JANUARY 2019
The HAC and Harrow Council have been successful in their bid for the Mayor of London’s Good Growth Fund and has been awarded £760,000. The HAC would like to say a massive thank you to all those residents who came to the consultation meeting last June to help with the bid. The bid description is as follows: “The project will improve the civic and cultural infrastructure on the HAC site. It will increase participation in culture, improve the public realm, support job creation and business growth. We will masterplan the HAC site to realise its regeneration potential, for arts, workspace and leisure. In the interim we will convert empty buildings into meanwhile workspace, and replace dilapidated portacabins with modular classrooms. We will expand our outreach and consultation to deliver new provision and increase participation.”
JUNE 2018
Harrow Council and Harrow Arts Centre are making a bid for the GLA Good Growth Fund to invest in the future of Harrow Arts Centre. If successful, the funding will allow Harrow Arts Centre to undertake essential building work to site in Hatch End, including conversion of derelict parts of the site into affordable workspaces for creatives, refurbishment of the Elliott Hall building as well as replacing dilapidated outbuildings with new learning and activity spaces.
The HAC is holding a Project Meeting on Friday 29th June from 6.30pm-8pm at Harrow Arts Centre. This is an opportunity to hear about the proposed bid and for the Council to get your feedback and ideas.
Good Growth Fund Project Meeting
Friday 29th June
6.30pm-8pm
Hatch End Suites 1 & 2, Harrow Arts Centre
OCTOBER 2016
Cabinet Meeting Thursday 13 October 2016
The question and answers at Cabinet are recorded and will be available by Thursday 20 October on the Council website via Windows Media Player and Quick Time on Apple.
Question for the Chair and Cabinet
“The Hatch End Association was very disappointed to read that the council had not been able to agree the future of the Harrow Arts Centre and Headstone Manor with Cultura London. The council press release, we are pleased to note, states services will continue as normal on both sites. However it also states that the Council will explore a ”Different direction” for the Harrow Arts Centre. The HEA and the 6,000 signatories to petitions for maintenance of the Harrow Arts Centre and Headstone Manor are concerned for their future and duration of the ‘Normal Service’. What is the council’s plan for fully consulting the residents of Harrow on any proposed changes to the sites’ estate and usage?
Julian Maw, Co-Chair Hatch End Association”
Response summary
All relevant Stakeholders will be fully consulted
Observation
We have a promise to be fully consulted on future plans.
Supplementary question
The Harrow Arts Centre contains listed building and is surrounded by important green belt connecting the Old Redding to Oxhey strip London perimeter with Pinner Park Farm area. Is it the Council’s intention to build housing on this green belt land or on the developed area of the present Arts Centre and Headstone Monor sites?
Summary Response
All possibilities will be considered will be considered for the future directions for the site.
Observation
Housing for the site and adjacent green belt is not excluded.
September 2016
Failure of Harrow Council and Cultura London to agree handover terms.
Please see below the press release sent out by Cultura London explaining why the Harrow Arts Centre is now in jeopardy.
17M HARROW ARTS CENTRE DEVELOPMENT IN JEOPARDY – FUTURE OF ARTS CENTRE NOW IN DOUBT
ISSUES
* Harrow Council and not for-profit charity Cultura London have been unable to agree final terms for the spin out of Harrow Arts Centre
* Cultura London proposal for £17m development will now not go ahead.
* Final deal fell through when Harrow Council were unable to offer unsullied lease for HAC which would allow the charity to access grants and commercial loans.
BACKGROUND
* The-not-for-profit Charity Cultura London formed in 2015 to take on Harrow Arts Centre, Headstone Manor and Harrow Music Service with no management fee from Harrow Council.
* Cultura London’s plans for Harrow Arts Centre were estimated to bring an estimated £66M boost each year to the local economy.
