Lewisham

Spoke to Elizabeth Mitchell from Lewisham council, she informed me that inviting artists to make use of spaces in the borough is something they are currently looking into however it is a long process. She said that the best thing would be to do some legwork and check out the area, if anything comes up of interest she can locate the landlord or determine whether it is owned by the council itself.

We intend to go on a walk in the area soon to see if there is any potential spaces.

Wandsworth Chapels

Spoke to Justine Kenyon from Wandsworth council about 3 disused chapels she felt could be of use to us. At this stage she explained that it is still a very new concept to the council and will be the first time they have done anything of this nature and in coordination with the landlords of the chapels.

It sounds very promising and we have one chapel in mind which is based in Putney Vale, it has no electricity but is apparently very derelict, run down and has a lot of character. We could easily use a generator for electricity, but this may be expensive. Depending on whether the council will be covering rent, it may work out ok though.

We have a viewing on 9th march of the chapels and will be preparing for this over the coming weeks.

Further Emails: Tower Hamlets

Hi Andy,

Apologies for the delay in getting back to you. It's tricky to guarantee use of any empty spaces in the borough as the management of such spaces isn't really within our remit.Additionally, Tower Hamlets was not one of the boroughs that received funding from central government to support empty shops schemes which makes moving forward with the whole 'empty spaces' agenda a little more difficult. However, you could try contacting Toks Osibogun, the head of Corporate Property Services. If you identify an empty building that you are interested in, Corporate Property Services may be able to help order to ascertain whether it is owned by the council with a view to obtaining permission either from the private owner, or from the facilities management team (possibly). There may however, be health and safety implications which make this impossible without taking up a proper lease (should this be a viable option).



There is one potential space, the old Peugot showroom on Mile End Road, which may be available, depending on when you wanted it, for how long, and what your budget is. Other suggestions include contacting the Live Art Development Agency for their advice, contacting Toynbee Hall, contacting the Head of Performing Arts at Queen Mary University (via the switchboard), and looking at the venues section on our own website (see below).



We are logging details of all proposals/empty space enquiries as this is an agenda we are interesting in pursuing and supporting. If you do manage to secure a venue, please keep us informed as we would be delighted to help profile any arts-based activities and exhibitions in the listing pages of our website, www.towerhamletsarts.org.uk.



Regards




***Note***

The Peugot showroom will probably be a little too modern but we intend to check it out