powerlessness, that humiliation, fear and ego, drives domestic violence and homophobia, and kills compassion.

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This month:

Fashion Undressed

Saturday 23 & Sunday 24 July

Summer of style Creative genius Virginia Woolf once wrote, ‘Clothes change our view of the world and the world’s view of us.’ Get a new perspective on fashion this July, as Fashion Undressed with MasterCard reveals the ingenuity behind modern style.

Fashion Curator Sabrina Henry says: ‘We’re bringing together trendsetting companies and style-savvy individuals, amazing fashion inspirations and personal stories, for a weekend that gets to the heart of what we wear and why we wear it.’

Taking over Southbank Centre on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 July, Fashion Undressed with MasterCard features catwalks, workshops and screenings tailored to a range of tastes. Leading fashion changemakers such as writer Lou Stoppard and the Style Like U project are showcasing their innovations at curated spaces

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and panel discussions, while fashion performances promise to make you rethink the possibilities of the clothes you wear.

‘This is an event for everyone,’ says Sabrina, ‘whether you use clothes as self-expression or armour, to play a character or as camouflage. Come and make Southbank Centre your runway!’

southbankcentre.co.uk 020 7960 4200

Style it your way

Plan your Fashion Undressed Weekend You might want to take a dip in the world of style at Fashion Undressed, but which themes should you make sure to explore? Try our helpful quiz to find out what you should look out for over the weekend.

Do you read fashion magazines?

A O nly for ideas on how to restyle my existing wardrobe B Yes, but I wish the people in them looked more like me C Yes, I love being kept up to date with new developments in the world of style D Yes, but my style inspiration also comes from films, theatre, and works of art!

Who is your biggest style inspiration?

A Livia Firth - I’m impressed by the way she’s brought eco-friendly fashion to the red carpet B My mum - she can pull off anything, and there are decades of photos to prove it!

C Steve Jobs. You know we’re all going to be wearing Google Glass by 2020.

D Lady Gaga. From her lobster hat to her Alexander McQueen booties, she’s a fabulous fashion chameleon.

What are you hoping to find at the back of your wardrobe?

A A top I loved as a teenager, just waiting to be upcycled with some scissors, a glue gun and a bit of fringing B Those trousers I wore to my best ever birthday party – they’re irreplaceable C A cape which broadcasts my Tweets in sparkly blue LED D My favourite costume wig - every Tuesday should be a green hair Tuesday

How would you describe your style?

A B C D

Ethical and imaginative Individual and personal Up-to-the-minute and trendsetting Dramatic and creative

Mostly As

Mostly Cs

Get inspired by sustainable fashion.

Get the low-down on fashion and technology.

You might love clothes, but you don’t want your look to come at an environmental cost. Try our vintage fashion and upcycling events to reinvent the styles you love, and find out more about minimal buying – shopping more thoughtfully for a sustainable future. Plus, look out for our couture denim space, which incorporates a zone where you can rework your trusty jeans.

Mostly Bs Embrace your individual style.

You don’t want to look like an identikit magazine model – instead, you want what you wear to reflect your own individual taste and identity. At Fashion Undressed, check out an exhibition of alternative fashion films by motherdaughter team Elisa Goodkind and Lily Mandelbaum (Style Like U). Their motto is ‘your style is your story’ and their mini documentaries explore the search for self-acceptance that lies behind the way we dress.

A dyed-in-the-wool early-adopter, you want to know the latest updates in the world of style.

Check out panel discussions on technological innovations such as buying from the runway, and watch catwalk shows reviewed live.

Plus, catch Lou Stoppard, editor of groundbreaking digital platform SHOWstudio, sharing her insights from the frontiers of fashion. The award-winning fashion website broadcasts live from the catwalk.

Mostly Ds Enjoy the spectacle as we reinvent fashion.

Guaranteed to make a dramatic entrance, you think fashion should be fun! Immerse yourself in style inspiration over the Fashion Undressed weekend with film screenings and a Saturday club night. In between strutting your stuff, enjoy a fashion performance on The Clore Ballroom floor, choreographed by dance pioneer, Lea Anderson.

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Highlights this month: London Literature Festival (see pages10 – 13)

THERE SHE BLOWS! We’re setting sail this autumn straight into the heart of Herman Melville’s classic tale of maritime obsession, first published in 1851. Actors, writers, members of the public and Herman Melville’s great-great-great-granddaughter join us to perform the entire unabridged novel, with surprising contributions every day from illustrators, artists and musicians.

But before you hoist the mainsail and swab the decks, read on to find out more about one of the greatest novels of all time.

Moby-Dick Unabridged takes place from Thursday 1 – Sunday 4 October in The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall.

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CALL ME ISHMAEL ...So begins one of the classics of American literature, taking the reader on a voyage across the high seas as its narrator, Ishmael, sets out aboard the whaling ship Pequod under the command of Captain Ahab.

Ishmael soon discovers that Ahab is on a zealous quest for one particular whale, Moby Dick. This white whale is notorious for his colossal size and for his myriad fatal encounters with the whalers who pursue him. Ahab was one of those whalers – and lost not only his ship but his leg to Moby Dick. He is intent upon revenge, at any cost...

