Westwood checks out Hackney's talent at HCCSummerfest

Posted 6th July 2012

Radio1Xtra’s Tim Westwood came to Hackney to check out the talent at HCC SummerFest. He judged an Open Mic competition, open to students and other local artists, and commented “there’s a LOT of talent here”. He went on to introduce the spectacular fashion show. Sitting beside the catwalk, Tim tweeted a photo of HCC student fashion design to his 275,143 followers with the message: “Catwalk front row at Hackney Community College. A lot of proud parents in here!”

The Open Mic contest was run in conjunction with Rising Tide. As well as a prize of £100, two professional studio sessions were awarded to winners. HCC business studies student Johndit Dimbu (stage name Shawtz) won a recording studio session courtesy of SAE Institute on Kingsland Road. Estelle Lavard chose a photography studio session as her prize from Rising Tide.

Open Mic judging panel

The annual SummerFest at the college’s Shoreditch campus in Falkirk Street is a showcase of students’ talents and an opportunity for potential students and visitors to check out the campus and the courses on offer.

Models took to a professional-style catwalk twice during the day, showcasing work from the college’s fashion and art & design courses.

In other activities on the day, catering students helped visitors to ice cakes, ESOL staff and students led interactive games and visitors had the chance to win an ipod from the business department.

Impressive art, design and media exhibitions were on show across the campus.

External organisations also set up stalls with information and activties, including bag design with young ambassadors from the Geffrye Museum. Performers from CircusSpace added to the interactive entertainment.

The day was also an opportunity to congratulate winners of HCC’s Jack Petchey Foundation awards for the year.

Ian Ashman, principal said: “It was a superb showcase of our students’ talents. I’m very proud of what they have achieved this year and this was a great opportunity to show off the high quality of our students’ work to the wider community. I am very grateful to all our staff and students who organised the day and to all the other organisations who contributed to its success. Having Tim Westwood as our VIP guest, taking the time to talk to students and taking a real interest in their achievements, made it even more special.”