Love Hackney

HACKNEY ALTFEST SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED 🔥 Hackney Altfest is a seven-day cultural festival celebrating the borough’s best alternative venues — where underground music, esoteric practice, experimental art, craft drinks, and dive-bar cultures intersect. Hackney Altfest was supported by the @hackneycouncil Local Area Activation Fund Festival Dates: 4-10 May 2026 Venues: @absintheparlour @thelasttuesdaysociety @saintmondaybrewery @easyeightbar @rasputinsbar @helgisbar @the.moon.temple @youcalltheshotse9 @blondieslondon Check out for the full lineup. Special thanks to @ryfrancis for all of the festival designs See you all in Hackney next week! #hackney #altfest #alternative #festival #divebar

Hackney Art Week is proud to partner with Hackney Giving, a local initiative dedicated to supporting the borough’s smallest charities and community groups. Through vital donations, Hackney Giving helps fund organisations tackling isolation, easing the pressures of the cost of living, and improving wellbeing across the community. As part of Hackney CVS, their work ensures support reaches those who need it most. To celebrate this partnership, Hackney Art Week will release a series of limited-edition prints by some of our participating local artists, with proceeds going towards Hackney Giving. As you explore our locations, keep an eye out for QR codes where you can easily donate and contribute to making a meaningful difference in Hackney. @hackneygiving 📷 @jenny_graphic #hackneygiving #hackneyartweek #lovehackney #hackney #hackneycvs

The Rio is 50 years old! Opening in 1976, it’s one of the UK’s longest running cinemas. Throwback to some moments from the Rio Archive: 1. Rio Cinema exterior 1977 (shortly after it opened) 2. A screenings list from 1979 3. Audience at Bhaji on the Beach 1994 4. Rocky Horror Live shadow cast with Richard O’Brien (2018) 5. Unemployed flyer 1980 6. Rio Cinema exterior, 1987/88 (release of Radio Days) 7. Robocop poster 1988 8. Audience at Hot Since 91’s screening of Set It Off, 2016 9. Poster for women’s all nighter event, 1988 10. Pink Palace audience 2023 11. Gay Pride Week, 1980 listings 12. Oreo x The Batman three-day takeover 2022 13. Rio Cinema relaunch 1999 Starting in 1909 as an auctioneer’s shop, Clara Ludski converted it into one of London’s first cinemas, the Kingsland Palace of Animated Pictures. It was rebuilt in 1915 as the Kingsland Empire, then redesigned in 1937 in its current Art Deco style as the Classic Cinema. After spells as an arthouse and a 1970s adult cinema, it became the community-run venue known today. They’re celebrating their half-century milestone with a six-month programme of screenings and events! [LINK IN BIO TO SEE IN FULL] RIO FOREVER x #londonhistory #ukcinema #ukhistory #hackney #riocinema

🤘 London's first dive bar festival is coming to Hackney 🎶 Hackney Altfest will take over Mare Street, Morning Lane and Lower Clapton Road on Monday 4 May - Sunday 10 May 🎸🎧 🎵 Celebrate some of the best alternative venues bringing together live music, experimental art, talks, brewery tours, tastings and more @absintheparlour @thelasttuesdaysociety @blondieslondon @rasputinsbar @helgisbar @saintmondaybrewery @easyeightbar @the.moon.temple @youcalltheshotse9 🕹 Collect stamps from all eight venues on the festival stamp card to win prizes. 🔗 For more info and full programme go to link in bio

Rio Forever community launch was a joy! Celebrating 50 years of the Rio Cinema, the Rio Forever programme is officially GO! Big love to @rosiegreatorex , @screenhackney , @hackney_society @anna_sk & the Rio Cinema Trustees and of course the entire @riocinema team. Roll on the next 50 years!! ❤️ #RIOFOREVER

London’s newest museum opens this weekend on the edge of Hackney - take a look inside the brand-new V&A East @vam_east , opening this Saturday, 18 April, and discover how East Londoners are reflected throughout the space. Visit the immersive exhibition ‘The Music is Black: A British Story’, which tracks 125 years of music, from gospel and jazz to drum & bass and grime.

This Sunday, come and celebrate w/ @sadlers_wells as they shine a spotlight on the power of dance to bring people together, improve wellbeing and celebrate identity. Free and open to all, see joyful performances and join workshops bringing people together, improve wellbeing and celebrate identity. Hackney's own @hackneycircle 's Djembe Drumming Group and the @pemburycommunitycentre over 50s dance group will be performing, so keep an eye out! 📍 The Dance Floor, Sadler’s Wells East ⏰ Sunday 19 April, 11am – 5:30pm 🎟 Free, just turn up! Link in bio for more info

🚨 LAST CALL! 🚨 Hurry for your chance to earn £1000! Calling all Hackney-based artists aged 18-26 to create the key visual for the 2026 Discover Young Hackney programme. Tomorrow is the big day. We are officially closing entries for the Discover Young Hackney commission 2026! We’ve seen some incredible entries so far, but there’s still room for yours. Click the link in our bio. 📸 : Discover Young Hackney flyer 2025

Got a vision for Hackney’s next generation of creatives? 🎤📸🎭 We’re looking for local organisations and practitioners to help us deliver Discover Young Hackney 2026! We are offering grants of up to £4,000 to fund workshops and projects that give 15–26-year-olds a head start in the creative industries. Whether it’s fashion, music production, digital art, or performance—if it’s creative and for the youth, we want to hear about it. 💰 Grant: Up to £4,000 ⏳ Deadline: 11:59 PM, Tuesday 21 April 📍 Focus: Free or low-cost creative opportunities in Hackney APPLY NOW! Hit the link in our bio! 🔗 📸: @seanpollockphoto @whitleydanceco 's Digital Dance Studio workshop #DiscoverYoungHackney #HackneyCreatives #ArtsFunding #LoveHackney #YouthProjects #CreativeGrants #YoungHackney

did you know about this? 💙 These are the Hackney Dudes men 50+ coming together every week eating, talking, supporting each other for some, it’s a lifeline They recently lost their funding - please donate if you can to keep this very important group going LINK IN BIO TO DONATE #hackney #community #over50s #MensMentalHealth #londonnews

🎞️ CineMediterra April 2026 Edition programme poster is out!! A Mediterranean spring on screen… 🌸 CineMediterra Film Festival arrives at Hackney Picturehouse 18–19 April 2026 ✨ 🎞️ Explore our programme: / 🎟️ Tickets: /event-details/0000000164/cinemediterra-film-festival/100 (Links are on bio!) 🌞 Programme: 18 April, Saturday: 16:00  | Taxi Monamour (2024, Italy) Dir: Ciro de Caro @ciruzz0 18:00  |  Live Music Session with Hot Swing Bohème & Networking (free event) @hot_swing_boheme 19:30  | What’s a Human Anyway (Korkuyorum Anne, 2004, Turkiye) Dir: Reha Erdem @rehaerdemofficial 19 April, Sunday: 15:00  |  Short Film Programme + Q&A  • Almost Certainly False – Dir: Cansu Baydar (Turkiye) @cansubaydar • Heat Me – Dir: Kelly Sarri (Greece) @kellysarri • And If the Sun Drowned – Dir: Wissam Charaf (Lebanon) @wissam__charaf • Dreams, Hopes and Rotating Dolphins – Dir: Adil Burak Aydin (Turkiye) @adilburakaydin • Don’t Say It – Dir: Ezgi Temel (Turkiye) @benezgitemel • Glass Spider – Dir: Michael Demetriou (Cyprus-Greece & UK) @treehousebob • The Yarn - Dir: Gokce Pehlivanoglu (Turkiye) @lunaroom • Handkerchief - Dir: Dimitra Picolou (UK) Festival Partners: @efes.uk @monroe.works @stowbrothers @mainyardstudios @elitcikolata @ozerlat_uk @luvia.olive Press & media supporters: @hackneycouncil @iiclondra @turkish_british @turkish_global_society *still photo from Taxi Monamour*

📣 Calling all artists! 📣 We want to hear from artists with a connection to Hackney who are interested in creating public artworks in and around Hackney Central. 🎨We will have a number of opportunities coming up to create murals that reflect Hackney’s character and community, and to demonstrate your creativity. 💡 This is an exciting paid opportunity to transform public spaces into striking pieces of artwork. The work will be delivered by @woodstreetwalls @worksinpublic on behalf of @hackneycouncil ⏰ Expression of Interest deadline to apply on Wednesday 13 May. 🫵🏼 For more information on how to apply head to link in bio and visit: Tag or share with an artist who should be a part of this. Mural artist credit: Gestures of a Square @li_hill Ridley Road @holymolyuk #hackney #london #murals #artists