East Bank
Foundation for Future London is a key stakeholder of East Bank with a role to connect local communities to the new cultural quarter for creativity, learning and innovation currently being built on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, East London. Our programme is supported by Westfield East Bank Creative Future Fund’s Founding Partner and Official Sponsor, Westfield Stratford City, and the City of London Corporation.
What is East Bank?
East Bank is the UK’s newest cultural quarter at the heart of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. East Bank is a unique collaboration between cultural institutions, world-leading universities and the people of the Olympic boroughs.
Comprising of BBC Music Studios; London College of Fashion, UAL; Sadler’s Wells East; UCL (University College London) and V&A East, East Bank is the place where everything happens – entertainment, inspiration and discovery – and is open to everyone who visits, lives and works in east London.
London College of Fashion, UAL and UCL are already open for students and events with Sadler’s Wells East opening its doors for a range of dance performances and opportunities from February 2025. V&A East Storehouse will open from May 2025 with V&A East Museum and BBC Music Studios opening in 2026.
The scheme will receive £385 million from the Mayor of London and £151 million from Government. A further £10 million from Westfield Stratford City will go towards East London projects that provide local people skills and jobs, lifelong learning, business and entrepreneur opportunities, bringing in the creative, arts, innovation and placemaking sectors. The Foundation for Future London has managed this exciting programme of grants.
The City of London Corporation provided a grant of £1 million to support the development of partnership and collaborative programming with the communities of East Bank and Culture Mile around creative learning, inclusive public realm, lifelong learning and jobs also managed by the Foundation for Future London
East Bank will help to cement London’s reputation as a world leader in culture, education, and innovation, creating 2,500 jobs, £1.5 billion in economic benefits, and 600 new homes. It will also bring over 10,000 students to the site and attract hundreds of thousands of visitors from London and beyond.
The anchor partners and the Foundation for Future London have been building relationships and delivering projects with the thriving arts, fashion and community organisations based in the area, including the artist community in the four boroughs of Newham, Tower Hamlet, Hackney, and Waltham Forest, plus Hackney Wick, East London Dance, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Studio Wayne McGregor and many more.
Open now
London College of Fashion, UAL welcomed staff and students to its state-of-the-art new campus in autumn 2023, where it is also hosting a vibrant programme of exhibitions, showcases and performances for the public.
Meanwhile located south of the ArcelorMittal Orbit, UCL East’s campus is also fully open and delivering multi-disciplinary education and research for around 4,000 students and creative learning, events and activities open to all.
Two new public squares are also open and provide shared, inclusive spaces for anyone to visit and enjoy. They host outdoor events, showcase new public art, and offer new opportunities to connect with the Park’s biodiversity and nature.
Coming soon
From February 2025, experience world-class dance at Sadler’s Wells East – a 550-seat theatre and hip-hop academy, you can book tickets for the first performance, Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu’s Our Mighty Groove now.
Then, starting May 2025, the first of two new V&A East sites in the Park – V&A East Storehouse – will open, offering visitors unprecedented access to the behind-the-scenes world of its busy working stores. V&A East Museum will then open in Spring 2026.
East Bank will complete with the opening of the BBC Music Studios’ state-of-the-art facilities for performance, broadcast, and recording in 2026.
Foundation for Future London and the East Bank partners are hard at work to deliver an exciting locality that mobilises local organisations and community groups to connect with the world-class anchor partner institutions. This collaborative work will ensure East Bank is not only a global, UK and London destination, but a place that celebrates inclusion and diversity, creating benefits and experiences for all.
East Bank Supporters and Donors
Mayor of London
Westfield Stratford City
City of London Corporation
East Bank Organisations
BBC
Sadler’s Wells
UAL’s London College of Fashion
University College London
V&A
East Bank Partners
London Legacy Development Corporation
Foundation for Future London
