London Bridge Culture Delivery Plan

Culture Delivery Plan

Culture Delivery Plan

Our Vision

London Bridge will be the front stage that creates our favourite memories of the city through innovative and contemporary cultural programming.

Culture Delivery Plan 1

Culture Delivery Plan Statement from Simon Howell, Chair, Team London Bridge

Our main objective is to shift the perception of London Bridge as the destination ‘to go to’, rather than ‘go through.’

The London Bridge Culture Strategy is accompanied by this Delivery Plan to act as a guidance document for those interested in delivering the mission. As a Business Improvement District, we must answer the needs of our stakeholders to provide a vibrant economy and diverse offer in our area.

We already have an iconic skyline, a high occupancy rate, leading health research and care, a major network rail station linking north and south, a world-famous University, and the Greater London Authority, so we commissioned a strategy that helps us to reframe all of our outstanding assets. The mission and core values will help us to adapt to our ever-changing landscape, with focus. We need inventive, proactive collaborations and partnerships to further open our spaces and turn them into platforms that invite our creative industries to continually show us what is possible, what is beyond our daily necessity. We need this new cultural perspective being led by Team London Bridge to consider how the area can thrive at all hours so our employees have a reason to stay; theatregoers and visitors to arrive early or stay later; for Londoners to stroll through the district at any hour.

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Context For London Bridge to realise its greater vision of being a ‘globally significant, historic and vibrant place of modern commerce, enterprise and creativity,’ it needs a Culture Strategy that authentically integrates with the area’s objectives and supports local businesses.

This model represents a new approach for the cultural sector, where stakeholders and creative industries are equal partners, making their objectives transparent and finding relevant opportunity to realise a more dynamic environment. The resulting partnerships will lead to a sustained momentum and shared ambition.

Team London Bridge commits to greater ambition in collaboration with the culture and creative industries sector and to mentoring the area’s businesses and services. The Delivery Plan breaks down the strategy into a pragmatic framework with further guidance and suggestion.

The audience for this plan are those who want to become more directly involved in delivery; whether as a partner, a creative or a supporter. All information is available online, where it is envisaged the London Bridge Culture Plan can be developed with new goals and contacts, while retaining the same Culture Strategy throughout.

Culture Delivery Plan 3 1 London Bridge Station Entrance 2 Tower Bridge

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Framework

Our Cultural Mission

The Culture Strategy lays out a Vision and a Mission with identified Platforms to create a robust and nimble framework to be responsive to the current urban context.

We commit to engaging the city’s cultural sector to creatively and continuously reveal the diverse landscape of London Bridge as the epitome of a global capital.

All proposals and initiatives will be measured against the Core Values (pp. 20–21) to ensure that every effort is distinct to London Bridge.

Core Values • Innovation • London • Bridges • Heritage • Contemporary

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Fantasies & Fears The consultation process opened with asking a broad selection of stakeholders, partners and involved residents for their cultural Fantasies and Fears.

This helped open the discussion to understanding what kind of place people wanted and what the overarching measures of success and failure are.

Fantasies “Arts venues – talks, readings, selective sculpture, galleries, small expos.”

“Rooftop Cinema.”

“More ‘exotic’ boats in the pool-Tall Ships?.”

“Recognition for community-led initiatives; a real democratic approach to placemaking!.”

“London Bridge Station becomes a space with a symbolic map of the area with mini or max displays to create curiosity for different attractions.”

“More performances on boats on the river and maybe fireworks on barges near Tower Bridge.”

“Coherent trail throughout the area -themed (e.g.. History, pubs, culture, food).”

“Making the old signal box a lighting and performance space.”

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Fantasies and Fears workshop

Frank’s Café, Peckham

Fantasies

Fears

“Fashion shows on escalators.”

“Fear that it’s just anywhere with no unique sense of itself.”

“Films screened – series based upon journeys like Casablanca and shorts on the screens in the Station.”

“Station as a Ballroom.”

“Gamers night in Hay’s Galleria.”

