Review of Discover Young Hackney's Closing Party

1 March 2012

On Saturday 25 February, at the Arcola Tent, The Create Programmers and Headstart presented Discover Young Hackney's Closing Party. The event featured highlights from the festival and a great range of young hackney talent sourced from the Headstart young people.

Lil Simz impressed the crowd at the closing party for Discover Young Hackney on February 25 at the Arcola Theatre. The stage was full of talent, including Pepstar, Kojey Radical and Fiona Bevan among others.

The 18-year-old Lil Simz had the crowd wanting to hear more. She wasn't afraid to say what she felt and tried to give other young people advice through her lyrics.

The fashion show was also a good turn out, with the girls from London College Of Fashion and Peabody Threads strutting their creative designs on stage. Films showcased many of the organisations involved in the festival and there were performances from poets and spoken word artists.

Kojey Radical, who did spoken word on the night with his swagger on point, had the audience laughing about his poem, The girl with the funny feet. Kojey, who is mainly an artist and dancer, sees society from a very different perspective, which is a good thing to see. One of his poems talks about the need to work, and if it's enough for him.

Pepstar, an up and coming rapper from Clapton, also performed his song No Flies On.

The Key, an organisation that works with young people who have a disability or special educational needs, showed a film members had made about dance.

This was the first year there was a closing party for Discover Young Hackney. As a young person living in Hackney I think it was a great idea.

By Shannique Smith, Age 18

Photographer: Sam Lanchin