SouthWestFest
Connect and Celebrate your Community with SouthWestFest
SouthWestFest is a community festival for south Westminster, showcasing culture, community and heritage through fun activities and engaging events for all ages.
Founded in 2008, we are a community led charity and our trustees, staff and volunteers are passionate about promoting and celebrating our incredible and diverse community. We have a long history of working with arts, culture, entertainment, health, education, sports and leisure partners in the south Westminster area.
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Our framework for the festival programme is to work with local partners, artists and practitioners to plan events, workshops and activities which change each year and will continue to engage and inspire residents to come out and take part. We do this through both a curated programme of themed festival events, alongside an open access programme of partner events.
Activate: Our programme of themed in-house events and commissioned projects including our large scale outdoor festival weekend events, create a ‘hook’ which activates audiences and inspires them to take part in the wider festival programme.
Collaborate: Through our open access festival programme we collaborate with and showcase the work of our 70+ partner organisations and groups. We endeavour to develop and maintain good relationships and always look for opportunities to create new ones.
Promote: Through promotion and celebration of the festival programme, the festival acts as a tool for our partners, to increase awareness of their venues, services, products and programmes to new audiences across the area.
Enable: We aim to create safe, inclusive and accessible spaces to offer our festival activities, reduce barriers to attainment, and enable residents to take part.
Inspire: We aim to inspire and engage our audiences and participants to try new creative, and cultural activities promoted alongside our festival partners, encouraging ongoing engagement with our partners’ services.
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Through this work we support, empower and facilitate grassroots community action and leadership, enabling the people and groups we work with to create innovative projects, engaging events, positive placemaking experiences and opportunities for their communities.
Neighbourhood Project of the Year 2018 – Westminster Council – Community Award
Catherine Drake Wilkes
Festival Chair
Catherine has worked in Pimlico with the Sure Start Children’s Centres since 2003 and is currently the manager of Bessborough Family Hub. Catherine has been involved with SouthWestFest for many years, stepping up as Chair in 2015.
Dodie Finamore
Festival Director
Since joining the festival in 2018 and becoming Director in 2021, Dodie has seen the festival through its most turbulent times and is looking forward to leading the festival into its new phase. She balances this part time role with freelance work as an artist, actor and Arts and Community Producer and Programmer.
Patricia Alert
Trustee
Patricia, a long standing trustee, got involved with SouthWestFest through her work as Outreach Manager for Sure Start South Westminster. Although no longer working in Westminster she is committed to local families.
Aaron Paterson
Trustee
Aaron is the Community Engagement Manager at Westminster Abbey, overseeing family, youth and community programmes. He is also one half of a video production company, acapmedia. He joined the festival as a Trustee in 2020.
Mark Gavhure
Trustee
Mark Gavhure is an Account Director and Global Series Lead at BBC Studios. He oversees digital BBC.com series for worldwide audiences on issues ranging from health inequality to housing. Mark also has an extensive events background and joined as a Trustee in 2024.
Ebun Lawal
Young Trustee
Ebun is a Tech Recruitment Consultant and an event organiser for primarily in the House of Lords and prisons around London. He is a founding member of Spelbound! This is a public speaking organisation that helps young people tell their vulnerable stories in an empowering and compelling way. He joined the Board in 2024 as our first Young Trustee.
Jane Buttigieg
Festival President
Jane was the Chair of the festival for many years. After stepping down as the Chair of the festival, we honoured Jane’s many years of hard work and volunteering at the festival by giving her the title of Festival President. She continues to sing at events and support the Festival with her networks.
Donate
Can you join SouthWestFest is raising much-needed funds for our community arts festival?
It is only through generous donations that we are able to continue to annually bring our free and low-cost events to the local community and support the talent and organisations in SW1
SouthWestFest | Registered Charity Number: 112484
Neighborhood Project of the Year, Westminster Council
