Humans Of Lambeth (part IV)

Our Humans Of Lambeth series celebrates the individuals behind the Lambeth Fringe Festival. In the third part of our series we meet Naz Hoque from Through The Lab CIC to talk about creativity, mentoring and the beautiful borough of Lambeth...

“I am a multifaceted creative — I mainly work in music production and video production — but I combine creative art forms and deliver projects in my borough and around London to young people and adults who don’t have much creative opportunities. I run artist development, one-to-one mentoring, video production courses where they learn how to make music videos. For me it’s not just a job, it’s my purpose. A friend once said to me, “one person can’t change the world, but you can change the world for one person”. And that stuck with me, because it’s true — it starts with one, and then it ripples out to the next, and the next. That’s what my mentor Tim Brown did for me, and that’s what I do now.”

“When I was in school we were always making music – rapping, writing lyrics, spoken word – and I was the guy sound engineering for my friends on GarageBand. That was the only class I was ever early for, the only one I’d stay late in. Unfortunately music technology stopped overnight in our school. Music Tech is where I felt I could really express myself. So I started a petition with my friends – we had roughly 100 signatures to bring back music after school and we managed to do that. Then I found Raw Material Music & Media in Brixton. I walked past it every day on my way to school, I found out it was a music studio, and just lost it. I did work experience there, and that place then became my lifeline. Tim Brown was the first person who said to me: what you’re doing with your friends, that’s youth work, that’s facilitating, you’re already doing it. And suddenly I had ten, twelve young people in the studio every Tuesday, packed out, and Tim was giving me a little bit of money for it. That was massive – like wow, I can do music, I can do video, and I can buy myself trainers or chips after school. I still remember the exact day – July 12th, 2010 – the day I walked into Raw. If it wasn’t for Tim and the team I met at Raw over the years, I honestly think I would have been lost and things could have turned out so different.”

“Lambeth is part of my identity. It’s shaped me – what I’ve seen, what I’ve gone through here, the different cultures, religions, businesses, and people. It’s not just any borough, it’s a unique borough that invests in art, in creativity, in wellbeing. And it’s green, you know? It’s well kept, it’s got space. I’ve worked in other boroughs, and they feel congested, polluted, cluttered. Lambeth gave me mentors like Tim, JB, Miles – all from here, all who inspired me. I’m not self-made, I don’t believe in that. My borough and my people made me. They didn’t just give me a lifeline, they changed my family tree. Now my kids are growing up here, my son is taking the same steps I took fifteen years ago, going to the same shops, the same studio. That’s powerful to me. Lambeth isn’t just where I live, it’s who I am.”

“Winning the 2024 BeLambeth Award, that was like winning a Grammy for me. To be recognised by my own borough, that meant everything. I came home and showed my mum and dad, and I felt like a kid all over again. And then this year, getting invited to Windsor Castle by the King - from Brixton to Windsor Castle… that’s crazy! As a Bengali kid with no A-levels, who never thought he’d leave Brixton, to be in that room with the King celebrating community music across the UK… I still can’t believe it. I’ve got the invitation framed in my house because for my family, that’s a huge deal. And it just shows that you don’t have to follow the traditional route, you can follow your passion and still build a sustainable career. Recognition like that, it lights a fire in you, it shows the young people I work with, that their art matters, and their voices matter.”

“With Lambeth Fringe I’m the social media manager, creating the content, telling the story of what’s happening – taking the photos, the videos, showing the talent and the people behind the scenes. For me it’s exciting because I never had access to theatre when I was young, it just wasn’t a career path I even thought about. So this is a stepping stone, I’m learning a whole new world, and it feels like an honour to support them. And again it goes back to inspiring – if young people can see me being involved, maybe it opens a door for them too.”

Humans Of Lambeth is put together by Beatrice Updegraff for Mobius Industries - stay tuned to see who is featured in Part V...

Images 1-3 of Naz Hoque photographed by Beatrice Updegraff

Image 4 - the ceremony at Windsor Castle, provided by Naz Hoque

Image 5 - Tim Brown, Naz's first mentor at Raw Material. Image provided by Naz Hoque

Image 6 - Naz with fellow creatives. Image provided by Naz Hoque.