“Rotating exhibition at the Station for local cultural institutions.”

“Partnerships with festivals like LIFT or Lumiere.”

“A place for Borough of Culture events.”

“Place to train about food industry and artisan food craft.”

“In situ restoration of HMS Belfast.”

“Tourist activity not properly managed. The planned low walk would really enhance the experience of living here.”

“Separation – of areas, district or communities.”

“It empties out after work.”

“Too successful for its own good (if there was too much, all the time).”

“Just in another (boring) station.”

“I don’t want to feel stressed.”

“BIDs competing for audience.”

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Public platforms for programming The platforms require long-term partnerships with the stakeholders that own and manage the sites. Identified contacts will maintain an ongoing dialogue with Team London Bridge and have made a commitment to the Vision and Mission of the Culture Strategy within their larger programming calendars and needs.

All proposals are measured against the Culture Strategy Mission and Core Values (pp. 20–21). There are certain initiatives that may take place across multiple platforms throughout London Bridge, or may be targeted for one area. Additional resources may be considered by Team London Bridge when the ambition of the activity helps deliver the BID’s strategic goals.

1 Front stages of London Open spaces/stages with great visibility and set amongst iconic landmarks.

These larger spaces invite spectacle, statements and engagement that reflect the important moments for London through temporary artistic innovation of static and performing arts.

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The Queen’s Walk London Bridge City

London Bridge Station Concourse

King’s College London colonnade

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The River

Gateways

Gatherings

This stage has the greatest visibility. It frames iconic London landmarks that invite spectacle, statements and engagement that reflect important moments for London.

The entrances into the area are grand (London Bridge Station, London Bridge and Tower Bridge) and are perfect frames to create drama that can surprise both the regular and first time visitor, making them appraise and take in their environment.

These slightly closed areas offer a sensation of respite and provide more focus and intimacy. They can facilitate curated programmes of screenings, special performances, and sculptural environments.

Potential partners include festivals, flagship events hosted by the Mayor of London, major cultural institutions wanting to extend their programming beyond their doors. HMS Belfast should be consulted to develop ‘after-hours’ events such as drive-in-style movie nights; performances created to be seen on riverfront; a series of music video shoots to be watched by spectators.

Potential partners include the Illuminated River public programmes, festivals to highlight large acoustic performances; TfL Art on the Underground and the Mayor of London to work together to create video art display and projection.

Potential partners include Science Gallery London, King’s College London, film festivals, Lumiere, Making Music, LIFT festival and the London festivals for Design and Architecture.

8 Culture Delivery Plan 1 Hay’s Galleria London Bridge City 2 Inns & Yards: King’s Head Yard

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3 Bermondsey Street Tunnel Network Rail, TfL 4 Low Line Arches Network Rail

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Intrigue

Corridors

Yards and plazas draw the audience through portals and concentrate attention for installation or performance, presenting unexpected content. They draw people away from their routine walks and entice them onto new routes and journeys – often highlighting heritage interests that may have gone unnoticed.

These form the connections within the area, through the imposing Victorian railway viaduct or along it’s path, linking to the Low Line.

Spaces may be repurposed for unexpected interpretation such as commercial offices or industrial infrastructure. The scale can vary and often can be more appropriate for intimate scales of concepts.

Many performance groups and designers can consider proposals for experiments and prototypes.

These areas should be canvases for permanent or semi-permanent art works that make a commitment to the community that the area is open for business.

Potential partners are Southwark Council, Network Rail, TfL, business tenants and developers.

Culture Delivery Plan 9 1 London Bridge Hive Team London Bridge 2 HMS Belfast Imperial War Museum

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3 Unicorn Theatre Tooley Street 4 Science Gallery London Exhibition

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Insiders

London Bridge Platform Hive Partners

The cultural fabric of the area is woven by innovative, multidisciplinary organisations.

