Focus of work
Lionbeat’s Expect Cycles campaign amplifies sustainable urban mobility and Black cultural expression. Through BASSISbikes, Lionbeat delivers decarbonised, battery-powered audiovisual systems on eCargo bikes, transforming public spaces into vibrant cultural hubs. This initiative not only reduces the carbon footprint of live events but also centres cyclists in uncommon cultural opportunities, providing training and employment for Black cyclists and audiovisual technicians on eCargo bikes. Lionbeat challenges the status quo, promotes climate justice and highlights the indispensable contributions of Black communities to the cultural landscape.
FIT’s funding has supported Lionbeat to:
- Promote active travel among Bass Cultured communities through cultural engagement.
- Use BASSISbike infrastructure to deliver decarbonised, mobile cultural programming.
- Embed cycling into everyday cultural and economic life through visible public realm activations.
- Provide training, employment pathways and cultural production skills to underrepresented communities.
- Establish replicable partnerships across civic, academic, commercial and community spheres.
- Generate data and evidence to influence transport policy and support long-term systems change.
- Develop the Expect Cycles campaign into a scalable, transport-integrated cultural delivery model.
Impact
Following FIT support, Expect Cycles has grown from a focused campaign into a recognisable platform that fuses sustainable transport with cultural innovation.
It has successfully tested and deployed BASSISbikes at over ten events, including those at Somerset House (attended by Mariana Mazzucato, UCL), the Black Unity Bike Ride, ZEN’s Car-Free Streets Day and Luton International Carnival. Each site demonstrates both symbolic and transport relevance, laying the foundation for the long-term integration of eCargo mobility in cultural delivery.
Weekly testing at parlez (Brockley) and trials at The Hill Station (Telegraph Hill) are now creating localised feedback loops and a steady rhythm of public, networked engagement. Meanwhile, Battery Jam in Brockwell Park has helped normalise eCargo use in family-friendly, innovative music production settings.
Lionbeat has initiated structured partnerships through its BASSIS Fieldwork Partnership (BFP) model, targeting civic, academic, small business and property stakeholders. This methodology will continue to underpin evidence-based advocacy and policy development.
It has also strengthened alliances with Goldsmiths and UCL, together with other sponsors and allies who support the strategic evolution of the Lionbeat Equation, which is the charity’s internal framework for measuring economic, cultural, social and symbolic capital growth.
Together, these actions have amplified visibility, enhanced public understanding of cultural mobility and created tangible training, employment and co-creation opportunities for Bass Cultured communities. Expect Cycles is now firmly established as a low-emission, high-impact framework for place-based transformation.