Since 1997 Oxford House, at the heart of London?s East End, has been working to create a new centre for visual and performing art in response to the needs of a community in which 28% of the residents are Bangladeshi and 17% are from other ethnic minorities. Pippa Bailey explains how.
Oxford House was established in 1884 by the staff and students of Oxford University. It was the world?s first university settlement and remains part of an international settlement movement working in deprived areas to create opportunity and social enterprise. The house now manages 16 youth clubs in the area and has worked with the Somali Community over the past ten years offering English classes, health promotion, immigration advice and advocacy. It has evolved into a multi-purpose community centre which has always incorporated the arts in its work.
The new centre being created is an extension to the existing Victorian building and includes a 180-seat performance space, two galleries, dance and rehearsal studios. It has been designed by All Clear Designs, who specialise in integrating the requirements of diverse communities and disabled people into the fabric of their buildings. I joined the organisation in 2001, when the building project was already five years old. It is a very challenging job: to make an exciting art centre that will appeal to a range of artists, attract new audiences and also meet the needs of Oxford House and its local community.
A diverse constituency
Bethnal Green has a very disparate local community. In the borough of Tower Hamlets 28% are Bangladeshi and 17% are from other ethnic minorities, including Somali. The area has a history of racial disquiet. Bethnal Green Road was the front line for the National Front until the early 1990s and rapid changes in the demographics have contributed to cultural divides. Tower Hamlets is one of the most impoverished boroughs in Europe with a diminishing traditional working class ?East Ender? population. New private residential developments, proximity to the city and increased land value have brought a new generation of wealthy residents to the area.
Delving into diversity
I must confess here to being a middle class white woman, which means I am not a refugee or from a recognised ethnic minority. I have not suffered the discrimination, hardships and lack of access to opportunity that many experience in this country. So it sometimes feels awkward to tiptoe through the minefield of opinion and engage in heated discussions about diversity and access to the arts. I am, however, eager to share my understanding of the cultural industries and am passionate about access.
In planning for the new centre at Oxford House, I wanted to look beyond the immediate problems to an ideal future. The first task was to create a new identity for the arts activity here. I wanted to recognise the history of the organisation but also to get away from any old-fashioned worthy, pious associations of Victorian patronage still clinging to this contemporary community centre. So oh!art was created. As a brand it embodies the idea of expression, is accessible to an audience where English is not their first language and doesn?t take itself too seriously.
From vision to reality
The next challenge was to come up with a programming strategy that would ensure we were not simply a receiving house for work but had a strong identity that would attract a diverse range of artists and audiences. The basic aims of oh!art are:
Fun: Emphasise enthusiasm, having a laugh and finding joy in the creative process. Plan for more laughter!
Diversity: To work with and for people from a range of backgrounds and disciplines and to hear the voices of those who have not been heard
Participation: We want people to get involved
Sharing: Of information, networks, ideas
Experimentation: We dream of a place where permission to fail and constructive feedback enables the pursuit of excellence
Excellence: We want it to be good.
And putting this into practice, we:
? combine professional contemporary arts practice with work for and by the community. We want to get away from the unfortunate connotations of the term ?community arts?, left over from the 1970s. We want to set standards with respect for experience and craft that engages directly with our local community and audiences.
? concentrate on cultural collaboration, between different ethnic groups, between different artforms, between arts and other sectors of the community. This is to focus our work and encourage artists and arts organisations to engage with people and ideas beyond their experience and ways of working. It is to encourage all peoples out of their ghettos. We want to become known for this work and be able to help those interested but with little experience.
? work with a different theme each year. The theme for 2003 is HOME. The theme for 2004 is ID (identity). This is to help make work more accessible. For example more esoteric work can be exhibited alongside a schools project, united by a theme; and a visitor interested in a particular artform will have a way in to another form through the theme. It is also a way of opening up our programme to a broader range of artists, companies and participants.
Diversity in practice
The new oh!art centre is due to open with a ten day season from July 3-13. During this time we will start to put the principles of cultural diversity into practice. We are already being overwhelmed with interest, and each group we encounter has different experiences and different needs. At the same time as trying to support new work and new senses of identity, we are also trying to learn, working towards a culture that no longer segregates and polarises different groups but finds ways of meeting these complex issues head on, without fear.
Pippa Bailey is Artistic Director of oh!art t: 020 7739 9001 e: {pippa.bailey@ oxfordhouse.org.uk}