London news

Toynbee Hall has launched a story competition as part of its activities to mark the 1971 Bangladesh War of Independence and its significance to the local people of Tower Hamlets/City of London.

The competition, being run in collaboration with the Swadhinata Trust and Storyteller Shamim Azad, is accepting story submissions that explore the general theme of “life in 1971, liberation, resistance and home”. The stories can be based on memory, history or completely fictional.

LAHF have launched a new tool designed to enable creative, cultural and arts organisations and freelancers working in arts, health and wellbeing to work better, together.

Increasingly at LAHF we get contacted by organisations outside of the creative, health and wellbeing sectors looking for suggestions of good creative, arts and cultural organisations and freelancers to work with. In order to better facilitate these requests, we've built a handy tool to do this job quickly and efficiently.

The City of London Corporation’s Planning and Transportation Committee has approved plans for the Museum of London to create a new museum within the historic buildings of West Smithfield. The plans were announced in 2015. The cultural project will tell the story of London and its citizens and display more than 7 million objects from the London Collection. It is hoped the museum will open in 2024.

The Trustees of Paintings in Hospitals have appointed Sandra Bruce-Gordon as Director of the charity from the end of April 2020 to replace outgoing Director Ben Pearce.

Sandra is a leading figure in the development of arts, cultural and public services across London and will bring to Paintings in Hospitals a wealth of business acumen and a great track record in delivery from over the past 20 years.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has announced that Lewisham has been awarded the title of London Borough of Culture for 2021 with Croydon winning the accolade for 2023.

Both boroughs will be awarded £1.35m funding to deliver a year-long programme of activities that will place culture at the heart of their communities and celebrate the unique character of local people and places.

Lewisham's bid, Cultural Activism, sets out plans to inspire local people to take action on climate change, while Croydon's bid, This is Croydon, has sustainability at its heart.

Organisation would like to hear the views of arts professionals to inform the content and format of a new monthly webinar series starting January 2020

The Portobello Pavilion is a temporary architectural hub offering free art-and-doing activities to all ages. Popping up each summer in Powis Square with an exciting new experimental build, people gather here to learn new skills, share ideas and spend time with family and friends.

https://www.portobellopavilion.london/

Move Dance Feel is a creative dance project for women recovering from or affected by cancer, including those who are supporting someone with cancer. The project was founded in 2016 to explore what participatory dance could offer in the context of cancer recovery and to address a recognised need for post-treatment support. They have just published really positive evaluation and research. 

Read more here 

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has launched a new independent trust to protect and support affordable artist workspace in the city. The Creative Land Trust is backed by £4m from City Hall and £2m from Arts Council England (ACE), alongside funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies. The Mayor’s office said the trust is “an independent organisation that will provide financing for affordable workspace providers to buy buildings and will purchase its own property to be used as permanent workspaces for artists in London”.