southbank centre’s new
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Dear We passionately believe the arts can transform lives. Festival Wing is Southbank Centre’s plan to give more people of all ages the chance to get involved and be creative. We know you may have heard about the project so we wanted to update you on our plans and how they may affect you. What is Festival Wing? The area of our site we are calling Festival Wing includes Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery. These buildings have not been refurbished since 1967 and now have a multi-million pound backlog of repairs that have to be done before their facilities become unusable. The work is extensive, but it does provide us with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to also: • make new spaces out of hidden, unused corners of our site • increase the amount of public space available for everyone to use • create new state-of-the-art buildings for everyone to use to get involved in the arts New Public Spaces for Art The new spaces include: • two new rooftop gardens • world-class rehearsal and studio spaces • unique family and youth centres • dedicated venues for spoken-word and literacy projects • more areas for free exhibitions Festival Wing will allow us to create thousands more cultural opportunities and hundreds more jobs for people of all ages and backgrounds. More detail explaining how we plan to do this can be found on southbankcentre.co.uk/festivalwing.
Why are we moving the skate space? You may have heard concerns about the skate space at Southbank Centre. We want to let you know that skateboarding and all other urban arts are important to us. We’re working with a renowned skate-space architect, SNE Architects, to create a new permanent, riverside, skateable space, which is bigger than the current one under Queen Elizabeth Hall. To create Festival Wing, we need to generate income from the area currently used by skateboarders, BMXers and graffiti artists. The activities and cultural events we do – many of them free – are only possible because of the money we receive from the cafes and restaurants on our site. We will use these spaces to provide an increased variety of food made by new creative entrepreneurs that will serve different parts of our community. Find out more about our plans In the enclosed leaflet is a map to help you understand more about the Festival Wing layout. You can also read more detail about our plans online at southbankcentre.co.uk/festivalwing, including information on the various new areas and the skateable space, how we intend to fund the project and a list of FAQs. Help us make it happen We originally submitted our planning application for Festival Wing in May 2013 and, having responded to feedback and developed our plans, we will enter a consultation process with Lambeth Council in November. We are obviously excited about Festival Wing, but Lambeth Council need to hear what you think too. If you support the plans and would like to help make them happen, please contact the council to let them know why they would benefit you and the community. You can do this by completing the enclosed form and sending it back to us in the freepost envelope provided or online at southbankcentre.co.uk/festivalwing/makeithappen Thank you for your interest in Festival Wing. Yours sincerely
Emily Webb Marketing Officer, Southbank Centre PS This is your Southbank Centre. If you feel you need to know more before supporting our plans you can come along to drop-in sessions with Southbank Centre’s Artistic Director Jude Kelly and Chief Executive Alan Bishop. These are free and open for anyone to attend and ask questions. More details can be found online at southbankcentre.co.uk/festivalwing/news-events