Ok, so we're calling it 📆

Forgive us, as we don’t like dropping the C-Bomb before the seasonal watershed, however, with an increasing number of emails landing, each detailing industrious festive plans afoot in the area, this week we’re officially launching Christmas listings in The Wick.

Hopefully, far from joining the dull deluge of annoying ‘Black Friday’-style inbox clutter, this can actually provide a cannily helpful local resource, one that grows by the week listing all the markets, Xmassy pop-ups and other spaces and places to visit for your yuletide gifts and seasonal essentials.

So, shop local, support our artists, designers and makers, frequent our venues and independents, and smooth the rougher edges of this year’s unswervable consumerist orgy in the process. Result!

If you’re putting on a market, pop-up or other Christmas event and want to join the weekly list in this newsletter, email us info/a link on: [email protected] 

🎄The Barge East Christmas Tree Shop is back in business daily from this Sat, 23rd Nov, with a selection of sustainable-sourced trees from 3ft up to 8ft tall. The Wick readers can currently get £5 off a pre-order using the code: TREES5 at the online checkout.

🎄Barge East is also the spot for three consecutive weekend Wick Wonderland Christmas markets featuring gifts and treats in their twinkling canal-side gardens, the first of which takes place Dec 7th-8th.

🎄 Urban Food Fest’s Christmas Fete will get you into the seasonal spirit all along Victory Parade in East Village next Thurs, 28th Nov, with global bites, local makers’ stalls, free kids workshops and live music and entertainment.

🎄 There’s a chance to meet talented ceramicists and discover their various charming mugs, stunning pots and other unique gifts at the Ceramics Makers Market on 30th Nov & 1st Dec at Cone8 studios.

🎄 On Thurs 12th Dec (5-8pm) Here East Canalside will be hosting an evening of festive cheer, with carolling around the tree, live performances, market stalls and a selection of seasonal food, mulled wine, hot drinks and bites from all the waterfront retailers.

🎄Fish Island’s London Centre for Book Arts will be throwing open the doors for Winter Open Studio at LCBA (more details to follow) on Sat 14th Dec, with festive print demos, an exhibition, a book launch and more.

🎄 National operator The Big Market have been running Sunday afternoon events since the spring at Riverside East, which means that The Big Xmas Market should be well worth checking out on Sun 15th Dec. They’ll have 25 local traders selling everything from plants to ceramics and vintage clothes to vinyl, plus DJs, roasts and festive film screenings from Whitechapel’s Genesis Cinema on the big screen, too.

🎨 Next up at Two More Years, Beth Cockcroft is a visual artist and workshop facilitator from Greater Manchester who moved to the area earlier this year. She’s currently using analogue techniques, scrap paper, foraged materials, intuitive drawing and big walks to explore the interlocking ancient roots that connect nature and the local landscape with folklore, shared experience, past trauma and our inner worlds. PV tonight, runs until 17th Dec.

💻 Explore the interplay between language and imagery by exchanging emails with a partner at Vroomlab Presents Blind Pal: Digital Exchange Diary this Sunday afternoon, 24th Nov at Hypha Gallery Sugar House Island. You’ll write cute/funny/quirky/deep (you decide) emails with your new art pen pal, then turn those messages into visual masterpieces and share them in a supportive, social setting.

🥸 Wooden puppet legend Pinocchio and his poor toy-maker father Geppetto are the stars of the show at Stratford East this Christmas. The theatre’s big festive show starts this weekend, 23rd Nov and runs through until 4th Jan.

🎤 It's the official pre-party for weekend-long hip hop education fundraiser EPIC (Every Person is Capable) Jam on Fri 22nd Nov at Two More Years, with exhibition battling to warm you up for the cypher, open mic, beatbox, turntablism and more ahead.

👹 Fabwick invite you to unleash your inner celebrity and come as your famous doppelgänger on Fri 22nd Nov for the Imposter Party Gig, a night of live music from The Mustard Seed, The Eerie and Nemo Mercury & The Scars, plus DJs

👯 Pay what you can at the final Queer Edge LIVE of the year, the monthly night at Nico’s celebrating the talent of local queer artists, whilst providing another cute hangout for the local LGBTQ+ community, Wed 27th Nov.

🦃 Reserve your spot now for a full-on American-style Thanksgiving party, with a Johnny Cash tribute act, preparing to rock out at The Lord Napier Star on Thurs 28th Nov. Kitchen residents Red Dog will bring the hickory wood-smoked Texan BBQ menu for maximum taste authenticity, too.

🫘 Healthy, zero-waste homemade food service, Gaia Pulses, deliver a selection of three delicious, nutrition-packed stews and salads direct to your door every 1-2 weeks. The meals come by bike and in fully reusable containers, plus there are extras you can order like locally baked bread, organic kimchi and olives. Not only that, but The Wick readers can currently get 50% OFF your first order using the code WickBeans at the checkout.

🎤 Final chance to join a two-day song writing camp with The Inscape this weekend of 23-24th November in the studios at Grow. The Wick newsletter readers who use the code ‘CREATIVEWICK’ when booking get an exclusive 10% off too.

📺 The next free Knowledge Exchange webinar from the CDT’s circular economy hub The Loop covers Protecting Your Intellectual Property, and will be looking at how SMEs can best incorporate IP considerations into their growth strategy in ways that enhance their value proposition and attract investment. The online Q&A is from 1-2pm next Tues, 26th Nov and will be led by James Norton Director at Think Incentives, who help companies of all sizes progress through the innovation cycle.

🍯 Try your hand at a wheel throwing taster pottery class at Cone8 Ceramics as a perfect way for beginners and intermediates to hone their skills on the potter’s wheel. You get a practical introduction to the art of throwing raw clay into functional pieces, including learning wedging, centering, and how to create items like cylinders, bowls, and plates. Sat & Sun, 23rd or 24th Nov.

👩‍🎓 Loughborough University London is inviting local organisations to explore research collaborations with their masters students as part of the upcoming Collaborative Dissertation project. It gives you access to rigorously supervised research, and you can find out more about it either in person (on the Here East campus) or online at a special event on Wed Nov 27th. Register your interest here.

Latest update newsletter on the Hackney Yards development and the air quality issues associated with the work near Hackney Wick Overground station.

♻️ Hackney’s next Zero Waste Hub event is on this Sat 23rd Nov at Gainsborough Primary School where you can both give and take pre-loved items, and get help repairing your clothes, bikes, and electricals. You only need to book clothes/electrical repair.

👩‍🎨 Applications are open to take part in Arbor 2: a programme aiming to create meaningful collaborations between artists, researchers, and communities with interest in or experience of dementia. UCL are looking for 20 artists to take part in the initial stage of the knowledge exchange programme, which starts with a mixer event giving artists and researchers a chance to connect, exchange ideas, and spark a future collaboration. Apply by 17th Jan.

📢 The LLDC are currently looking to fill the role of Communications Manager for The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, working on a proactive digital and social comms strategy at an exciting moment n the history of the Park. Apply by 27th Nov.

🩰 As they prepare to expand their dance operations out East for the first time in 2025, Sadler’s Wells are seeking a Ticket Sales Assistant to help grow audiences and support customers through their whole ticket-buying journey. Apply by 24th Nov.