09 Mar “West London is ground zero” for creativity
West London is the epicentre of creative industry, a panel session at the Capital West London Growth Summit has heard.
Rob Fowler, JOB, Brompton Technologies, made the proclamation, adding: “I’ve found myself working in movies something I never thought possible. It’s been facilitated by being in West London and surrounded by a creative network – Shepperton, Ealing Studios, the BBC, Pinewood. West London is ground zero, and we’d be daft not to capitalise on that further.”
Rob Fowler joined us for our session on Culture & Creativity, along with Susan Curran, head of housing and regeneration at Barnet Council, Patricia Bench, director at Hammersmith BID, Clare Gough, director of the Pitzhanger Manor and Gallery, and Bill Boler, partnerships director at West London Business for the Creative Enterprise Zone West, who chaired the discussion.
The panel discussed what West London has to offer in terms of culture and creativity and the role they play in driving the local economy.
Patricia Bench said she believed creative spaces were the future, adding: “They are important for our survival, and we want to be important to them and help their business run smoothly.”
Susan Curran confirmed Barnet Council had made arts and culture a priority.
“We want to reimagine town centres and look at post-pandemic recovery,” she said.
“We’re working with partners in the area like Brent Cross and Edgware to engage with local cultural institutions, and we’re working with grassroots organisations to celebrate local history and embed arts and cultures in town centres.”
Clare Gough added arts and culture are key factors in bringing people back to town centres: “Art centres give people a chance to meet, debate, think and inspire. These places are crucial to post-Covid recovery, and they inspire growth in creative industries.”
But the panel argued culture and creativity can only have a meaningful impact if local authorities engage with communities to work together and make cultural offerings accessible. “Collaboration with other arts organisations is good”, added Clare, “we need to ensure we deliver a high quality and accessible programme, and our local authority can do things to help us, like promote transport links and wayfinding, and posters to remind people at stations what’s going on in their local area.”
Film and TV is among the few industries that wasn’t negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, and it’s leading the way in job creation. West London is a hub for studio space, with more and more production companies flooding into the region to deliver the next binge-worthy series.