What ensues is a rollicking tale of adventure and tragedy, infused with the blood and gore of whale hunting, the reckless passion of a monomaniacal captain, and the battle between one man and the infinite power of the sea.

Melville plumbs the depths of good and evil in this story of desolate splendour, shot through with a dexterous comic wit.

The genius of Moby-Dick was recognised long after Melville’s death – now, it is one of the best-loved American novels and looms large in lists of the top 100 novels of all time.

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Image credits: Liza Klaussmann © Elizabeth Zeschin

Some of the contributors to Moby-Dick Unabridged share their thoughts about the best-loved sea voyage in literature.

THE REVEREND RICHARD COLES MUSICIAN, JOURNALIST AND PARISH PRIEST, ST MARY THE VIRGIN, FINEDON

A L KENNEDY AUTHOR

When did you first read Moby-Dick?

I first read Moby-Dick in my 20s and fell for it at once. I think, generally, it is the weirdness I like best, and in particular what passed for bedtime etiquette between 19th-century American whalers and tattooed strangers, and how to process a whale as you go along.

SAM TARADISH CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR (WITH JARRED MCGINNIS AND TOM BASDEN), THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP

BENJAMIN MARKOVITS AUTHOR What’s your favourite line, chapter or part of the story and why?

The basic story is a great story. I was telling it to my five-year-old son a few days ago and it made sense to him. A guy is trying to catch the terrible whale that took out his leg. Of course, what’s wonderful about the book is that it’s really a tasting menu of different genres, but the opening pages seem particularly good: Ishmael’s restlessness, desire to change his life, and the quiet decisions and adventures this leads him into, even before he sets sail.

TED HODGKINSON SENIOR PROGRAMMER OF LITERATURE AND SPOKEN WORD AT SOUTHBANK CENTRE

Why do you think Moby-Dick is still so loved?

You can read it as an adventure story but it also touches on universal themes with tremendous humour and insight. It asks deep moral questions, and leaves you wondering at the mystery of humanity and nature. And grateful not to be a harpoonist.

DENNIS JOHNSON CO-FOUNDER AND PUBLISHER, MELVILLE HOUSE

When did you first read Moby-Dick?

I first read Moby-Dick when I was a young man with a menial job and a long commute on a New York City subway, which is where I read a lot of great literature. As it turned out, being underground, in the belly of the beast, feeling rather overwhelmed as I pursued my dreams, was a fairly ideal place/situation in which to read this tale of a man working for a maniacally obsessive leader seeking to hunt down and kill a pristine, white creature in its own element.

Why do you think Moby-Dick is still so loved?

Because it’s bloody lovely. It grips your mind in a big salty velvet fist and doesn’t let you go. And it gives us Cormac McCarthy.

What’s the most interesting thing you know about whales?

I once tickled one on the tummy – they’re immensely sensual beasts. You can scrub at their heads the way you would scratch the head of a dog... which makes harpooning even slightly less pleasant as an idea. They may be big, but they feel as much as you do – fellow mammals that they are.

CHIBUNDU ONUZO AUTHOR

Who do you think is the best character?

For me Queequeg was the most interesting character. I think Melville does a really good job of showing how strange we all are to each other.

It was an early foray into cultural relativism (although the historian part of my brain winces at this transplanting of a 20th-century term to a time not its own). Nothing Queequeg does is strange to him and the character retains that cultural confidence, even when surrounded by Western norms, dietary practices et cetera.

It reminds me of the project that later African writers like Chinua Achebe would take up with novels like Things Fall Apart. The ‘natives’ were not savages. Their colonisers just didn’t have the tools to interpret their world.

What’s the most interesting thing you know about whales?

They swim in their sleep.

Who do you think is the best character?

I think the most interesting character is Stubb.

The second mate knows the majesty of the sea, the danger of a whaling life, and even has a sense of just how far wrong things may have gone with the captain. He knows that his life is a small, fragile thing in a contest with uncontrollable forces, and he still sets to the hunt with humour.

LIZA KLAUSSMANN AUTHOR AND GREAT-GREAT-GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER OF HERMAN MELVILLE

What’s your favourite line, chapter or part of the story and why?

The chapter that I find the most beautiful and the most arresting is the chapter that addresses one of the whale’s most obvious peculiarities: his colour...

In the chapter, Melville basically floats the idea that the essence of white – far from being honourable, or even benign – is in fact inherently evil, merciless; it is, he tells us, the colour of spiritual death. I love this idea – it’s so original and unusual, and so part of the greatness of the novel.

Then there’s structure itself: the chapter is an act of literary bravura, a perfect emotional history of the colour (or non-colour) white, from the divine to the apocalyptic (think of those four horseman). ‘And of all these things,’ Melville writes, ‘the Albino whale was the symbol.

Wonder ye then at the fiery hunt?’

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This month:

Moominland

TOVE JANSSON IN MOOMINLAND Forests and tents, islands and seas, friendly creatures and extraordinary adventures. This month, enter Royal Festival Hall to leave London behind and travel to the enchanted world of the Moomins. Bringing together archive materials and immersive storytelling, Adventures in Moominland introduces artist and writer Tove Jansson and the magical characters she created.

