With over 70 Business Improvement Districts in London and more planned, join us for a Land Economic Society insider conversation with four leading BID CEOs on how 'BIDs' are using their direct line to hundreds of businesses to offer the arts and cultural sector a new approach to public-private funding models. A high-profile panel will discuss their methods with LAI Executive member Frances Heeney, speakers include: Mark Williams, Deputy Chief Executive of Heart of London Business Alliance BID; Kate Hart, Chief Executive Officer of the Eastern City BID; Gianluca Rizzo, Managing Director of Brixton BID; Lady Lucy French OBE, Chief Executive Officer for the Fleet Street Quarter.
The event is part of the LAI’s ongoing urban events programme, organised by Mark Davy, Founder of Futurecity and Executive Member of the LAI.
TICKETS* To sign up for an invite and contact information: Eventbrite *A limited number of tickets are available.
‘To BID or not to BID’ is an LAI event sponsored by Gardiner & Theobald LLP Date: 6 November 2024 Time: 6:15 pm Location: 10 South Crescent WC1E 7BD
Futurecity has worked on a number of cultural strategies for London BIDs including Fleet Street Quarter, Brixton BID and the Heart of London Business Alliance. In each case the purpose has been to position arts and culture at the centre of a ‘5C’ approach to placemaking, drawing together Civic, Commercial, Consumer, Community and Culture.
Funded directly by businesses, BIDs have become hugely influential across London, bringing in vital investment and forging useful partnerships with the public and voluntary sectors, as well as with other BIDs. In addition to their traditional role of ‘safety and sanitisation’ they have gone on to be directly involved in destination-marketing, regeneration, placemaking, ESG and employment initiatives. With a direct line to hundreds of businesses, and with the arts and cultural sector hungry for new funding and new opportunities, BIDs are the way forward for genuine culture-led placemaking, authentic destinations and offering a new approach to public-private funding models.
Background
- A Business Improvement District (BID) is a business-led and business funded body formed to improve a defined commercial area.
- In the UK, the majority of BIDs exist in town and city centres, however they are also in industrial, commercial and mixed-use locations.
- BIDs were first established in Canada and the US in the 1960s and now exist across the globe, including in South Africa, Germany, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.