Sound Waves: Music in Newham

A borough-wide heritage project using digital media, creative learning and youth engagement to bring Newham’s music history to new audiences.

Sound Waves: Music in Newham was a large-scale heritage programme co-curated and delivered through Rendezvous Projects CIC, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The project documented under-represented music scenes and venues across the borough — from youth clubs, sound systems and choirs to club culture and informal spaces — many of which had not previously been recorded.

Within the wider programme, Katherine Green led key strands focused on digital interpretation, schools engagement and youth participation, helping translate local research and oral history into accessible public outputs for online, classroom and community audiences.

Approach

  • Interactive project website and digital map connecting venues, stories and research across the borough
  • 15 short documentary films accessed via QR codes at former venue sites
  • Schools partnership supporting children to respond to local music history through songwriting and performance
  • Learning materials developed to help teachers bring venue heritage into the classroom
  • Youth engagement work documenting the importance of contemporary community spaces

Schools showcase

This film captures the schools showcase developed with Newham Music, in which pupils from seven Newham schools performed songs they had written in response to local music heritage and venue histories.

Digital map and website

The website and digital venue map created an accessible platform through which users could explore Newham’s music history by location, theme and story. Designed to connect oral history, film, images and research, the site extended the project beyond physical exhibitions and created a lasting public resource.

Schools resources

Teaching and inspiration materials were developed to help schools engage with Newham’s music heritage in creative ways. These resources gave teachers practical routes into the project themes and supported pupils to respond through songwriting, discussion and performance.

Youth engagement

Working with Beckton Globe Youth Zone, this strand supported young people to photograph and document their lives at the youth club, reflecting on the importance of the space to them. It connected the project’s historical research to present-day youth experience, showing how community music and social spaces continue to matter.