* Cultura London Chair Andrew Welch said “We are all incredibly disappointed that, at the final hurdle, we will not be permitted to save the arts centre and to really put Harrow on the cultural map”
- Cultura London Chief Executive Sandra Bruce Gordon said “We have worked tirelessly to save Harrow Arts Centre for local residents. The Charity were prepared to take considerable risk and liability to make this happen”.* Harrow Council originally proposed to close Harrow Arts Centre in 2014 when it made losses of £500,000-800,000 each year. Harrow Council then agreed to a stay of execution in 2015 after a 16,000 signature petition from local people.
* Cultura London’s plan to take on the arts centre with no management fee and to deliver a 4 phase £17m masterplan from external funding was accepted by Harrow Council Cabinet in January 2016.
* There was to be a new multi-screen cinema, a new 600 seat theatre, new art gallery, new state of the art cultural and rehearsal spaces built in four phases.
* Harrow Cabinet agreed to spin out services to the charity by 1 April 2016 subject to due diligence agreements.
January 2016
Harrow Council Cabinet Decision on HAC
Harrow Council’s Cabinet agreed this week to hand over the running of Harrow Arts Centre to Cultura London, an independent charitable trust. The charity’s vision is to transform the Arts Centre into a “Southbank Centre for North London” with cinemas, galleries, restaurants, bars and a new, larger theatre to complement the historic Elliott Hall. Cultura London is aiming to raise £3.5 million in the first phase to begin the Arts Centre’s redevelopment. This phase would demolish some of the temporary buildings and bring the cinemas to the site. The local fundraising campaign is a vital element and has already raised more than £30,000 towards the first phase of the development out of a target of £250,000 from this source. If you would like to pledge money to Cultura London’s fundraising effort, call in at the Box Office, phone the pledge line on 8938 3720 or visit www.spacehive.com. You can also find out more by visiting www.culturalondon.uk. All contributions are welcome.
December 2015
HEA support for Cultura London and the way forward –
The Association has today pledged £10,000 in support of Cultura London and the plans for the independent Arts Centre in Hatch End. This major donation meets the objectives of the Association to support the interests of the local community. These interests where clearly expressed by more than 6,000 signature on our petition for the continued provision of an Arts Centre in Harrow. We won a stay of closure for a 12-month period to let independent proposals to be put to the council.
The Association’s Pledge is timed to show the continued local support for the Arts Centre at this critical time. We strongly advocate individual and organisational pledges should be given now to make sure we continue to have an Arts Centre in Harrow.
Update, December 2015
Following the public’s tremendous response to the suggested closure of Harrow Arts Centre and Museum last year, the Arts & Heritage service was given time by Harrow Council to set up a company to manage the services in future. A company, Cultura London, has now been set up with proposed charitable status. It held drop-in sessions for the public to view plans so far and find out how the public can help. Times of public open days were:
Morrison’s, Hatch End
Saturday, 5 December: 3-5pm
Harrow Arts Centre
Wednesday, 9 December: 6-8pm
Thursday, 10 December: 10am-1pm
Thursday, 10 December: 3-5pm
If you didn’t make the drop-in sessions, please take a look at the short film about the project on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93XyFEuEwAE
or take a look at their brochure on this link: CL brochure_v2
A further £250,000 needs to be raised from the community towards the overall target for Phase 1 of £2.5m. If you feel you want to support the project, you can do so at the HAC Box Office, online at www.culturalondon.uk or by phoning 020 8938 3720.
For more information on Cultura London,visit http://www.culturalondon.uk/
Update, May 2015
The business plan for the Harrow Arts Centre was approved at the Council Cabinet meeting on 21 May. A Charitable Trust will be set up to manage the Arts Centre, the Museum and the Music Service. During this financial year, the Trust will be undertaking preparatory work and raising funds. The Council will review progress in October and January.
If all goes to plan, work will start next spring (2016) on Phase 1 – to demolish some of the ancillary buildings and to build a new 240-seat, two-screen cinema with a bar and café, with an aim to open the cinema by the end of the year. In Phase 1, the hall remains as it is.
