The People Speak is an East London-based group of international artists, academics, arts practitioners, and activists with 25 years of experience helping people understand each other. Their aim is to bring people together to have discussion, play and make decisions in an open ended and fun way.
They told me their motive is to “give people more confidence to interact with others”.
And one way they do this is with their own innovation the “Talkaoke”. This is an interactive talk show where the participants decide on topics and together push the limitations of what a conversation can be.
We all love talk shows not only because we have different opinions and views on different topics, but also because they are educating and entertaining and it can be challenging and enlightening to bring people from different walks of life together.
For a diverse East London community challenging different ideas and opinions, and being able to express your views without the fear of being judged is ideal.
Talkaoke is organised around a table with a round hole cut out in the middle where the host sits.
“It does not matter if the conversation is about local issues or events of a global impact. During the conversation, we explore how it all fits together. A Talkaoke chat is also about the immediacy of reaction and connection with others” explains Mikey Weinklove, the founder of Talkaoke.
Weinklove told Rising East about why this is so important in East London: “This is an area that has gone through a lot, and we have seen changes here. There are opportunities but there are also threats. It’s about people really believing, making, putting something into society, believing they are an important part of it.”
Laura Kaminska, a People Speak event organiser and social media manager, said, “We are not very good at communicating with each other, with saying what’s actually on our mind because we are afraid of being judged, misunderstood and this space is about helping people find the courage to speak up for themselves or for the issues that they find important.” She added, “We have to communicate with each other in order to survive, even.”
Watch the interview with The People Speak below where we discuss how they get their funding, how they disagree and what type of community they aspire to create.