Over 40 of the most exciting names in cross genre jazz are about to descend upon Hackney Wick this Sat 13th Sept as the inaugural Jazz on Wick Festival takes place, with multiple venues and stages, all centered around the hub of Colour Factory.

From a full-blown Eglo Records takeover in their Garden, with label boss Alexander Nut leading the charge to the legendary Dele Sosimi’s Afrobeat Experience over at Hackney Bridge, you’ll also find the likes of recent additions to the killer line-up like Allysha Joy and Last Nubian.

There’s an Orii community stage for all lovers of the Monday night freestyle jams, and 11 other collectives bringing their own crews and cutting edge musical fusions to the party.

And, of course, there’s a big afters planned at Colour Factory into the wee hours too, as DJs keep the vibe well and truly alive via a series of B2B showdowns until 4am.

Full line-up info, festival and afterparty tickets here.

Meanwhile, the jazz juggernaut continues to sweep across the neighbourhood with the free Stratford Community Jazz Festival taking place the next day, Sun 14th Sept, at the Dialogue Express Café.

You’ll find The NEWHArMonics Jazz Collective from Jazz East leading the live music charge, alongside coffees, cocktails and food from the iconic, inclusive British Sign Language-focused cafe in a railway carriage, plus games, community networking, and plenty of giveaways all afternoon.

The CIG meets again this Friday - everyone is welcome

📌 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.

👀 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, with most of the drop-ins and bookable events taking place over the final weekend. There’s also the return of last year’s popular circular economy open studio at The Loop on Thurs 18th Sept.

⚡The David Bowie Centre opens this weekend at V&A Storehouse, as a permanent exhibition of 200 items from the revered pop maestro’s 90,000-piece archive, which the V&A own. The permanent centre expands on 2013’s David Bowie Is exhibition, which became the most visited show in the museum’s history, so expect more queues, but you can also order items from the archive to view in person, as with the rest of the Storehouse.

🧶 We were at the opening of Hackney-based science-meets-sculpture practitioner, Conrad Shawcross’ brand new work The Nervous System (UMBILICAL) earlier this week, to her how the project came to have a temporary showing inside Timber Yard at Here East, before ultimately making its way to a permanent home at the Museum of Old and New Art in Tasmania. A colossal sculpture towering 10 meters high and 12 meters across, featuring 40 interlocking arms that weave a rope in a never-ending, non-repeating sequence, it’s now open to the public to go see for free, and runs through to 2nd Nov.

🎙️ Based on the cult classic film that brought reggae to the world, the new show opening at Stratford East this weekend (running to 25th Oct), The Harder They Come, tells the story of Ivan, an aspiring singer who arrives in Kingston, Jamaica, determined to live out his dreams on his own terms and make it as a music superstar. The show features a sensational soundtrack with brand new songs plus many of Jimmy Cliff's hits including ‘You Can Get It If You Really Want’ and ‘Many Rivers to Cross.

New on thisisthewick.com this week

📻 There’s a Brixton Radio takeover at Two More Years on Sat 13th Sept from afternoon into the night, eking out the last party days of summer.

🔊 The mighty Channel One sound heads up the London Reggae Festival taking place at Riverside East this Sun 14th Sept, with Sinai sound and Boyson playing too, plus Caribbean street food and rum punch on the huge outdoor terrace.

🛋️ The ever-touring series of Sofar Sounds pop-up gigs are back at the Crate Loft this Sun 14th Sept for another unannounced intimate musical rendezvous.

🧵 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.

📚 There’s an official opened event this Sat 13th Sept at 11am for the new community library in a box situated on Rookwood Way. Cinzia De Vincenziis, architect and Fish Island’s resident, has been granted the opportunity to bring one of the 90 little book stops installed across the UK by Penguin to the area. It guarantees free access to books to every member of the Fish Island community. Follow fiv_little_book_stop for more updates and events.

🗣️ 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.

🪛 The North London Repair Voucher Scheme offers residents of Hackney, Tower Hamlets and other nearby local boroughs easy to download vouchers for up to £50 off the cost of repairing household electricals at participating high street businesses. The project aims to help residents cut costs, reduce tech waste, and support local repair businesses. So fix it, don’t ditch it, right up to 31st Dec.

The popular railways nerd and prolific YouTube videomaker Jago Hazzard regularly delves into the quirky history of London’s many stations and stops, tunnels and trains. In this edition, he looks at how the tidal waterways, the Victorian railways boom and later the Docklands Light Railway, London 2012 Olympics and Crossrail all helped to shape the arrival of an incongruously large station at Pudding Mill Lane. Now, as the whole area awaits redevelopment, it mostly serves the ABBA Voyage crowds, but what does the future hold?