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This March marks Women’s History Month. Our borough of Haringey has a rich history of activism (I’m delighted to have the new suffragette overground line running both through our home borough and locally to us) and this is mirrored in Jacksons Lane’s own history as a platform for trailblazing women.

One of the leading voices amongst our extraordinary founders is that of Nicky Gavron, an inspiring leader who went on to become London’s first deputy mayor, breaking multiple glass ceilings along the way. We recently honoured Nicky’s impact with the presentation of a Pink Plaque, working in partnership with Highgate’s Pink Plaques Project which responds to the disappointing and yet not surprising fact that a mere 14% of Blue Plaques awarded are for women.  This plaque now proudly adorns the outside of our building, making our history visible to visitors and passersby.

Jacksons Lane has always championed and supported those in our community who have traditionally had less of a voice, been afforded less space, been less visible, and this is particularly clear in our support for women-led work.  If you dive into the archives held at Bruce Castle Museum, you can find flyers and posters for events in the 80s like the Haringey Lesbian Do and a Lesbian Multi-Cultural Cabaret and Social.  Organisations like Waltzing with Hilda, a ballroom and latin dance club for women, began their journey at Jacksons Lane, and artistically we have continued our strong commitment to programming and supporting female-led work which is innovative, bold and unapologetic.  In recent years radical performance artists have graced our stage with shows such as Marisa Carnesky’s SHOWWOMEN, Eloina’s High Steaks and Laura Murphy’s Contra, challenging audiences to interrogate the politics of identity through bold, form-bending performance.

Through our creative engagement programme we have worked closely with our community to create projects which have empowered and platformed hundreds of women and girls: through performance making, discussion and even self defence for women of all ages, as well as our memorable Worlds by Women programme which marked the centenary of the women’s vote.

So how will you mark this year’s Women’s History Month in March and beyond? I’ll be supporting female artists and connecting with international stories with two of the exciting female-led circus performances we have coming up at Jacksons Lane:

Show Pony, artistically supported by internationally renowned performance maker Bryony Kimmings, this show explores what happens when female acrobats hit middle age, and screams an almighty challenge to the sexism and ageism which exists in the performing arts.

Turk-ish, from circus artist Poppy Plowman, weaves a tale of identity, exploring western beauty standards using music, circus and storytelling.

Both are unmissable.