Moominland is inhabited by mysterious Hattifatteners and dogmatic Hemulens, playful Snorks and fussy Fillyjonks.

But at the centre of the books is the Moomin family, whose communal, creative household welcomes plenty of visitors, copes with all sorts of unexpected happenings and ventures out on enterprising journeys.

The Moomins’ busy, tolerant way of life was inspired by the bohemian environment in which Tove grew up, while their escapades in the forest and on the waves are drawn from the summers Tove had spent in the idyllic island community of Pellinki as a child. The dangers that threaten the Moomins, from a great flood to a terrible comet, were a response to frightening events on the world stage; the first books were written in the wake of World War II. Tove’s romantic life also enlivened the Moomin stories. Homosexuality was illegal in Finland until 1971, but same-sex relationships could be represented in the world of the Moomins, where gender and species are occasionally somewhat vague.

Trained as an artist, Tove Jansson created characters whose personalities can be instantly discerned in their appearance despite the fact that many of them look like nothing on earth.

She drew her first Moomin as graffiti after a youthful argument with her brother, aiming to depict the ugliest thing she could imagine. He popped up again as her signature in the political cartoons she drew for an anti-fascist magazine, before appearing in

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the middle of a wood, frightened and holding his mother’s hand, at the start of a children’s book she dubbed a ‘fairytale’.

Tove’s first story about the Moomins appeared to little fanfare. However, the unusual, plain-speaking creatures and their narratives, alternately hair-raising and comforting, attracted an army of fans and eventually won her international fame. Throughout Tove’s life, the Moomins were immortalised all over the world in television adaptations featuring puppets and Japanese anime, plays, theme parks, endless merchandise, a musical, a ballet and an opera.

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Inside Moominvalley, however, the Moomins get on with the business of living life, often advising each other on how to face everyday challenges, whether these include a broken hammock or a lost handbag, an interminable winter or a house that’s been accidentally transformed into a jungle. Both children and adults can be inspired by the family’s wise life philosophy, which suggests hibernation in the winter, parties in the summer and a place for everyone in the Moominhouse.

Adventures in Moominland takes place from Friday 16 December until Sunday 23 April in Royal Festival Hall.

See page 26 for details

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1 Picnic with the family, Faffan, Lars, Ham and Tove, ca. 1940-50 2 In Helsinki, 1954 3 Tove’s studio in Helsinki, ca. 1948 4 At Pellinki, ca. 1960 5 Swimming at Pellinki, 1946 6 With Tuulikki Pietilä at Pellinki, ca. 1975-80 7 Tove’s birthday at Pellinki, ca. 1975

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southbankcentre.co.uk 020 7960 4200

Image credits: © Per Olov Jansson and Tove Jansson © Moomin Characters TM

Tove’s timeline 1914

Tove Jansson is born. Her father is a sculptor and her mother is an illustrator.

1930 – 1938

She studies art in Stockholm, Helsinki and Paris.

1943

Her first Moomin-like character appears in the anti-fascist satirical magazine Garm.

Meet the Moomins The Moomins live in the round, blue Moominhouse in the peaceful Moominvalley. Here’s an introduction to the family and just a few of the valley’s other inhabitants.

Snorkmaiden

spends lots of time with Moomintroll. She is a Snork, a creature who changes colour according to her mood. She is dreamy and occasionally silly, but enterprising in a crisis.

1945

Tove writes and illustrates her first Moomins book, The Moomins and The Great Flood, during World War II.

1948

Moomintroll

Her third book, Finn Family Moomintroll, is published in English.

Tove’s Moomins have become famous.

loves exploring Moominvalley, spending time with his friends, and going on adventures with his family. Like other Moomins, he has large eyes, small ears, and a tuft on the end of his tail.

1950 – 1965

Tove publishes five more books about the Moomins.

1954

She is invited to publish a comic strip about the Moomins in the London Evening News newspaper (she will continue writing the strip for five years).

1955

She begins a relationship with graphic artist Tuulikki Pietilä, who will become her life partner and inspires the Moomins character Too-ticky, who appears in Moominland Midwinter in 1957.

Little My

Moominmamma

is a small, fierce person who lives with the Moomins.

She is independent, outspoken and brave.

is calm and consoling, helping her family stay happy and welcoming visitors to the Moominhouse. She wears an apron and carries a handbag.

1960

Tove and Tuulikki build a small summer house on the island of Klovharu to which they return for 30 years.

Moominpappa

enjoys deep thinking, adventures and writing. Wherever he goes, he brings his top hat and walking stick.

1968

Tove publishes her first book for adults, a semi-autobiographical short-story collection called Sculptor’s Daughter. She will write 11 more.

1970

She publishes the last book about the Moomins, Moominvalley in November.

Snufkin

is an easygoing wanderer who is Moomintroll’s best friend. He journeys south each winter and returns to Moominvalley in the spring. He wears a wide-brimmed green hat and plays the harmonica.

2001

Tove Jansson passes away on 27 June.

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