As we prepare for our exciting return to Peckham Square, Nephertiti’s contributions have been pivotal. She has spearheaded large-scale, community-embedded projects and nurtured emergent talents and creative networks. Under her guidance, Peckham Platform has centred the experiences of our local communities, creating space for joy, creativity, and ambition, and has become a beacon for collaborative artistic practice.
While at Peckham Platform, Nephertiti led a series of impactful programmes that transformed public spaces such as Peckham Square and Rye Lane into vibrant artistic and social engagement hubs. These initiatives brought together local artists, performers, and community members to celebrate the area’s rich cultural heritage while addressing contemporary challenges through creative expression.
Through events such as Small Island Vibes and Library x Soundsystem, she celebrated and centred diasporic cultures through food, sound and literature. Placemaking Changemaking, began Peckham Platform’s new symposium and knowledge exchange model of community-led discussions exploring the intersection of urban development and culture, and with Memories for the Future, she fostered intergenerational storytelling to honour Peckham’s rich heritage.
Nephertiti’s contributions also include spearheading Rye Lane Reconnected, a collaborative commissioning model with permanent artworks including Sunshines in the Ends and Supported Love Reaches All.
These projects exemplified Nephertiti’s ability to forge partnerships across disciplines and cultures, uniting emerging and established artists to create works that reflect Peckham’s unique vibrancy.
Alongside her Co-Director, Nephertiti guided Peckham Platform through periods of significant growth, including a capital programme and an NPO funding uplift. She is immensely proud to have secured multi-year programme funding and to have shifted commissioning practices to better serve working-class and Global Majority Heritage artists and communities.
Nephertiti also worked to challenge traditional leadership structures, advocating for inclusive decision-making processes. This was reflected in her governance and policy work, such as her role as a panel member supporting Southwark’s Public Art Policy Renewal strategy and as a steering group member for the borough’s Black Cultural Conversation. Additionally, she was instrumental in securing crucial funding to ensure that Peckham Platform’s programmes remained accessible, while consistently nurturing new voices reflective of the community’s diversity.
In her own words, Nephertiti reflected on her time at Peckham Platform:
“Firstly, I would like to thank our funders, partners, local residents, and artistic collaborators who, over the last five years, have trusted us to develop programmes that prioritise generosity, knowledge exchange, care, and critical thinking. Together, we have addressed significant needs such as food scarcity, anti-loneliness, emotional well-being, diasporic heritage, and making public spaces safer through artistic programming and creative responses. Each project is a love letter to Peckham, the generations of aunties and uncles before me, and the young people who are figuring out what they can do next.
Peckham’s families are a reflection of my own, and I am especially thankful to our Trustees and Founding Director, for supporting and understanding the value of collaboration. I am also grateful to my colleagues and the amazing cohort of freelancers, facilitators, producers, and project managers who have been central to the unique energy and mission of Peckham Platform, connecting art, people, and place.”
Message from Co-Director Karin Kihlberg:
“Working with Nephertiti as co-director over the past four years has been an inspiring and transformative experience. Her creativity, ability to lead with compassion, and talent for forming strong bonds with our communities have shaped how we work as a team and as an organisation. I am incredibly grateful for our collaboration and proud of what we’ve achieved together. As she embarks on her next chapter, I know she will continue to inspire and succeed, and I look forward to seeing the amazing things she will accomplish.”
Beloved Adonai, Interim Chair adds:
“Nephertiti’s is a force, and in many ways why PP has excelled in creating a vibrant, thoughtful, and wonderful programme. Her expertise, grace, care and impeccable work ethic, speaks to the dedication she has shown over the past 5 years. It’s been wonderful seeing her work, and bringing people together for the betterment of the Peckham community, Nephertiti will surely be missed.”
The staff team and Trustees thank Nephertiti for her dedication, imagination, and leadership. We wish her continued success in setting best practices for community-responsive programming, artistic strategy, and commissioning, and we eagerly anticipate her future contributions to the arts landscape.
