Create London,
associate producers of the Barbican and leading east London arts
commissioners and producers, are set to use their five years experience
of working
with leading artists and east London communities to deliver a public
arts project in Dalmanock for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games
Culture Programme.
Set up as part of London 2012, and producing and
commissioning socially engaged projects in east London for the past five
years, Create London have been working to spread the benefits of being
home to Europe's largest cultural quarter to
the people who live in east London. Despite having the highest
concentration of artists and creative businesses in Europe, east London
has remarkably low levels of cultural engagement and remains one of the
most deprived parts of the UK. Create London, which
is sponsored by Deutsche Bank, has worked for the past five years to
bridge the traditional divisions of class, culture, education and social
background between the creative community and local people.
By commissioning major projects, attracting new
audiences and working in partnership to profile the cultural life of the
area, Create London has played a vital role in the continued economic
regeneration of east London. In recognition of
this work, and Create London’s central role in the success in east
London of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 Festival,
the organisation has been commissioned by Glasgow 2014 to transform a
derelict site in vicinity of the Emirates Arena and
Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in the east end of Glasgow with a permanent
artwork as part of
VELOCITY.
For Making the Most of Dalmanock, Create
London and Assemble, a practice of artists, designers and architects,
will work with local children and the wider community to create a new
outdoor area that can be used for play and learning.
VELOCITY is a partnership between Glasgow Life, Glasgow City Council,
Creative Scotland and Clyde Gateway Urban Regeneration Company which
aims to link citywide creative activity to communities through a public
art programme.
Taking inspiration from alternative education
practice and with a focus on the child’s role in the community, Create
London and Assemble will create a new playground which will work as an
outdoor classroom where children learn through exploration,
experimentation and play. Local children will be collaborators in the
development of the space and Assemble, together with the students of the
First Steps Future Skills Centre, will develop a series of high quality
and permanent improvements to the space.
Whilst focused on play, the space will offer amenity to adults and
elderly people as well as children.
Ruth Mackenzie, board member of Create London and former Director of the London 2012 Festival & Cultural Olympiad, said:
“It’s a fantastic legacy of London 2012 that Create London is
recongised for commissioning great artists to deliver projects that
bring social and economic benefits to local communities. The commission
for Glasgow will take this model to a national level
and I would congratulate Hadrian Garrard and the whole Create London
team for their success.”
Hadrian Garrard, Director, Create London, said:
“We’re very proud that our model for commissioning artists and
producers to deliver art projects which really connect with communities
has been recognised and we can take this model
forward to work in Glasgow working with our long term collaborators
Assemble. Create London always looks to demonstrate the social and
economic benefits of art, and this project is an ambitious example of
that.”
Create London’s 2013 programme includes producing the Open East Festival;
a weekend of family arts celebration to celebrate the first anniversary
of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games and taking place in the
Queen Elizabeth
Olympic Park co-produced with the Barbican, a series of screenings of classic Alfred Hitchcock films
in unusual places across the London borough where Hitchcock was born -
Waltham Forest, a new artist residency with Chisenhale Gallery which
will sees
artist Edward Thomasson work with untrained actors from east London to
develop a live performance this summer, a
‘School of the Imagination’ in east London as part of the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Create Art Award 2013,
and the opening of Open School East this September - a non-
fee paying art school and communal space set up to facilitate the
sharing of knowledge, skills and collaborative opportunities between
artists, local residents and neighbourhood organisations
in the heart of East London.
Create London have commissioned major projects for 2013 including new interactive theatre production
Bank On It which opens up the world of economics to children and is co-commissioned with the Barbican, bringing
Imelda Staunton, Toby Jones and the Royal Court to an east London community centre to perform
Mirror, Circle, Transformation, the opening of Blackhorse Workshop;
a place where local residents, artists, designers and DIY-ers can make,
mend and learn in Waltham Forest, a new digital interactive film and
performance commission from
Hannah Perry called Have A Nice Day, a series of commissions for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in partnership with The Architecture Foundation called
Emerging East Commissions, The Paper Architect; a site
specific theatre performance and workshop series co-commissioned with
the Barbican which explores the craft of paper cutting and video
projections, and the
Create London Talks Programme which will provide an opportunity
to examine some of the issues and possibilities of working in the public
domain for artists, curators, funders and audiences alike.
The programme is underpinned by Create Jobs, which provides mentoring, support and paid employment opportunities for local young people.