Southwark Playhouse redefines amateur and professional performers; Unicorn Theatre gives an adventurous and highly literate youth theatre; Bridge Theatre rolls out a new commercial model outside the West End. Science Gallery London engages youth in curation; Fashion & Textile Museum explores the making of design; The Old Operating Theatre exemplifies the micromuseum; The View from The Shard is setting new standards in attraction experience. This Strategy will provide sustained support and seek to offer venue-based opportunities.

This street front, dedicated space will be programmed for further exploration and interpretation of cultural offerings. Exhibitions, talks or intimate screenings will provide engagement related to the public realm programme.

HMS Belfast

Exhibitions will span the year, with talks and screenings held to complement the public realm series across all other platforms.

Potters Fields Park

King’s College London London Bridge City More London, The Scoop, Hay’s Galleria Mayor of London / GLA Port of London Authority

Science Gallery London Shard Quarter Southwark Council Network Rail Transport for London

10 Culture Delivery Plan 1 HMS Belfast Imperial War Museum 2 London Bridge Station Concourse: Network Rail 1

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Cross-BID & Neighbourhood Partnerships Better Bankside Southbank BID We Are Waterloo City of London Corporation Shad Thames Area Management Partnership Bermondsey Street Area Partnership

Recommendations • Neighbouring BIDs, Boroughs and transport providers should partner for citywide initiatives.

The positive collaboration should consider how to entice audiences to move across the river and along it.

• Programme coordination can avoid competing weekends/dates for major initiatives; taking a shared and distributed objective of year-round visitor experience offers.

• Analysis of night-time economy and new tourism resources and models can be jointly commissioned. This will save on resources and have a more complete analysis of the riverfront audience traffic patterns.

• Linking areas through the commonality of food trade heritage through events, workshops, and support of creative industry.

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Delivery Programme

The London Bridge Culture Strategy will grow in ambition and quantity of projects as the number of culture partners and their offers expand. This momentum of success will enable funding opportunities.

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10–Year Plan

(Beyond the First Year) Build the ambition, support and sponsorship

Platforms

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Year 1 (2018)

Front Stages The Riverfront

3–4 festivals citing major performance pieces 2 Scoop events that deliver against the Mayor of London’s Culture Strategy

Gathering

Opening of Science Gallery London and King’s College London courtyard Develop summer and autumn screenings Public realm artwork / banners Design competition for information kiosk

Gateways

Launch Culture Strategy event Develop concepts for public art in public realm with partners

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Intrigue

1 small performance series for yards with partners 1 major event – Hay’s Galleria Potential delivery of public art commission

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Details of the programme will be developed

by Team London Bridge with partners. Years align with the financial years beginning April 2018.

Year 2 – 4 (2019–2021)

Year 5+ (2022–2027)

4 festivals citing major performance and installation pieces

4 festivals citing major performance and installation pieces

3 Scoop events that deliver against the Mayor of London’s Culture Strategy

Becomes the hub of the festival partners

Adding a Winter Light festival Illuminated River supporting installation or programme

3 Scoop events that deliver against the Mayor of London’s Culture Strategy Winter Light festival Night-time programme

Night-time programme developed and piloted Set opening events with each of three seasons of Science Gallery London Partner Potters Fields Park with riverfront festival programmes Spring, summer and autumn screenings Develop prototype of street furniture festival Coordinate seasonal culture promotion kiosk at London Bridge Station London Bridge Station bollard programme runs competition commissioning process

Science Gallery London commissions Partner Potters Fields Park with riverfront festival programmes Spring, summer and autumn performance series Leading street furniture designs tested and marketed for the events London Bridge Station temporary public art commissioning programme collaborating with other UK stations and TfL

Growing to 3 large spectacles in London Bridge Station each year 2–3 small performance series for yards with area partners 2–3 major events; new places each time Programme (with partners) in relationship to the public art commissions Develop a TfL joint commission

Projection and performance series 2–3 temporary installations from art galleries Programme (with partners) in relationship to the public art commissions Potential Art Night style festival The Low Line businesses Open House style events

