2026 sees a new chapter in the 15-year story of The Wick as a community publication, and we’re looking for more locals who want to get involved.

1️⃣ If you’re a photographer or journalist (working with video, audio and text) or generally enthusiastic about the power of local media and its role in today’s fast-paced attention economy, get in touch. Send us samples of your work as we’re currently expanding our freelance team, and if you’ve got particular ideas for topics, people and places you’d like to be commissioned to cover, let us know. Email: [email protected]

2️⃣ Join the network. We’ve launched premium memberships to The Wick for those readers and local businesses that want to play a role in the growth of our community media project for all. Readers can add on a monthly or annual subscription for early access to event tickets, local discounts and other perks, while businesses can join a network that offers media support and direct connection with loads more locals. Find out more about all the packages here.

3️⃣ Share the love. Hundreds of locals have now bought copies of The Wick Book: 15 Years of Culture, Community & Change, but we want to get the message out to all the others! If you like what we do, please grab the image below (or shoot footage of your own copy of the book) and share via your social media. There are less than 300 copies of this limited edition left, available at thewickbook.com, sales of which directly help us to expand what we do.

🎨 Creative Voices, Activist Voices: Sensory Stories of Creative Communities by Fun Palaces / Trowbridge Gardens / Thu 12th Feb – Sun 15th Mar / A new collaborative exhibition exploring the intersection of grassroots culture and civic activism, using photographs, objects, and storytelling to investigate how community-led creativity can unlock a wider voice for social change.

🎺 The Oracle Collective x UCL: Jazz Jam / UCL East Marshgate / Fri 13th Feb / As part of the ongoing Words Matter exhibition, this free early evening session looks at legacy of eugenics and reclaiming community narratives through improvised jazz. It will see an open-ended exchange between musicians, academics, and the neighbourhood itself.

🧾 Fish Island Books hosts its first Poetry & Wine Tasting event this Thurs 5th Feb, where you are invited to pop in and choose red or white (or even both) and they will provide a poem and a carefully paired wine from Unlock for you to enjoy. Sit at the bar and chat about it, or find a quiet corner to enjoy a moment to savour them both.

💚 Popular premium matcha tea, ice cream and sweet treats purveyors, Tsujiri, have opened their latest branch in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the latest food offering to arrive in the lovely Aquatics Walk waterfront, on East Bank.

🎭 Here There Are Blueberries / Stratford East / Sat 31st Jan – Sat 28th Feb / Back in 2007, a mysterious album featuring Nazi-era photographs arrived at the desk of a U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum archivist. As curators unravelled the shocking truth behind the images, the album made headlines, igniting a debate that reverberated far beyond the museum walls. Based on real events, this show tells the story of these photographs, what they reveal about the perpetrators of the Holocaust and our own humanity.

​🖥️ The latest DoublePortrait-hosted local AI Hackathon - Solving for Cybersecurity is taking place at University of Staffordshire London on Wed 11th Feb where anyone interested in the world of vibe coding can join Staffs students and the wider tech community for 3-hours of rapid prototyping at the intersection of AI-assisted coding and cybersecurity challenges.

🎶 Local music-loving tattoo studio Only Here For You launch their own record label, OHFY Records, at The Bath House on Fri 6th Feb with live performances from Traams and Marshmallow Palace, plus Fontaines D.C and the OHFY DJs playing B2B.

🪩 Party promoters Bubble LDN celebrate a year in the game with a return to No.90 on Sat 7th Feb with DJ legend Eddie Richards and Bristol’s Jake Hodgkinson on the line-up.

🎤 Nicola Gaea, Isabelle Eberdean, Noa Lauryn, ADANNAY & Yael Daila are all at Soul Mama on Thu 5th Feb for an immersive journey through 90s soul influences, jazz-rooted rhythms, and forward-thinking R&B. The night will see the poetic alt-soul of London’s own Nicola Gaea alongside Norwegian Grammy nominee Isabelle Eberdean and Amsterdam’s groove-heavy Noa Lauryn.

🎧 SPF INFINI comes to London at Colour Factory on Sat 7th Feb with TDJ bringing along Cult Member, DJ Fingerblast, Lobsta B and more for a night of high energy techno with bounce.

🏈 The 6 Nations kicks off tomorrow, with games being shown at The Napier, Beer Merchants Tap and The Leyton Star for a month, plus the Star is also where you can catch late-night sport and musical spectacular Super Bowl 60 on Sun 8th Feb, as New England Patriots take on Seattle Seahawks, with half time show from Bad Bunny. Let’s tickets remaining, and if you get there early there’s free drinks, too.

💼 The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park’s Community Anchor Network (CAN) is seeking an individual or small team for a 10-month freelance role to strengthen community power across the QEOP and surrounds. The CAN Partnerships Service will work across all their activities, carrying out research, engagement, mapping, evaluation, and relationship-building, while supporting Action Group organisations to lead the development and testing of the CAN model. If you already have a keen knowledge of the local area and can hit the ground running, send applications to [email protected] by Sun 15th Feb.

🧘🏼 Grow London Local Coffee Friday, this Fri 6th Feb is chance to meet GLL’s Business Support Managers (and book a free consultation), meet new potential business partners, or connect with old ones who share similar goals and challenges, all over free coffee and pastries at Fish Island’s lovely community studio space, Social Yoga.

🏗️ 901 Remus Road: Public Consultation at The Heath Studio Sat 7th Feb is the latest chance to see and comment on final plans for the former Thrifty Cars Rental site, featuring 250 co-living homes, 44 affordable family homes, and public realm improvements.

📢 There’s a callout for any local employers looking to engage with students as the next Here East Student Jobs Fair when it returns on Fri 23rd Feb. Fill in the short form on the website if you have part time, internship and volunteering opportunities that could be an idea fit for the diverse and talented students attending Teesside University London, Loughborough University London, UCL, University of Staffordshire London and LMA.

🚮 The North London Community Fund (NLCF) is a £1million funding commitment to support projects that prevent waste to make a real difference in local communities. If your network supports residents in Hackney and you’ve got a great idea for a waste prevention project, grants of up to £20,000 are available for 2026–27. Applications by 16th Feb.

🆕 Arbeit Studios currently has 2 studios available at The Loop for sustainable circular economy businesses, and also 3 studios suitable for musicians and creative practitioners at their Wallis Road site.