Alice Cicolini was commissioned by Future City.....
Futurecity was contracted by Linden Homes to develop a cultural strategy for a new development on Blackfriars Road. Studio Cicolini developed a concept based on the idea of creative clustering: the Southwark Theatre District was the result.
Futurecity approached a small sample of practitioners and businesses in Southwark: major institutions, established theatre companies, experimental practitioners, individual designers and commercial theatre businesses. The idea was to gauge whether the idea of a theatre district has any immediate value or “stickiness” for people working in the industry at broadly differing levels of access and experience. We wanted to stimulate a debate about where the gaps were and how they might be met by this kind of approach.
A unifying thread of conversation focused on the nature and visibility of artistic work in theatre. It also covered whether opening up theatre practice to audiences in the way that the visual arts has achieved through Open Studio programmes, “in-progress” exhibitions and opportunities to watch artists at work in gallery contexts might contribute to a better public understanding of and connection to the theatre economy. “If a theatre district idea could make the work of theatre more visible,” suggested Director of the Jerwood Space ( jerwoodspace.co.uk) Richard Lee, “then this might constitute a narrative thread that could stitch the concept together but equally provide a valuable service to the businesses and practitioners it unites.”