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Platforms

Year 1 (2018)

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Corridors

Public art in Stainer Street passage of London Bridge Station to open

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Insiders

Identify and negotiate St Thomas Street future

Build the Platform partners Develop a night-time group with neighbouring BIDs Develop joint marketing collaboration and plan Pursue Virtual (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) opportunities for joint heritage promotion

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London Bridge Hive

1 winter exhibition 3 spring/summer exhibitions 3 screenings/series 3–4 talk series (with festivals) 2 seasons of Love Lunch series Form food partnerships for workshop programme

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Year 2 – 4 (2019–2021)

Year 5+ (2022–2027)

Temporary events and pilots in awkward corridors

Public art commission for Bermondsey Street tunnel

Develop feasibility study & commissioning plan for Bermondsey Street tunnel

Identify placeshaping strategy for remaining corridors

Deliver 1–2 placeshaping interventions along The Low Line

Identify and deliver programming for additional underpasses

Contribute to St Thomas Street ground-level experience

Platform partners create standard joint promotion

Platform partners create standard joint promotion digital platform

Southwark Playhouse moves back

Night-time plan creates a night-time festival

Night-time group develops and delivers a night-time plan

Joint marketing with hospitality packages

Joint marketing collaboration and plan uses Year 1 imagery Update Delivery Plan Experiment with 2–3 opportunities for joint heritage promotion via digital technology Develop one Front Stage collaboration each year

Update Delivery Plan Create seasonal opportunities for joint heritage promotion via digital technology Develop one Front Stage collaboration each year Create apprentice program for area’s creative industries

Identify creative industries opportunities in The Low Line development

Create theatre partners programme

6 exhibitions

6 exhibitions (grow ambition)

4 screenings/series

4 screenings/series

4–5 talk series (with festivals)

4–5 talk series (with festivals)

Food partnership workshops (Heritage and SME training)

Food partnership workshops (Heritage and SME training)

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Joint Promotion The London Bridge Culture Strategy allows us to better understand and build our audience.

New joint promotion materials should be designed for user itinerary to capture residents, considered and accidental visitors, as well as employees who like to explore or want after-work options.

Night

Day

Seasonal

One initiative should be focused on night-time economy and activity; considering the hours from 5pm to midnight.

Daytime and weekend activity should cater to residents, visitors, hospital visitors, those who work part-time or alternative shifts or employees who want a break during the day.

During highly trafficked times for warm weather and festivals, there can be devoted promotion that enhances the existing crossBID partnership print pieces.

This can focus on employees who may want to stay in the area; those working, living or visiting other parts of London who may spend a full evening in London Bridge. This will include theatre, late nights at galleries, The Shard offers, deals with local restaurants, pubs and hotels.

This can include heritage walks, galleries, narratives related to areas where there is retail, lunch specials and exhibitions, talks or screenings series at London Bridge Hive. Elevating the cultural offer allows us to target distinct audience groups, from overseas and the UK and increase participation within local resident audiences.

This may be the ideal time for shared space in London Bridge Station to offer heritage initiatives at a dedicated kiosk.

Culture Delivery Plan 17

Shared Heritage Initiatives New technologies should be explored for shared Heritage walks, tours and virtual visits.

Research has shown that partially revealing a bit of virtual tour online for no charge, attracts more in-person visitation. With the ease of 360 degree tours, there are grant opportunities to apply to make places accessible and shared across London Bridge partner’s online platforms. Additionally, there are joint opportunities to commission Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality applications and have these based out of London Bridge Station kiosk or coordinate to move locations to various partners.

Development & Longevity The greatest challenge for the area is to make sure that there is diversity in scale of business and built environment.

Significant attention should be made to make sure the Low Line highlights a diversity of creative trades and culture offerings; St Thomas Street should consider its street level offers in new development to include makers’ space and community-engaging offers. Bermondsey Street tunnel should be a priority for commissioning an ambitious public art (not just design) work that uses new technologies to indirectly illuminate the space and treat it as one of the most unexpected outdoor galleries.

