Yay Mates

YAY Mates is an informal group of artists and their friends from East London (based in Havering) that is welcoming of members from here and outside of the area - with a mission is to create a connection point for artists and to create projects together to improve our local cultural landscape and harness more opportunities together. The YAY Mates organising team is made up of three collaborative art organisations based in Havering, Bluerskies Creatives, Brennan & Burch, and The NO Collective. YAY Mates as a network comes together in regular social networking events in Havering. One Wednesday a month we hold a network meeting and social occasion for artists and their mates, where we hold a range of activities - from guest speakers to art 'crit' sessions to fun collaborative drawing workshops. In between these meetings we also support network exhibition trips, co-curated exhibitions, events and wider creative opportunities.