Support the creation of Comida Fest Latin American winter pop up extravaganza! After running a series of outdoor free events since 2016, Comida Fest is planning an authentic festival indoors engaging the community during November and December. We will offer street food stalls, a deli, coffee and crafts shop and run a programme of events including live music and DJs, dance classes, film sessions, cooking and drinks workshops, talks and co-working space. The space aim to open during daytime as well as in the evenings from Thursdays through the weekends offering the Latin American community a dedicated space of exposure and exchange, engagement, training and entertainment. The winter pop up is a step towards our vision to innovate the street food scene in London with a multi-purpose space where the community has real input and outcome, and different generations can interact, experience, learn and taste the rich and diverse Latin American culture of food, drinks and fiesta.

What we'll deliver:

• Design and build the space using as much recycled material as possible
• Find a space, we aim to find an unused empty space to bring to life
• Offer a platform for Latin American people and brands to share authentic food, drinks and culture
• Run the community engagement events programme

Why it's a great idea:

The Latin American community accounts to around 200,000 in London and it extends to all the people who work with Latin American somehow, making typical food, products from there or inspired by it, the music, dance and the language. We currently lack a dedicated a space that can be a platform to share all those things. Comida Fest Latin American Street Food Winter Pop Up will use all benefits that food and drinks bring to any culture: from the raw material, to different products, the traditions and innovation of the varied cuisine, to the social and celebratory aspects to create a platform for the public to interact, experiment, collaborate and learn. We will encourage the local people to exchange their work help running the space for free spaces in the workshops. Voluntary staff will be trained in marketing, event production and venue management, food traders will also receive business advice. An authentic Latin American project like this can be profitable to many sectors.

Steps to get it done:

• Book the attractions
• Design and build the work to be done in the space
• Engage with the community to announce the space opportunities
• Find our space
• Select the contractors
• Select the traders
• Select the volunteering team
• Apply for a license if necessary
• Go after funds to cover the cultural programme and other items of the budget
• Search for partnerships

We need a space! We have been looking for unused spaces in Southwark to be closer to a large concentration of the Latin American community in London, however we are open to explore other locations, the Winter Pop Up the community to take part and it got to have good transport links. We knocked a few doors, but we couldn’t guarantee a space yet, hire rate is huge and we would like to bring to live a closed arch, warehouse, garage or wherever we can fit in! Recently two major Latin American venues have closed down in London, despite the popularity of so many events. Key areas where the Latin American community interacts are threatened by development such as the regeneration of Elephant & Castle, and the possible closure of the Seven Sisters market. We want Comida Fest to offer this platform with the high quality that Londoners expect and add on the authenticity of the Latin American spirit! All supporters will get a welcome drink at their first visit at the Comida Fest Winter Pop Up!