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Place Branding Approach The objective is to drive positive associations with the place and for those employees, residents and visitors to have pride in sharing their experiences and wanting to stay longer or return.

These targeted partnership programmes will be place branded as “London Bridge” and #atlondonbridge / @atlondonbridge supported events, alongside all partners logos or listings. Audiences will begin to recognise the branding as responsive ways to engage the district and redefine their knowledge of the area.

Communications Public Relations protocol Culture projects will leverage the collective partners’ contacts for securing diverse pitches and relationships with the media, playing to each other’s strengths.

Recommendations • Each project should develop a shared communications calendar and glossary for use online and across social media • Announcement dates should be set in order to attract exclusives and complex PR releases when appropriate

• Artists and their associated galleries or producers should be part of communications discussions. They often have strong narratives that can be attractive to arts-related press that do not often cover Business Improvement Districts

• It is important to measure the press impressions and social media analytics as a strong performance indicator.

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Area Promotion & Documentation Carefully art-directed dynamic documentation should be employed for promotion and communication to help deliver the diversity of experiences available in the area.

Recommendations • Each project should be documented with stills and video to capture the style and mode of the experience (more so than record every moment) • There should always be a small selection of still images ready to immediately put forward through press and social media and a short instagram-length video to promote that day

• A longer video can be edited to live as a legacy that communicates the ambition of the experience.

Rather than needing to be a testimonial video, these should be digital films that can be used by partners and artists to promote the experience or installation • New relationships with the emerging music scene should be made, to often promote new music as the soundtrack rather than using typical industrial commercial background music

• As technology evolves, so should the documentation.

Virtual Reality and 360 will develop and should be considered to enhance storytelling and interpretation • Inviting influencers to cover projects, festivals or semipermanent installations is a great way to attract new audiences. A considered campaign based upon the audiences that are needed to balance the demographics should be identified within the first two years.

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The Approach Team London Bridge will seek key partners, starting with stakeholders, across the creative industries to ensure the area is contemporary to Greater London and beyond.

Proposals will be both solicited and unsolicited; an online platform will be available for quality ideas 24/7. Every project will be submitted through the same online process and reviewed by Team London Bridge for relevance and viability. After that, a further proposal will be reviewed by invited members of the Culture Group.

Core Values Innovation How does the concept challenge approach, partners, art form/practice, the artist/creative, ways of storytelling?

London How does the concept relate to London and its diverse identity of scale, economics and people?

Why here?

Bridges How does the approach connect areas, audiences, collaborators, or thinking?

Heritage How does the proposal enliven tangible and intangible profiles of heritage of the area?

Contemporary How does the concept relate to the contemporary urban landscape of the area and the city?

In addition, the review will also consider: • The financial viability • The ability to tie into larger discourse or events in the city • The diversity that the partner/artist brings to the total programme • Its ability to contribute to the London Bridge Hive programme • Additional Team London Bridge objectives and The London Bridge Plan • Economic benefits to the area.

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Potters Fields Park Potters Fields Park Management Trust

The Low Line Arches Network Rail

Proposal Process

Evaluation

• contributed to the vibrancy of the public realm

All proposals should lead to the larger objective of shifting the perception of London Bridge as the destination ‘to go to’, rather than ‘through’.

• increased the way-finding of the area or bring economic benefits.

There are two stages to submit proposals.

All proposals must be made through the online portal to make sure the essential questions are answered for Team London Bridge to best advise for future conversations and protocol.

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Letter of Interest First submission that gathers enough information to analyse viability and appropriateness for the area. If successful, a phone call or meeting will be established.

Full Proposal Following the call or meeting, a further proposal including information about partners, funding, details of dates and project management leads will be submitted.

There will be an evaluation against each project’s individual objectives and artistic merit as well as the specific stakeholder objective and its relationship to furthering the London Bridge Plan.

