Impact 25-26

Havering London is a new cultural placemaking organisation, established to deliver A Good Life, Havering’s 2025 to 2028 cultural strategy. This is the story of our first year: building the organisation, forming partnerships, and beginning to commission and deliver work that belongs to the people who live and work here.

01   A new organisation, established from the ground up

Havering London was created as a cultural placemaking organisation for the borough, with its full operational infrastructure built from scratch in a single year, from team and governance to finance, payroll, policies and audit. An application for charitable status was prepared and submitted.

02   Governance that puts residents and partners at the centre

Two new bodies now shape our work: a Partnership Panel of cultural, civic and education organisations, and a People’s Panel of local residents. Both met throughout the year, embedding co-design and shared decision-making into how the organisation runs.

03   The Community Venue Network, established across the borough

A network of 13 community venues was brought together for the first time, with 11 capital funding submissions, and 11 venues taking part in A Good Life Day. It is a bold first step towards a connected, borough-wide cultural offer.

04   £1.76 million secured for culture in Havering

New public and private investment was raised to deliver A Good Life, in a borough long described as a cultural cold spot. The funding gives the strategy a credible, multi-year foundation to build on.

05   A programme delivered and a public identity launched

Two seasons of activity, Havering Calling! and Havering Rising!, alongside a new website, two editions of the A Good Life newspaper and five poetry slams, gave Havering London a visible public presence in its first year. A new Portraits of Havering project is documenting the borough through a different lens.

06  Our Stories: Public Commissioning

Our flagship community commissioning programme ‘Our Stories’ has selected its first ten resident-led projects. Together, they will uncover and share untold stories from Havering’s rich heritage.

Havering Unearthed

Through Havering Unearthed, five strands of heritage work are now underway, from Market Town to Our Stories commissions, Skatepark Revived and Mega Mega. A new commissioning model is producing a cohort of local artists and practitioners with a real and lasting investment in the borough’s heritage. New opportunities were made available to heritage organisations including a Heritage Conference and Heritage Skills Forum.

Community Venue Network

Our Community Venue Network brought local venues into a shared programme for the first time, with 15 applications, 11 capital funding submissions, and 11 of 13 venues taking part in A Good Life Day.

Poetic Place

Poetic Place explored identity, place and belonging through poetry and spoken word, engaging 206 people across Havering. Poems created during the programme have informed a series of public space designs, which are now being activated through partnerships across the borough.

Public Art / Open Places

Havering London announced the awarding of two new public art commissions to Joanne Tate & Tom O’Sullivan and Richard Woods. These new commissions mark an important step in growing Havering’s public art offer and creating new opportunities for residents to encounter creativity in everyday spaces.

Research and Equity

Our partnership with the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama has opened new research collaborations grounded in equity and inclusion, from co-created digital escape rooms with local schools to digital storytelling that brings older adults together to share local histories.

Seeds of Change

Through Seeds of Change, residents were invited to explore how creativity can support environmental stewardship. The programme included our Seeds of Change workshop at St George’s Health and Wellbeing Hub, a public talk with Amber Massie-Blomfield, and engagement with more than 50 community members to help shape A Green Life — Havering’s emerging creative climate vision for the future.

In 2028, Havering will be a better equipped, healthier, empowered & forward thinking place for culture, facilitated by a new organisation & partnership approach. 5 legacy areas will create lasting step change:

Community Capacity Building

Enhances the skills (fundraising / producing / access) of 50 community groups & 150 creative practitioners, newly empowers 80 young people as cultural activists & establishes a resilient network of 20 D/deaf & disabled people.

Cultural Ecology

Commissions 50 public artworks not seen on this scale in the borough before, an enhanced level of touring into community hubs, new methods for artists collaborating with council services.

Infrastructure

Leaves behind 15 community spaces with enhanced facilities, the borough’s first dedicated artists space & a new network cultivating a vibrant events ecology.

Reimagined Heritage

Reanimates cultural sites, generates a lasting archive of music heritage & an innovative digital platform that champions voices across the borough.

Identity & Destination

Co-creates a bold narrative for Havering, with new ways to showcase diverse talent & elevate Havering’s profile via unique digital platforms.

A Good Life is funded by:
Arts Council England, National Lottery Heritage Fund, Havering Council, Romford BID, Historic England, Havering Changing, UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund

Partnership:
Creative Health Havering, Fuse, Havering Changing, Havering Museum, London Borough of Havering, New City College, Romford BID, the Centre for Performance, Technology, Equity (PTEQ) at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama