As an award-winning charity with 12 years’ experience reinventing community theatre for North Kensington council estate audiences, Grenfell is close to S.P.I.D.’s heart.
SPID (Social Political Independent Direct) believes the Grenfell Tower tragedy underlines the need to change how social housing is valued and maintained, as residents' fire concerns date back to 2013.
Being based in W10's Kensal House estate, the charity share a landlord with Grenfell and have long asked Kensington and Chelsea's Tenants Management Organisation to improve the safety of the borough's council estates. They are now campaigning to extend their lease in order to refurbish the space properly, and urge others to do the same.
SPID wants Kensington and Chelsea Tenants Management Organisation to learn from Grenfell by relinquishing its control of social housing and return it to the residents and charities who truly cherish it because they live and work there.
SPID is concerned about the long-term housing of Grenfell survivors. The council’s trend is to sell the earmarked space for profit instead, as showcased by their latest documentary (pw swordfish) about the fate of Trellick Tower's communal graffiti area
SPID is determined to ensure that the borough replace and improve on the social housing that the fire destroyed.
About S.P.I.D.
S.P.I.D. (Social Political Innovative Direct) uses participatory drama to bring people together. They promote shared experience in a shared space, championing solidarity and community spirit. Their Living History program dramatising council estates’ heritage was the subject of a BBC documentary as well as the Clore Prize. The charity has won Time Out Critic’s Choice, Fringe Report’s Best Outreach Award, the Apollo Award and a Young People Now award. S.P.I.D have previously collaborated with the National Theatre, the Gate Theatre, The Bush Theatre and Riverside Studios.
About iAm 4.0
You have been selected. We offer you a rare opportunity to participate in a secret focus group, playtesting a ground-breaking new technological innovation. Be the first to get your hands on the most exciting new product being developed today; a piece of tech which will revolutionise the way we all live our lives. You will, of course, be asked to sign an NDA, and then, in small groups, will get the chance to interface with this revolutionary product, testing its capabilities and helping us discover how it interacts with you. Come, experience the future.
iAm 4.0 explores our attachment to technology, and the human costs we are willing to accept in the digital age. SPID premiered the show in collaboration with the Bush Theatre London, was nominated for a Off West End Theatre Award, and gained four star reviews here , here and here . The Grenfell benefit performance is part of a summer tour including Secret Garden Party, Southwark Playhouse, Portobello Rising Festival and The Bush Theatre, dates and info
here.
