Hunga Munga

If the words arts and crafts when coupled together cause a little flutter in your chest, then this is the place for you! Last Wednesday I had the absolute pleasure of attending Hunga Munga(5) at Favela Chic in Old St. I was so excited when my friend invited me, I had visions of colourful pipe cleaners, plasticine, snips, glue and paper maiche. A once monthly event the next one is at the Bethnal Green Working Men's Club on June 14th.

This is not an event for people who are afraid to get paint on their shoes, and it introduces a sense of togetherness you never see at your average music gig. Yes that right, live acts and djs preform as you create your mini masterpieces.

Their tagline on the their myspace page is "arty parties without the arty farties" so compared to PaintJam(40) in Angel where you see a more professional crowd, and the Craft Night (6) at Notting Hill Arts Club where you get a craft bag and everyone makes the same thing (sock puppets embroidery), Its free range creativity for the creatively inclined though not necessarily creatively gifted.

The best thing is watching a whole room of people sharing recycled bits and bobs, paint trays and scissors while being totally engrossed in what they are doing. You have a beer or two as props but for the first couple of hours I was all hands on and in the crafts. Oh and I mustn't forget the fairy cakes on the tables when we arrived and the BEST arts and crafts supply table you've ever seen (a million times better than kindy)

I created some kind of alien plant thing, my friend a tv head, another a miniature garden and another a mask. I painted a picture of seahorses for a friend who couldn't come and after that I was artied out and ready to party, so I wandered around comparing my art with others seeing if we could combine them in to mega installations. I even had a certain puffed chest pride when the Hung Munga photographer took pictures of my piece.

So if you want to have a wholesome night, meet a bunch of interesting people and feel generally good about yourself go and get lost in the world of arts and crafts for a couple of hours, you never know you might actually win a prize.