Events

Celebrating Enfield’s rich industrial heritage

A nine-month programme of events will showcase the past and present of industrial innovation across the borough

The Ediswan factory in Ponders End, pictured 1914
The Ediswan factory in Ponders End, pictured 1914

Enfield’s rich industrial heritage will be celebrated in a new programme of events starting later this month.

The Festival of Industry will offer opportunities for everyone to explore the borough’s past and future identity through specialist art commissions, workshops, open studios, exhibitions, skills sharing and public artworks. There will be an “immersive” museum exhibition and a community theatre project co-produced with local people.

A launch event on Friday, 21st July will include an exhibition celebrating Enfield’s past innovations, interactive theatre performance, live music, food and an opportunity to learn more about the “dynamic programme of events” scheduled between now and March 2024.

The Festival of Industry is funded by the Arts Council’s ‘place partnership’ initiative and is being delivered in collaboration with Enfield’s creative sector and in partnership with Dugdale Arts Centre in Enfield Town.

Chinelo Anyanwu, Enfield Council’s cabinet member for culture, said: “Enfield is known for its industrial past, notably in manufacturing and electrical engineering. We are keen to celebrate this heritage but to also explore our future industries which includes our creative sector and how this can shape neighbourhoods and provide jobs, skills and training.”

Enfield has a long history connected with industry, particularly in the fields of mechanical and electrical engineering in Ponders End and Brimsdown. The famous Edison Swan United Electric Light Company had a factory in Ponders End in the late 19th Century, while Britain’s first radio valve and television cathode ray tube factories were also based in the area.

The New River was also an impressive feat of engineering, bringing drinking water from Hertfordshire into the City of London. The aqueduct remains in use today.

For full details of the programme of events as part of The Festival of Industry:
Visit
dugdaleartscentre.co.uk/whats-on/festival-of-industry


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