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Artists fear loss of studios to Games
Louise Jury24 Dec 2008
Studios for east London's thriving community of artists should be written into plans for an Olympic legacy, a report says today.
The artists working in the area affected by the 2012 Games make "a unique and highly valued contribution to the quality of life and reputation of the boroughs in which they are based".
But hundreds of studios could disappear unless affordable spaces for artists are made a requirement of development plans, the study warns.
The review was commissioned by the National Federation of Artists' Studio Providers with bodies including the Arts Council and Newham council.
Jonathan Harvey, a federation trustee and a founder of the Acme artists' studios, said the Olympics had highlighted what was already a serious issue.
"There's a lot of goodwill from individual boroughs but we need to make that support more specific.
"Unless it's written in at a policy level, things won't happen," he said. Very few artists own their own workspaces which makes them reliant on the rental market.
More than a quarter of all the studio buildings in Britain are located in the five host boroughs for the 2012 Games.
Hackney has the highest concentration but there are also spaces in Greenwich, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest.
Only three buildings out of nearly 1,000 studio spaces in the five boroughs are owned by not-for-profit providers. Nearly a quarter have leases of less than five years.
The process of clearing the Olympic park of light industrial occupiers has already cut the number of potential studios in the Lower Lea Valley.
There are already about 2,900 artists on waiting lists for the area. "There is no evidence that the market is oversupplied," the report says.
The federation calls for Boris Johnson, the Olympic Delivery Authority and the London Development Agency to have "policies to retain and encourage new affordable workspace development".
Artist Joanne Hughes fears she will be priced out of her studios in Hackney Wick as the area is regenerated for the Olympics.
Mrs Hughes, 39, is concerned she and the 50 others working in the Mother Studios, which she runs, could lose their artistic home.
The lease on the studios, which are in Queens Yard, White Post Lane, is until 2017.
"They are going to raze the rest of the yard and build flats. I think we will be forced out with the rise of the rent, even though I have a long lease," she said.
