Open Places
Public Art that Helps us Belong
Open Places is Havering London’s new public art commissioning programme – a cornerstone of our ambition to shape Havering as a destination for culture and belonging. The programme celebrates the borough’s rich design heritage while inviting artists and communities to reimagine what it means to belong here, together.
Rooted in process as well as product, Open Places champions the slow, research-led practices that allow artists to work in depth with people and place.
Commissions will grow from sustained engagement, shaped by the histories, landscapes and lived experiences that define Havering. Each artwork aims to reflect the borough’s evolving identity, from its urban centres to its vast green parks, asking how art can help us see familiar places anew, connect across difference, and feel more at home in the places we share.
The programme is open in every sense: open to the world, open to collaboration, and open to new possibilities. Artists are encouraged to consider how creative interventions might invite public participation, foster social connection, and respond to the urgent questions of our time – from environmental change to inclusion and wellbeing.
Open Places will support a range of commissions, from intimate, temporary interventions in public space to more ambitious, permanent capital projects. The programme also aligns with new development and infrastructure across the borough, exploring how art can enhance public realm design, green urban spaces and shape the future character of Havering.
The first commission, supported by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, marks the beginning of this new chapter, read more about this below.
If you are interested in supporting or engaging with public art within Havering please contact our Public Art Producer Aldo Rinaldi aldo@haveringlondon.com
