http://www.theoldwaterworks.com/

The Old Waterworks, The Old Waterworks, North Road, Southend-on-Sea (2026)

15/10/2026

BEING (T)HERE
SOUTHEND
A celebration of Southend’s Caribbean community through book, vinyl, conversation, music and food.

Created by KJ Fontiverio-Hylton, a creative ethnographer and multidisciplinary artist now based between Southend and London, Being (T)here grew from time spent listening to and documenting the stories, memories and experiences of Southend’s Caribbean community.

Through conversations, oral histories, photography and sound, the project explores ideas of migration, identity, memory, place and what it means to make a home somewhere.

These stories have come together in a book and double vinyl record, bringing photography and oral histories together with voices and field recordings gathered across Southend.

On Sunday 15th November, we’re bringing some of the people featured in Being (T)here along with the wider community together at The Old Waterworks for a relaxed afternoon of connecting, listening and sharing.

Steel pan taster session
Led by Shirley - one of the people featured in Being (T)here. Come and have a go! no previous experience needed.

Listening + music
A chance to spend time with the Being (T)here vinyl, listen together and hear some of the voices and sounds that shaped the project.

Community conversation
A relaxed conversation with people featured in the project and those joining us on the day, sharing stories and thoughts around culture, community, memory and belonging.

Food + drinks
And time simply to eat, have a drink, meet people and connect.

SUNDAY 15TH NOVEMBER
12PM ONWARDS
The Old Waterworks
North Road, Southend-on-Sea
SS0 7AB

FREE | LIMITED SPACES
This is an intimate gathering with limited capacity, so booking is required.
Book your free ticket: https://sl1nk.com/h7gw9z7

Come curious. Come listen. Come play. Come connect. Come nuh!

Credits:

Special thanks to all local participants: Shirley, Allison, Godwin, Marco, Chiquitta, Penny, Kirk, Bianca and Gloria.

Photography: Karli-Jade Fontiverio-Hylton, Tasha Hylton
Audio edit & mastering: Tom Weber
Graphics Design: Queenie Wong, Lucy Daley
Printing: RS Bookbinder
Publishing: The Old Waterworks
Supported by The Arts Council England

06/10/2026

Our fab Winter Market is back!!
We are opening our doors again for local creatives to come and sell their handmade goods.
Few more tables left!!

📅 Sunday 29/11/26
⏰ 11am-4pm
📍 TOW, North Rd. Westcliff SS0 7AB

Apply no later than Friday 16/10/26
[email protected]
With ‘Winter Market’ in the subject line

25/08/2026

📣 New Events COMING SOON 📣

🗓️ 14 & 21 November from 1-4pm

🎟️ Link in bio to book tickets

Masculinity Scrapheap Challenge

Join Morgan Quaintance and James Ravinet for Masculinity Scrapheap Challenge for a series of two events that explore iconic moments in masculinity (IMIMs) and discuss what we want to leave on the scrapheap and what we should salvage.

Discuss the settings that different types of masculinity come to the fore, share your experiences, and find out more from JJ Bola’s book Mask Off.

You’ll leave with a copy of the publication Mask Off and a zine full of ‘IMIM’s, insights from Morgan and James, and info from Pluto Press publications.

This event is part of a collaboration between The Other MA(TOMA) and The Old Waterworks and is supported by The Reading Room.

The Old Waterworks is an artist-led charity in Southend-on-Sea that provides studios, facilities, and research and development opportunities for artists as well as quality arts events and experiences for our surrounding community. TOW addresses the need for spaces for artists, a venue for cultural activities and workshops to take place, and a site for research and development.

The Other MA is an 18-month artist-run learning programme based in Southend-on-Sea supporting artists who have faced barriers accessing art education and the ‘art world’. TOMA was set up in 2016 to offer affordable, accessible and responsive art education to artists and we are the only postgraduate level art programme in Essex after all others were stopped by their host universities.

The Reading Room: is a new collaborative project where people can read, learn, listen, and share ideas. Through linking up with other spaces across the country, Pluto Press and the Left Book Club have created libraries stocked with thought provoking books, where reading groups and opportunities to meet authors are being established, providing resources and activities that hope to catalyse creativity, collaboration and conversation.

06/03/2026

Future Ruins and New Worlds (FRNW) is a new free, intensive, postgraduate-level course for artists in Essex and the East of England. If you’re planning on applying, here’s what we need.

• 150 words: why you’re applying
• 200 words: artist statement
• 200 words: bio
• CV (1 page)
• 5 images or 2-min showreel

Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed.

We’re looking for clarity, curiosity and suitability.

Deadline: Monday 16 March, 11:59pm, see link in bio

04/03/2026

Applications to Future Ruins and New Worlds programme will be reviewed by an independent panel of artists, writers and cultural leaders:

Claire Gallagher (Co-Chair)
James Ravinet (Co-Chair)
Mick Ekers (Treasurer)
Natasha Carter
Sophie Sage
Ellen Mara De Wachter
Rehan Wazir

Together they bring experience across contemporary art, curating, writing, publishing, funding and artist development.

We’re looking for a cohort that is:
intellectually curious
generous in discussion
committed to research
open to collaboration
ready for sustained engagement

The process is rigorous, transparent and supportive, designed to assemble a group who will challenge and support one another in equal measure.

Deadline: Monday 16 March, 11:59pm. For more information on the programme and to apply, see link in bio.

17/02/2026

Meet the Future Ruins and New Worlds course leaders.

Dr Ruth Jones and Dr David Watkins, artist-researchers with extensive experience across higher education, exhibition-making and collaborative research.

They’ve designed FRNW as a space for:

• critical generosity
• speculative thinking
• collective care
• serious intellectual work
• alternative knowledge systems

Leadership with warmth.
Rigour without gatekeeping.

Applications close 16 March, for more information and to apply, see link in bio

10/01/2026

SCREENING and TALK
WE ARE MAKING A FILM ABOUT MARK FISHER

In collaboration with and , The Old Waterworks is hosting a series of events about ideas and people who are shaping the world around us.

We are making a film about Mark Fisher will be screened at The Old Waterworks and will be followed by a talk by Simon Poulter from Close and Remote.

Saturday 14 February 2026. 2 – 4pm

Ticket link in bio

We charge a minimal fee as we have found people book spaces but don’t attend. Please email if you need a free place and they are all taken.

The film was made with no budget, no studio backing and no institutional permissions. We started on a park bench in Rochford, Essex. A conversation between and Simon Poulter.

Sophie Mellor and Simon Poulter, working as Close and Remote, developed the film between 2024-2025. Through instagram, they enlisted the support of 70 people to make the film.

The film explores solidarity, shared labour and digital connectivity. It enacts what Fisher insisted was still possible – decapitalised cultural production, collective agency among the ruins of neoliberal atomisation. A reminder that DIY doesn’t mean private – it means working together.

10/01/2026

Theory Club
Mutant Ecologies

In collaboration with and , The Old Waterworks is hosting a series of reading groups aimed at artists and creatives who want to support their practice with up to date ideas about the world around us and how they influence our work.

Theory Club concludes with new Pluto publication; Mutant Ecologies by Erica Borg and Amedeo Policante, led by

Sunday 26 April 12 – 3pm

Ticket link in bio

Tea and Coffee and vegan, vegetarian and GF snacks provided

We have dyslexia friendly colour overlays available

Whilst we have ramp access to our building we regret that we do not offer fully disabled accessible toilets due to limitations with our building and lease.

We charge a minimal fee as we have found people book spaces but don’t attend. Please email if you need a free place and they are all taken.
In this session, Dr. Ruth Jones will guide the group through an overview of the chapters of the book and welcome attendees to discuss the ideas in the text and share their insights. The day will round up with group discussion about ways the book might be used to support attendees creative practice.

Attendees will each receive a copy of the text in advance. No prior reading is necessary, but any advance reading will help make for a more in depth conversation.

Once you have booked your place you will receive an email with information about collecting your free copy of the book.

Discussion of the content of this book may cause difficult and differing opinions to arise. Please be resepctful of other attendees as we navigate possibly contentious topics.

Dr. Ruth Jones is an artist, independent curator and director of The Old Waterworks. Her practice and research operate at the intersection of feminism and world-building to offer audiences opportunities to image the world otherwise. She works across installation, sound, drawing and sculpture and ASMR to engage audiences. Her current research, Teratoma/Terror Incognita, has provoked a series of different proposals, works and texts exploring embodied glitches and ruptures as sites for agency and possibility.

10/01/2026

Theory Club
Radical Abundance

In collaboration with and , The Old Waterworks is hosting a series of reading groups aimed at artists and creatives who want to support their practice with up to date ideas about the world around us and how they influence our work.

Theory Club continues with new Pluto publication; Radical Abundance by Kai Heron, Kier Milburn and Bertie Russell led by

Sunday 8 March 12 – 3pm

Ticket link in bio

Tea and Coffee and vegan, vegetarian and GF snacks provided

We have dyslexia friendly colour overlays available

Whilst we have ramp access to our building we regret that we do not offer fully disabled accessible toilets due to limitations with our building and lease.

We charge a minimal fee as we have found people book spaces but don’t attend. Please email if you need a free place and they are all taken.

In this session, Dr. David Watkins will guide the group through an overview of the chapters of the book and welcome attendees to discuss the ideas in the text and share their insights. The day will round up with group discussion about ways the book might be used to support attendees creative practice.

Attendees will each receive a copy of the text in advance. No prior reading is necessary, but any advance reading will help make for a more in depth conversation.

Once you have booked your place you will receive an email with information about collecting your free copy of the book.

Discussion of the content of this book may cause difficult and differing opinions to arise. Please be resepctful of other attendees as we navigate possibly contentious topics.

Dr. David Watkins is a visual artist working predominantly in painting and installation. He is a trustee of The Old Waterworks. Watkins investigates networks and connections from global supply chain infrastructure to the Wood Wide Web.

10/01/2026

Theory Club
Feminism. Art. Capitalism

In collaboration with and , The Old Waterworks is hosting a series of reading groups aimed at artists and creatives who want to support their practice with up to date ideas about the world around us and how they influence our work.

Theory Club starts with new Pluto publication; Feminism. Art. Capitalism by Angela Dimitrakaki.

Sunday 8 February 12 – 3pm

Ticket link in bio

Tea and Coffee and vegan, vegetarian and GF snacks provided

We have dyslexia friendly colour overlays available

Whilst we have ramp access to our building we regret that we do not offer fully disabled accessible toilets due to limitations with our building and lease.

We charge a minimal fee as we have found people book spaces but don’t attend. Please email if you need a free place and they are all taken.

In this session, will guide the group through an overview of the chapters of the book and welcome attendees to discuss the ideas in the text and share their insights. The day will round up with group discussion about ways the book might be used to support attendees creative practice.

Attendees will each receive a copy of the text in advance. No prior reading is necessary, but any advance reading will help make for a more in depth conversation.

The Old Waterworks

15/10/2026

06/10/2026

25/08/2026

06/03/2026

04/03/2026

17/02/2026

10/01/2026

10/01/2026

10/01/2026

10/01/2026

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