The free Being (T)here celebration on 15 November at The Old Waterworks is fully booked on Eventbrite. What the double LP is and how to join the waitlist.
The memories of Southend’s Afro-Caribbean residents have been recorded, pressed onto a double vinyl LP and gathered into a book, and the people behind them will be at a free celebration at The Old Waterworks Gallery on Sunday 15 November. The project is called Being (T)here, and it was made with support from Arts Council England.
It is the work of Karli-Jade Fontiverio-Hylton, who goes by KJ and describes themself as “a creative ethnographer and multidisciplinary artist based between Southend and London”.
Overview
- What: a free community celebration of Being (T)here, an oral history project with Southend’s Afro-Caribbean community.
- When: Sunday 15 November 2026, 12pm to 4.30pm.
- Where: The Old Waterworks, North Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, SS0 7AB.
- On the day: an immersive listening installation, a participatory steelpan workshop, food, and open conversation with some of the people featured in the project.
- Price: free, but booked by ticket, and all tickets have now gone: the Eventbrite listing shows it as sold out, with a waitlist.
Updated 11 November: KJ has confirmed the celebration starts at 12 noon and that food will be served as well as the steelpan workshop and listening installation. It remains sold out, with a waitlist on Eventbrite.
What the project is
In KJ’s words, Being (T)here is “a recent Arts Council England-supported project exploring the lives, memories and experiences of Southend’s Afro-Caribbean community through oral histories, field recordings and personal storytelling.”
The recordings have become two things you can hold. “The project has culminated in a double vinyl LP and accompanying publication,” KJ wrote to us, “bringing together the voices of local residents and exploring listening as an act of care, connection and cultural preservation.”
The project brings together interviews with community members, photography, field recordings and original music, and ends in three things: the double vinyl LP, the publication and an immersive listening installation. KJ says it is “about preserving local voices and stories for future generations.”
The project website describes Being (T)here as “a sonic ethnographic series” that traces “Caribbean stories of identity, memory and belonging across places”, weaving “voices, soundscapes and music into vinyl records and publications, creating living archives of community and culture.”
The celebration on 15 November
KJ is “hosting a small, free community celebration in Southend on 15th November at The Old Waterworks Gallery, featuring a steelpan taster workshop, collective listening and informal conversations with some of the people featured in the project.”
In KJ’s latest note to us, the day will bring “together different generations to celebrate a part of Southend’s cultural heritage that is often overlooked”, with “a listening installation, open conversation, food and a participatory steelpan workshop.”
So this is not a gig with a stage and an audience. The plan is to sit and listen to the record together, have a go on the steelpans, and talk to the residents whose memories are on it. KJ has called it small, so it is worth arriving in good time.
It runs from 12 noon to 4.30pm. Entry is free, but places are booked through Eventbrite, and by 27 October every ticket had gone; the listing offers a waitlist.
A call for collaborators
KJ also wants the project to lead somewhere. “I’m also keen to connect with other local artists, cultural organisers and community networks, particularly those working with Black and Caribbean communities,” they wrote, “and would welcome any introductions or opportunities for future collaboration.”
If you run a group, a venue or a project in Southend that works with Black and Caribbean communities and would like to be put in touch, contact the Southend Today newsdesk and we will pass your details on.
More of what is happening across the city this autumn is in What’s On in Southend.
Have your say