Alice Cicolini has collaborated with Futurecity since 2012 on strategy and curatorial commissioning for a series of clients including Canary Wharf Group, Hutchinson Whampoa, Qatari Diar and The Crown Estate. Futurecity's founder Mark Davy is a leading thinker around placemaking and the creation of identity within urban space through the commissioning of visual artists.
For Linden Homes' Blackfriars Road development, Alice expanded these principles into a concept that drew on Southwark's distinctive theatrical identity.
"Historically outside of the jurisdiction of the City of London," she wrote, "Southwark was a place of relative cultural freedom; successive centuries saw north Londoners take a boat trip south to the Rose theatre, to places of intrigue, liaison, ribaldry and entertainment. If ‘Southwarkness’ can be described as a love of theatre, performance and live action, then the borough can be proud to have embraced change without losing its cultural heritage. Modern theatres such as the Young Vic and the Southwark Playhouse, supported by the engine rooms of the Jerwood Space and National Theatre Studios, have sustained the production of independent, innovative theatre; new live, immersive productions by experimental companies such as Shunt and Punchdrunk have found new spaces and audiences. Even the Tate Modern has got in on the act with the opening of its ‘Tank Galleries’ offering a programme of experimental live arts events.
As the research showed, there can be no doubting the importance of the existing theatre offer to Southwark’s local economy. Supporting its significant number of working theatres are over 50 SME businesses and institutions, and beyond this a significant network of emerging companies and individual practitioners. By ‘joining the dots’ a creative district concept built around theatre could draw in businesses working in prop making, fabrication, scenery design, fashion and textiles, arts and craft, design and social media, as well as an extended ‘theatre family’ that includes the food and beverage industry. Futurecity believe a theatre district concept will provide a catalyst for the reinvigoration of Southwarks neighbourhoods: it is the idea of a new theatre district for Southwark that resonates."