London news

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”.

Eleven London boroughs are to collaborate to provide accommodation to prevent families becoming homeless in a new scheme designed to help the boroughs work together more effectively. The scheme is supported by almost £38million-worth of government funding, and more boroughs are expected to sign up.

Read more

Applications are now open for 'Park Life', for artists based in Greater London. The residency has been developed collaboratively by Outside In, the Bethlem Gallery and CGP London.

ACE is currently running a series of consultation events across the country for its new 10-year strategy, including in London between 6 and 14 November. The framework features health and wellbeing more prominently than in previous ACE strategies - as well as the concept of 'community-led' practice. It also seeks to shift its language from 'arts' to 'creativity' and 'culture'.

The Mayor's office has announced a new project – LDN WMN, which will focus on women whose work has historically been overlooked. The partnership with Tate Collective will involve 20 new artworks in public locations around the city.

Read more

With social prescribing high on the new Secretary of State for Health's agenda, the 2nd International Social Prescribing Network Conference will look at implementation and measurement, as well as the impact we already know about on patients.
 

I'm Still Here is the Koestler Trust’s eleventh exhibition in partnership with Southbank Centre; this year’s work has been selected by the families of current prisoners.

Read more

Arts Council England's latest figures suggest that visits to its National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) in London declined by 17 million between 2015/16 and 2016/17. ACE says that the closure of the Southbank Centre's Hayward gallery for refurbishment was artly responsible for the fall in visits. Visits in the South West and Midlands also fell, but those in the South East and North of Engand grew, albeit at a lesser rate than the losses reported elsewhere. 

Read more

Sadiq Khan has called on developers and London boroughs to support the capital’s creative practitioners. The number of spaces available to artists shows signs of stabilising, but this is in the context of a long-term shortage of affordable workspaces, and rising rents in the capital. London’s creative sector contributes £47bn to the UK economy every year and the Mayor has called for developers and boroughs to make it possible for creative practitioners to live and work in London.

The new Memorandum of Understanding highlights four key principles: an integrated, place-based approach; building capacity and resilience of the arts and culture sector and the creative industries; extending access to arts and culture; and strategic collaboration and advocacy. The focus is on supporting local authorities to work in more creative ways to achieve their goals.

Councillor Darren Rodwell, London Councils’ executive member for city development, said