After its launch in 2016, Studiomakers together with Outset raised £7.5 million to help launch the Creative Land Trust in 2019. Through a private/public partnership with the Mayor of London, Arts Council England and Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Trust became an independent charitable organisation that will purchase properties for use as workspaces for the creative industries in perpetuity.
The creative industries are the fastest-growing sector of the UK economy, accounting for one in every six jobs in the capital alone. However, the Greater London Authority recently identified 67% of all workspaces for artists had permanently closed, with a further 24% of remaining studios likely to shut within five years (according to the Greater London Authority’s Artists Workspace Study 2018).
This rapid decline in the supply of affordable workspace, and extreme fragility the creative industries face in a city of escalating costs, is resulting in a huge drain of creative talent from Greater London.
With over 13,000 creative practitioners currently on waiting lists for workspace, it is now essential to find new solutions to secure long-term, affordable spaces for our cultural infrastructure and creative industries.
About Creative Land Trust:
Creative Land Trust was founded to tackle a long-standing problem for London, and indeed other global cities. The loss of affordable workspace, and consequent outflow of artists and makers, presenting a serious threat to the wellbeing and prosperity of a city so reliant on creativity for its success.
Artists unable to focus their time on their practice due to the instability inherent in relying on temporary workspace, and expert studio providers displaced from their locations despite years of building equity.
London’s many excellent studio providers face growing difficulty in securing even “meanwhile” space; Creative Land Trust will build a new financial and operating model to secure workspace that would otherwise be unattainable. And as a charity we will demonstrate good practice in the way we select and support our studio provider partners.
Their properties include Wallis Road Studios in Hackney Wick, Alice Billings House in Newham and Friary Park in Ealing.
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