The autumn print edition of The Wick is being distributed from today so, as ever, look out for your free copy at one of the many stockists in Hackney Wick and across the Olympic growth boroughs.

It’s timed to coincide with the arrival/return of our 14,000-strong student community in the coming days, and features a 4-page welcome guide, in partnership with Here East, to help freshers (and everyone else) make the most of the area’s top places to dance, eat, shop, meet, laugh and much more.

There’s also more local art for sale, including work by Tipi (which you can see in today’s lead image alongside our new front cover), an exclusive interview with iconic band Groove Armada on the spirit of East London following SXSW, the Wellness in the Wick column comes from Strong+Bendy founder Rhian and loads more.

Pick up your copy locally and look out for them being handed out at the freshers fairs taking place next week, too.

New on thisisthewick.com this week

It was the inaugural edition of the area’s latest multi-venue festival, Colour Factory’s Jazz on Wick, at the weekend so we sent our local reviewer, Sam Charlton, along to see what he made of it…

Also new, find out why we fell in love with the PKB, which ensures Sadler’s Wells East is as much a dining destination as it is a hub of movement and dance….

👀 For the first time, this year’s edition of the popular London Open House Festival, 13th - 21st Sept, is featuring a themed and curated Hackney Wick & Fish Island Creative Enterprise Zone Neighbourhood collection. Free events, open studios and guided tours will be happening across nine buildings, drop-ins and bookable events including the return of last year’s popular circular economy open studio at The Loop tomorrow evening, Thurs 18th Sept.

🤡 See fresh ideas in circus and performing arts from a host of clowns, jugglers, arial artists, live musicians and more this Fri 19th Sept at Fish Island Circus at the return of their famous Scratch Night event.

🎭 Hackney Wick-based French-Algerian actor and playwright, Amine Salmi, brings his new play, Kill The Dinosaur to the stage this month. It’s a surrealist dark comedy about fractured relationships, the lies we tell ourselves, and the search for meaning in the void, as told through a Groundhog Day-style time loop where every morning at the bus stop, an old man dies. Catch it at The Courtyard Theatre in Hoxton 30^th Sept – 5^th Oct.

📌 Public art trail The Line is ten years old this year, and pioneering minimalist sculptor Rasheed Araeen turns 90, so their collaboration on a new addition to the trail, to be unveiled on Tues 23rd Sept, feels very timely. You’ll find it beside the River Lea over in Bow, plus there’s a free installation, Rasheed Araeen’s Reading Room, running daily at The House Mill in E3 from 26th - 28th Sept, showcasing his long career, all as part of London Sculpture Week.

🖼️ Hand made to measure frames are the thing at Happenstance Framing Studio, which celebrates its grand opening at The Trampery Fish Island Village this Fri 26th & Sat 27th Sept with drinks, frames and fun for families. The first 26 customers on Friday will receive a free frame of their choice, and look out for surprise activities for kids on Saturday, too.

🎞️ The New Black Film Collective have community screenings coming up including Transformers One for kids at Stratford’s Discover on Sat 20th Sept, and then Marvel’s Thunderbolts plus a Q&A session at Stratford Library on Fri 26th Sept.

🍺 Oktoberfest comes early at the Beer Merchants Tap as the festivities kick off this Sat 20th Sept, with a full range of Festbiers from Germany and beyond. Expect Paulaner, Spaten, Geisinger, Hofbrau and Lowenbrau just for starters. Then there’ll be classic German food and snacks, and oompah tunes pumpin' in our decked out beer hall.

🥳 Tip top party action and decent house music will be the order of things as Giles Smith & Friends return to No.90 this Fri 19th Sept.

🔊 Journey into the deeper and darker space on Fri 19th Sept as Sweet Ones brings Bluetoof to Vittoria Wharf Studio.

☕ There’s a free all-day Coffee Club party with Dale Mussington back at Crate Brewery on Sat 20th Sept - get there early as previous outings have can reached capacity.

🧵 Grepa Studios is a new series of creative courses aimed at children founded by two practising artists based in Bow Arts Leyton who felt an urge to share their experience with the wider public. Classes for 7-11 years olds cover painting, drawing, collages, working with paper and fabric, while young adults (11-15) learn everything about sewing, from safety while operating with the machines to different types of stitches, progressing towards making scrunchies, skirts, tops, tote bags and more.

📜 The Tower Hamlets Council Business Rates Team is hosting a hybrid (in the Council Chamber or online) Business Rates Workshop on Mon 22nd Sept. If your business is based in the borough, they’ll help you better understand the Business Rates environment, covering topics including reliefs and reductions available, and what to do if you're struggling to pay.

🗣️ Plot Studio and Upstarter are running a research project into how current forms of investment work, or do not work for creative businesses. Hopeful Finance is a 4-min survey that asks you a few simple questions and in return you’ll be sent a cheat sheet on different types of finance.

💁🏼‍♂️ Selby Ventures is a business growth programme built to help founders, freelancers, and small business owners turn great ideas into thriving ventures. Whether you're just starting out or ready to grow, Selby’s expert-led support is designed for ambitious entrepreneurs working from co-working and community spaces across London. They have a series of workshops coming up, plus 1:1 consultancy, too.

🫛 You can collect a weekly selection of fresh, seasonal veg from Grow (or from 30 other collection points across Hackney, Haringey and Tower Hamlets) as Growing Communities delivers fresh, seasonal organic fruit and veg boxes.

If you spotted - or perhaps attended - the impressive-looking Alive:LDN Daybreaker sober daytime rave in the garden at Hackney Bridge the other Sunday, you’ll recognise some of these enthusiastic scenes. Shot here by Germany’s Instagram ‘storyteller husbands’, Coupleofmen, they plunge right in to the healthy pursuits on offer. You can also see them descend the Helix slide at the Orbit the following day, too, if that’s more your wholesome local fun vibe.