The proposals and subsequent projects will be measured by how effectively the resulting projects have: • met strategic objectives for the stakeholder benefit • provided enhanced communications, digital assets and place branding for London Bridge • developed new audiences or nurtured more diverse audiences to existing initiatives

Where possible, quantifiable data will be gathered to measure against the established benchmarks that will inform future choices. Qualitative data will be gathered though social media engagement; formal surveys where appropriate for controlled audiences; through partnership surveys and through semi-annual Culture Group analysis.

The culture programme will be represented at each Team London Bridge Board meeting and an annual review will be presented at each AGM that is available for public dissemination.

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Statement of Methodology The Culture Strategy and Delivery Plan were commissioned

by Team London Bridge in July 2017 with the desire to raise the ambition and aspirations of the Culture offer in the area.

The work required both strategic and delivery knowledge of producing work in public realm and with traditional venues, with desired knowledge of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs).

Sherry Dobbin was chosen as the independent consultant, partially due to the successful programme that she founded and curated within New York City’s Times Square Alliance Business Improvement District.

She called upon these lessons learned, as well as her thirty plus years experience as a cultural producer across the culture and creative industries sector.

Ms Dobbin worked within and with Team London Bridge to determine the organisation’s strengths and additional resources that may be needed. The process began by questioning Fantasies & Fears of what its stakeholders want to see (or avoid) through workshops, as well as individual conversations.

The overwhelming discovery is that there was a common high ambition on shared objectives that many were hesitant to voice.

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The Strategy is a result of cross referencing plans and policies for Team London Bridge, Southwark Council and the GLA, and over 120 hours of consultation interviews held in person with the majority of the stakeholders and potential London partners in their venues.

A cultural audit was conducted through the visual and behavioural study of the area through different weather patterns and times of day, as well as with the analysis of the institutions and provisions as traditionally catalogued.

Several workshops and meetings brought together new partnerships to identify shared objectives, test the theories and identify greater ambitions than first considered.

Informal consultation with artists and producers further tested the potential of the categorisation of the Platforms.

Consultation with major funding bodies also informed the future trends and themes.

In September 2017, a draft strategy was workshopped with the Team London Bridge Board and refined as a result of the feedback. The core values represent common terms and characteristics that were repeated by numerous stakeholders and captured the diversity of the area, and the resulting framework and tools enabled Team London Bridge to recruit and engage immediately.

Sherry Dobbin Independent Consultant

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Commitment to #LondonIsOpen

This Delivery Plan is committed to seeking diversity of perspectives, experience and opportunity across the culture and creative industries. The core value of ‘London’ reflects the commitment to representing the diversity and progressive attitude of the city.

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The People

Culture Group

Potters Fields Park

Team London Bridge

This group of advisors made up of stakeholders in the area and a selection of Cultural Leaders for London meet twice-yearly to help shape and refine the structure of Culture programme. They also act as ambassadors for generating interest and opportunity from the best being presented in London.

Southwark Playhouse

Better Bankside

Thames Festival Trust

Borough Market

Individual Practitioners of Design, Architecture and Arts

Culture Curator & Manager (new, dedicated position) Chief Executive (installing BID agenda in culture projects, liaising with BID Board and major stakeholders) Head of Marketing and Communications (supporting the place identity and audience focus) Placeshaping Director (supporting with built environment and public realm focus) Responsible Business and Events Manager (supporting ties to employees and workers) Business and Environment Manager (supporting with greening initiatives) Marketing Manager (supporting with online marketing and social media)

Bermondsey Street Area Partnership Fashion & Textile Museum Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity HMS Belfast, Imperial War Museum The Culture Team, Greater London Authority Broadgate Estates for London Bridge City Bridge Theatre, London Theatre Company Network Rail

Science Gallery London

Shad Thames Area Management Partnership (STAMP) The View from The Shard Tower Bridge Unicorn Theatre Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret

London Bridge Team London Bridge London Bridge Hive 1 Melior Place London SE1 3SZ T: 020 7407 4701 E: info@teamlondonbridge.co.uk

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