Click to watch the FULL video of the launch and discussion at ODEON Leicester Square

For 8 months Futurecity has been developing an ambitious Cultural Strategy for the Heart of London Business Investment District (HOLBA) designed to develop its organisational structure to connect, lobby, promote and advocate for the creative talent that makes the West End the epicentre of our global city of culture. The Cultural Heart of London Strategy provides a vision, framework and toolkit for HOLBA’s 600 members to develop original arts and business cultural projects with one other, with major cultural organisations, and with London and international creatives.

The Cultural Heart of London Strategy was launched yesterday by HOLBA Chief Executive Ros Morgan at the Odeon, Leicester Square, London and in a panel discussion livestreamed from the ODEON Luxe, Leicester Square and led by Jan Dalley, Arts Editor of the Financial Times, panellists Stuart Murphy, (CEO the English National Opera), Axel Rüger (Secretary and Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Arts), Kenny Wax (President of the Society of London Theatre) and Sherry Dobbin (Partner at Futurecity); whereby, each made the point that radical measures were needed to protect and promote the West End extraordinary creative potential.

Futurecity began the Cultural Heart of London Strategy in January 2020 full of ideas and optimism about the opportunities offered by the ecosystem of theatres, museums, cinemas, galleries, artisans and makers and interconnected creative businesses, suppliers and individuals. We had no idea that within three months, the coronavirus would create global economic and social disruption and impact so heavily on the life and soul of the West End. However, the intention of the strategy remains the same: to connect businesses and cultural players within and around the West End to create the conditions for dialogue, networking and collaboration, to nurture creative clusters such as Film, Theatre, Artisanship & Fashion, and Fine Arts. It demonstrates how individual networks and audiences can be leveraged to collate, map and identify area ecologies.

The Cultural Heart of London strategy uses Futurecity’s technique of seeing pattern and opportunity, which has developed over 12 years as a global culture led placemaking practice, working across private and public sectors. Our impact on London has involved a range of collaborative, arts and business and multi-disciplinary partnerships: from the Crossrail Culture Line with major galleries and international artists working alongside the teams delivering the 8 new stations, authoring the strategy that led to the hugely successful Sculpture in the City, leading the winning team for the Illuminated River Project competition proposing artist Leo Villareal to develop an idea to create one dynamic connected artwork connecting the 15 bridges, partnering with the Pace Gallery to focus on the promotion of artists using technology to provide experiential artwork outside of the gallery, setting out a placemaking strategy for City Island in London’s East End that attracted the English National Ballet to a new home; and more recently brokering the move of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to Wembley Park as part of a comprehensive Creative District placemaking strategy.

At a time when we are fearful of traveling, mingling with strangers and of being inside offices, the West End offers a non-claustrophobic experience, it has parks and boulevards, great architecture, tangible and intangible heritage, but most importantly it has culture in abundance and in many forms. Its wealth of historic collections, archives, cultural institutions and arts academies can be made more visible through cross-sector collaboration and partnership and which in turn can help attract visitors for cultural experiences in an area of creativity and originality. The strategy creates the context for placeshaping projects that promote the area’s character. Culture remains a critical economic generator and dynamic identity marker for the West End, as London’s #1 destination for foreign direct investment and a 24/7 showcase of the world’s best talent. To support this position, the strategy outlines a practical framework for collaborative governance, provides a toolkit to enable the delivery of headline cultural activations and mechanisms for facilitating partnerships, and provides advocacy and support. The strategy sets up the means for a meaningful dialogue about the area as a unique, international destination. HOLBA can help encourage people back to the West End and communicate this through an ambitious brand identity, which launches with a new consumer channel to put the strategy into action asap.

London and the UK need the creative individuals, businesses and cultural organisations that produce original content and ideas for the West End. Now, more than ever, we must hold the pulse as the ‘Cultural Heart of London.’