Elephant and Castle’s biggest and most eagerly anticipated cross-cultural event, Urban Elephant 2023 festival makes a splash with an epic line up of arts and culture, with the theme World Fusion.
Taking place across SE1’s Elephant Castle on 15th to 17th September, the Festival will begin at Castle Square, making its way to Elephant Park, Sayer Street, and Walworth Square throughout the weekend and will include a plethora of music, dance, arts, food and performances to celebrate London’s epicentre of cultural and artistic diversity.
Backed by Southwark Council, Get Living, Lendlease, Notting Hill Genesis and North Walworth Councillors, the lively weekend will create a meaningful opportunity for the local community of Elephant and Castle and Londoners to come together to share ideas, connect and culturally collaborate. Building on the success of last year, Urban Elephant 2023 will celebrate everything it means to be a melting pot of culture and the importance of coming together to share tradition through artistic performance.
Performance highlights include ArtPerUK, a Peruvian group who share their culture through dance and fitness, Sultan, a Somali musician, songwriter and actor specialising in traditional Somali music through playing the Ou, and Trance on Fire, a heart-racing performance with balancing ladders, planks and juggling! Also performing throughout the weekend will be Yordanos, a traditional Eritrean Dance group representing the different tribes of Eritrea; Kuba Acro Show, jaw dropping acrobatics, and gravity defying balancing high in the air performed by Juma Kuba from Rwanda with warmth, humour, thrills and entertainment; as well as Yurupari, traditional, folkloric music and dance of Colombia and other Latin American countries. Highlights will go on to include Rhadika performing a classic North Indian Kathak and Xativa, a Swedish-Ecuadorian singer-songwriter fusing traditional melodies with touches of jazz and R&B.
Kicking off the festival at Castle Square on Friday 15 September, festival goers can look forward to a world of thrilling performances from across the globe as well as an ‘Art in the Park’ workshop as the event shoots into full swing with an opening party from 12pm onwards. On Saturday, Urban Elephant will follow the theme World on a Street, fusing different ethnic communities together across Castle Square, Elephant Park, Sayer Street, and Walworth Square; and the day promises to be a true celebration of diversity through an array of activities to captivate and engage attendees. The weekend will conclude with a World Forum in Elephant Park’s Tree House, on Sunday 17 September which provides a meaningful chance to culturally cross-pollinate, share ideas and connect as part of a meaningful send finale to the weekend.
The Castle Square and Elephant Park traders will be serving food and drink throughout the weekend, so guests can look forward to grabbing a dish as culturally diverse as the area, from Guyanese, Caribbean and Colombian to Italian and Chinese.
John Whelan, Urban Elephant Creative Director commented:
“We have a thrilling line up confirmed for Urban Elephant Festival 2023. The weekend will be a wonderful opportunity to cross-culturally pollinate among friends and a magnificent celebration of various cultures through artistic mediums, dance and music. Alongside food from across the globe, meaningful discussions and a chance to meet new friends, the performances throughout the festival will give us all a taste of what everyone’s culture truly means to them, and will allow us to share in it all together.”
The full festival is entirely free for guests to enjoy and the timetable is below. For more information and for the detailed line-up please visit the Urban Elephant website: urbanelephant.co.uk/.
