Woolwich Works is celebrating its fifth birthday on Saturday with Brassworks, a free, all-day brass music festival.  A parade through Woolwich town centre will be followed by an afternoon of music  including a traditional brass band, kazoo workshops, a celebration of Miles Davis, a Balkan brass band and African dance music. 

The Greenwich Wire spoke to Nick Williams, the venue’s director, about what has been achieved so far and what we can expect to see in the future.

When asked about the high points of the three years he’s been in charge,  Brassworks comes top of the list.

“I’m really proud of it because it was one of my early ideas and it’s now in its third year,” he says. “It’s a great expression of musicianship, participation and fun, really great, high quality performances but also the chance for anyone to have a go, whether playing the kazoo or just handling a brass instrument for the first time, it could spark an interest. It embodies what we’re about here.”

Participation is the foundation stone of Woolwich Works, the centrepiece of the £45 million creative district in the Royal Arsenal, with a particular emphasis on young people. 

“I grew up engaging a lot in the performing arts, my parents felt it was very important that we learnt to play instruments and were taken to see shows,” he says. “I think it’s absolutely vital for a broad-based education. In a world where so much provision for kids has been stripped out because of austerity and budget cuts, it’s even more important to keep those opportunities alive.

Jazz performer
Brassworks returns for its fifth year on September 5. Image: Woolwich Works

“We start very young, we have comedy shows and gospel concerts for mums and babies, we have lots of kids’ shows coming in the autumn. The National Youth Jazz Orchestra is based here, we also host the National Children’s Orchestra who do a huge concert here every year. 

“Earlier this year we ran an event called Debut with Greenwich Music Service, where young musicians played in the cafe. They were 15 and 16-year-olds and for many it was their first ever gig. We are seeing the collapse of grass roots music venues, so it’s wonderful to give them that opportunity.

“I’m very much a believer in get them young, get them interested and they will take it forward.”

Another long-term project is a community opera, Displaced, inspired by the story of how Arsenal Football Club began life in the munitions factories of Woolwich before moving to Highbury in 1913. With a background of the suffragette movement and the build-up to the First World War, the immersive new opera has been in development for three years and is set to open next year.

Nick came to Woolwich from Perth in central Scotland, where he was chief executive of the city’s theatre and concert hall. Much of the work he did there was about connecting with the community.

“I was there during Covid and the rules in Scotland were much stricter, so we were shut for 18 months,” he says. “We worked extremely hard to maintain a connection, to give people something. We had a daily blog which was a mixture of performance and activity, we worked with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, 36,000 people watched when Nicola Benedetti played. Which is slightly mind blowing. 

“We did a lovely project called Gig in a Truck which took musicians to care homes, performing in the car parks. We did a pilot week and then we were inundated with requests so we did morning and afternoon gigs with different musicians. We’d park up and play a mixed bill of music and the residents would come to the windows and listen. People in care homes were almost incarcerated, so it meant a lot to them.

“It was all a huge learning experience for me and I’ve brought a lot of that mentality here. If you can do it during Covid when the world is collapsing around you, it’s got to be easier when the world is back to normal!”

It’s the flexibility of the 15,000-square metre venue with its variety of spaces  that makes Woolwich Works unique, Nick says.

“When you bring a performance maker or a producer here and they start to look around, you can feel the inspiration rising as they see the opportunities. That’s the most exciting part of my job, showing off the venue and its flexibility. Exploring the ideas with people is the most fun.”

And the least fun? “The money, the fundraising – it’s the same in any venue,” he says.

Nick Williams
Nick Williams. Image: Warren King

Before Williams arrived, Woolwich Works had a troubled start. Greenwich Council created the venue and span it off into a standalone trust that would stand on its own two feet. After it opened in the wake of the pandemic, Woolwich Works quickly hit financial problems and the council stepped in with a £2 million loan, which it has started to pay back. Last year the venue made its first profit after a “substantial donation” from another source.

“Balancing the books is always the biggest challenge,” he says. We try our best, we operate a fairly commercial approach because we have to. We have no ongoing funding – nothing from the council, nothing from the Arts Council.”

“So we host a lot of corporate events. It’s a very broad canvas. We can do a small group of 30 people or a 3,000-plus conference dealing with fintech or the Blue Earth Summit, which brings together green campaigners, businesses and investors.’ 

But although it is hard work, Nick says the lack of any grant funding gives him more independence.

“It means we don’t have to jump through a lot of hoops to get the money,” he says. “Some of it is stuff we want to do: we are in a very diverse area, we want the people on our stages to come from all sorts of backgrounds because to me that is good programming. We want to put on different things for different groups in the community because we know that not everything appeals to everyone all of the time and that’s OK. But we do that instinctively and inherently rather than ticking a box for the Arts Council.

“It also allows us to blur boundaries between art forms because we don’t have to call something ‘theatre’ or ‘music’ or ‘dance’. We can do lots more of broad-ranging cultural events which include performance and food and handicrafts.

“The opportunities are endless – it does feel that we’re only scratching the surface of what we can do here.”

This autumn at Woolwich Works

For booking and information, go to woolwich.works.

Mary Frances writes arts features for The Greenwich Wire. To get in touch with her, email arts.greenwichwire[at]gmail.com.

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