The UK charity Bow Arts has announced the acquisition of two buildings in east London that will be turned into lastingly affordable studio spaces for creatives.
Bow Arts, which has been running since 1994, manages hundreds of studios and creative spaces across 28 buildings in London—three of which it now owns—as well as providing public programming and education outreach. It has an annual turnover of £5.1m with £4.5m reinvested into the creative community, according to a press statement.
The latest purchases are part of Bow Arts’s new strategy to help tackle the ongoing cost of living crisis for creatives in London, according to the charity’s founder and chief executive officer Marcel Baettig. “We're looking to secure more of our portfolio so that we've got long-term control over the rent,” he says. “It means we can keep rents down and have a long-term fund where we know exactly what our income will be, so that we can invest back into our local community through education and direct our services.”
It acquired its first building in 2022, the east London site opening the following year under the name Three Waters—with 70 affordable studios for artists. The building, bought on a 999-year lease, was a “first of its kind in London”, a Bow Arts statement says, “ that ensures ongoing support for artists, educational services and inward investment into local communities and the arts for perpetuity in east London”.
The two latest purchases are a building in the Hackney Yards development and the Brutalist Lakeside Centre in Thamesmead.
The Hackney purchase—in partnership with the housing association Notting Hill Genesis, and with support from Arts Council England and the London Legacy Development Corporation—will provide 38 studios alongside the site’s 190 new homes and 40,000 sq ft of commercial spaces. The studios will become available in 2026.
The Lakeside Centre, purchased from the housing association Peabody, is home to more than 40 artist studios that have been managed by Bow Arts since 2017.
A burning issue
According to a survey of artists by the London-based charity Acme in 2023, nearly 75% of respondents indicated that they were struggling financially. “It is becoming harder than ever for artists to live and work in the capital, with an average of 27% of total monthly income being spent by our artists on their studio rent,” the report states.
Furthermore, an increasing amount of property development in London’s suburbs is pushing artists further out of the city to find affordable spaces.
Others are taking on short leases on buildings, which are often temporarily offered to artists ahead of redevelopment or demolition—which quickly can leave tenants in a precarious position. For example, in 2023 more than 100 artists suddenly lost their studios in central London when the two-year lease for the building managed by arts organisation V.O Curations was cut short.
“One of the big pluses for me about my studio is that I know that they've got a really long term lease on it,” says artist Nye Thompson, who has had a studio with Bow Arts since 2013. “The psychological impact of having to move, the cost, the logistics and the wasted time can be disastrous.”
Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Bow Arts plans to acquire more buildings in London. “We have a vision to grow as an organisation so as to have a proper seat at the table, and influence planning in London in a way that takes artists into account,” Baettig says.
