Creative Encounters: New Year, Same Me
Come and settle in for an evening of zine-making with sweet-thang zine, accompanied by poetry and music from Black Geographies Collective.
Kick off 2025 with an evening of connection at a relaxed workshop to make your own zine using collaging and composition techniques.
Join us to create a snapshot of our lives in January 2025, harnessing the energies of the new year without succumbing to the #selflove resolutions (we promise).
Interwoven with the workshop, Black Geographies brings talented emerging poets and musicians to perform work from poetry about the self to music about resistance and revolution, and The National Poetry Library serves up the Poetry Kitchen, with a platter of poems to accompany the evening.
So come on down to Creative Encounters to find a creative home in the heart of the city, where Londoners old and new are brought together for conversation, music and making.
sweet-thang zine is a community, print zine and independent press publishing work by Black creatives worldwide. sweet-thang zines uplift, archive and advocate for the voices of Black people, particularly fostering a space for women, queer and trans folks.
Black Geographies run nights of poetry and live music centred on the power of language as a tool of resistance and self-definition.
Need to know
This is a drop-in event.
Creative Encounters is a fortnightly programme, running every other Wednesday. This is sometimes subject to change, so do always check the website for dates. These are friendly sessions designed for both those attending on their own or with others. There are opportunities to socialise and take part in activities together, but you are also very welcome to have a solo experience.
Creative Encounters is part of our Open Doors programme to welcome everyone into our creative spaces.
For your visit
This event is held at the The Clore Ballroom Southbank Centre
The Clore Ballroom is open six days a week.
Tuesday, 10am – 6pm*
Wednesday – Sunday, 10am – 11pm
Monday, closed.
*If we’re hosting a performance, the building will stay open until the event ends.
Plan your visit
The Clore Ballroom is located inside our Royal Festival Hall on Level 2.
Getting here
Our address is Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX.
The nearest tube stations to us are Waterloo and Embankment; Waterloo is also the nearest train station. And more than 20 different London bus routes pass within 500 metres of our venues. More information on getting here by rail, road or river is available on our Getting here page.
We’re cash-free
Please note that we’re unable to accept cash payments across our venues.
Access
We’re working hard to remove barriers, so that our facilities and events can be accessible to as many people as possible.
All help points, toilets, performance and exhibition spaces at the Southbank Centre are accessible to all, as are the cafes, bars and restaurants. We also have excellent public transport links with step-free access.
There is step-free access to The Clore Ballroom, Level 2, Royal Festival Hall, via a ramp.
All information about booking wheelchair spaces, step-free access, blue badge parking, access maps and guides and other help available whilst you’re here, including details about our Access Scheme, can be found on our Access page.
Food & drink
Next to The Clore Ballroom is our Ballroom Cafe where you can grab a coffee and a piece of freshly made cake. Also on Level 2 of our Royal Festival Hall you can grab a slice of life by the Thames with drinks and freshly made pizza at our Festival Bar & Kitchen which opens out onto our Riverside Terrace.
From coffee to cocktails, filling favourites to fine dining, plus some of London’s best street food – it’s all here at the Southbank Centre.