Westfield East Bank Creative Future Fund support for The Talent House

Foundation for Future London is pleased to confirm its support for The Talent House, a vibrant new creative hub and permanent home for East London Dance and UD, thanks to a grant from our new Westfield East Bank Creative Future Fund.

The Talent House promises to be an engine room for creativity and will create opportunities for early career and more established dance and music artists to connect with one another, to be inspired and create. More than 2,100 hours of free access to the building and its facilities will be made available to locally-based independent artists every year. The Talent House aims to welcome more than 12,000 people every year with an inspirational public programme, co-curated with young people, artists and local residents.

The grant is part of our ambitious five-year programme — Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund — that aims to invest £10 million in to local communities of Newham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Waltham Forest. This flagship project will provide new jobs, learning, training and educational programmes through the means of arts, culture, innovation, public realm and creative placemaking.

Westfield Stratford City is our generous donor who is making grant awards like this possible, to support East London’s next generation of artists, entrepreneurs and creative leaders and to support under-represented talent, developing their skills, nurturing confidence and helping to build careers.

The Talent House will contain high-performance professional dance and music facilities across three floors housed in a historic warehouse with a modern extension, designed by Waugh Thistleton with internal design by award-winning architect Katy Marks (Citizens Design Bureau).

The building will comprise of two dance studios, five music production/recording studios, a live room and two vocal booths, a large flexible rehearsal/events space and a tech lab for education and training. There is also plans for a shared area for building users and members, including a canteen and co-working space, and a central atrium functioning as the main reception and as a space for dance jams and informal gigs.

Sarah Nelson, Director of Programmes and Communications, Foundation for Future London said:

“Foundation for Future London’s grant to UD and East London Dance’s new Talent House build and programme is the biggest investment we’ve made from our new Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund, supported generously by Westfield Stratford City. The grant signals our commitment to diversity, inclusion and access in dance and music talent development and creative sector growth in east London. We believe that young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, emerging local talent and community businesses deserve a chance to be nurtured and to flourish in London’s fastest growing new cultural district, along with East Bank and other Olympic Park developments. We want them to benefit and be part of the exciting changes taking place, and we are confident The Talent House will offer an inclusive creative learning and educational space for decades to come.”

The Talent House funders include: Arts Council England; Greater London Authority; London Legacy Development Corporation; London Borough of Newham; Vastint UK; London Marathon Charitable Trust; The Linbury Trust; Foyle Foundation; Cockayne – Grants for the Arts & London Community Foundation; Arts & Culture Impact Fund; and Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund, funded by Westfield Stratford City and delivered by Foundation for Future London.

For more information about The Talent House, see this week’s announcement from East London Dance and UD.