Launched in 2021 the festival provides a platform for showcasing the diverse local efforts taking place across the city’s boroughs. Through workshops, presentations, site visits, and more, attendees can exchange knowledge, find inspiration, and build connections within the urban growing community.
The festival was born from my personal experience as an individual grower and educator wanting to connect with others and invite the public to discover the great local work happening and how they could get involved or simply learn (my initial remit is the medicinal properties of mushrooms).
As a North Kensington Resident, and through the Grenfell project fund I have been teaching mushroom cultivation and nutrition as part of the resilience movement I believe in. Mushrooming (education, nutrition, spirituality) is a big part of my personal journey in transmitting hopeful and positive information around growing food, and incorporating it in our daily lives.
The festival aims to highlight often overlooked projects creating change locally. Participants represent initiatives working to provide community access to fresh food, empower marginalised groups through gardening, promote public health through urban greening, and drive wider adoption of sustainable agriculture practices.
The Grow Urban Festival is currently supported by the Centre for Innovation and Voluntary Action, the National Trust, National Park City, Great Big Green Week – Climate Coalition, The Conduit Club, Elysian Roots, Charles Dowding, The Natural History Museum along with some 30 or so event partners.
I have created, organised & delivered 2 fairly (smaller) successful festivals so far without outside funding, so the funds will directly support the events in the GROW URBAN Festival in two important ways. It will help us contribute towards the costs of organising, managing, putting on the events, extend our marketing efforts as well as directly support the projects involved.
The Grow Urban Festival provides a unique opportunity to showcase London’s diversity of urban growing efforts while facilitating collaboration and capacity building. And of course, this would allow for the festival to continue to exist and grow.
Let's work together towards a greener, healthier future for all Londoners.