The Albany

Deptford community arts centre with a long history of Caribbean-British music and theatre programming; home of the Albany Empire’s anti-racist gigs in the late 1970s and 80s. The Albany on Douglas Way — rebuilt in 1982 after the original building was destroyed by arson — has been one of South-East London’s principal community arts venues for half a century. In its ‘Empire’ incarnation it ran benefit gigs alongside Rock Against Racism in the late 1970s; today it hosts a programme of Black theatre, jazz, hip-hop, spoken word and family work, deeply rooted in Lewisham’s African and Caribbean communities.

People

Themes

• Theatre venue
• Theatre & performance
• Music
• Caribbean diaspora
• African diaspora
• Labour movement

Place

• Lewisham
• Modern

Sources

• The Albany — https://www.thealbany.org.uk/