Hackney WickED festival 2012 cancelled

Adrián Navarro, Ring Series, 2011 (detail). Photograph: Tim Sullivan

Annual art festival Hackney WickED has been cancelled this year, say organisers, due to disagreements with the council, lack of support from the police, the 2012 Olympics and general lack of funding.

Organiser Anna Maloney said: “We knew that if we tried to put it on, it would be shut down – licenses declined, no money to put infrastructure in place, and the police seemed quite anti the festival, so we didn’t have a lot of choice.”

Instead of a three-day event, Hackney WickED Collective will consist of a year-long programme of art exhibitions, film screenings, open studios, music, workshops, talks and debates.

Ms Maloney said: “We’re trying to turn it around in a positive way. Instead of focusing on not doing the festival, we’re going to be focusing on a wonderful programme of events where we highlight artists from all different kinds of genres, from arts to film to live performance and music.”

Founded in 2008, Hackney WickED festival celebrated the creativity of Hackney Wick with exhibitions, installations, performances and events.

In an area known for having the highest concentration of artists per square mile in Europe (it is claimed one in seven people are involved with the arts), previous years have included flea markets, installation pieces along the canal, cabaret and open studios and warehouses.

The festival was extremely popular, with thousands of residents, art lovers and participants getting involved in last year’s activities.

Organisers have expressed their disappointment that the festival will not be happening this year, particularly because of the Cultural Olympiad and because there are so many other festivals taking place in the area.

“We would not need a big budget,” said Ms Maloney, whilst explaining that the festival did not receive enough support from the council and the organisers do not want to ‘sell out’ by going after corporate funding.

Comparing Hackney WickED to Hackney Weekend, Ms Maloney said: “A lot of money is going to things [which are] not supporting local artists or the area.”

The June programme of events starts with RetroSPEX, a look back at the highlights of the last four years’ festivals, at Elevator Gallery from 14 June.

Ms Maloney remains hopeful that the festival will be back next year, “with the right support and infrastructure required.”