Push the Envelope: Sustaining arts communities on the left-bank – a Beaconsfield symposium

Part of the Lambeth Riverside Festival

Wednesday 19 July 2006, 2pm – 6.30pm

Speakers include – SHEENA WAGSTAFF – Chief Curator, Tate Modern – TONY CARTER – Artist and Principal of City and Guilds of London Art School – ANNA HARDING – Chief Executive, Space Studios – RICHARD GRAYSON – Artist and Independent Curator – PETER ST JOHN – Director, Caruso St John Architects – JEFFE JEFFERS – Director, Lady Margaret Hall Settlement

Regeneration is happening in Vauxhall – the last bastion of non-gentrified society in a central London riverside location. Damien Hirst has planning permission to open a complex of galleries in Newport Street whilst further down the road, Vauxarts, a local studio provider, loses its space to developers. Upriver, Tate Modern has provided a new profile for visual art in London. The impact of the international tourist attraction on its neighbouring galleries and public facilities for art has been significant and difficult to measure. Push the Envelope is a one day symposium focussing on the geopolitics of the left-bank – the Cinderella of London South Central.

Kennington, Vauxhall and Oval area is home to a large number of artists and has spawned notable artist-led initiatives over the years including City Racing, Beaconsfield, Gasworks and Vauxarts. The area has also attracted commercial galleries such as Danielle Arnaud, Corvi Mora and Greengrassi. The artists agency, Space, maintain a studio complex at Oval and City and Guilds London School of Art has been in the area since 1879.

Push the Envelope will address a range of issues including: the impact economic ‘regeneration’ is likely to have on existing art communities in North Lambeth and the lessons to be learned from arts-led regeneration in other areas, such as London’s East End; the project to reconnect craft skills with art practice in a hostile climate and the pros and cons of running small-scale operations in the shadow of Tate. The day will end with complimentary drinks to launch the new North Lambeth arts network: Leftbank Artists.

To buy a limited edition copy or download a free text version of the Push the Envelope publication, please click here.

If you would like to help Beaconsfield publicise this event, you can download a poster here – many thanks.

In association with the Riverside Community Development Trust.

Beaconsfield operates an equal opportunities policy.