RSVP London

- “Deptford Renaissance” celebrated on new website -

Today saw the launch of a groundbreaking, new on-line arts magazine, known as the p&b cultural showcase, which looks set to seal Deptford’s emerging reputation as a new creative quarter in South East London.

The brainchild of Futurecity and Lane Castle, the developers behind the regeneration of the Paynes & Borthwick (P&B) Wharves on Deptford’s riverside, the p&b cultural showcase promotes the very best artists and creative businesses in Deptford, Greenwich and Lewisham at www.pandbshowcase.com" target="_blank">www.pandbshowcase.com. In doing this, it aims to raise awareness of the burgeoning creative talent in the area, and bring it to the attention of the public and commerce, for the benefit of the local and wider community.

With backing in the form of a £30,000 grant from Arts & Business, the p&b cultural showcase invites artists and creative businesses in South East London to submit their work to an independent selection panel, which will choose the best candidates in each of six different artistic categories, three times a year.

At the website’s launch today, the first six major local talents were announced as the creative leaders in their fields, and their works showcased on the site. They were:

Visual arts Jasmina Cibic (photography and printmaking)
Contemporary arts Wendy-Sarah Pacey (jewellery)
Media Raw Nerve (on-line design)
Performing Arts Maresa Von Stockert (dance)
Design Alex Gore-Brown (fashion)
Retail & Hospitality You don’t bring me flowers (restaurants and food shops)

A further three in each category were also praised for the quality and creativity of their work, details of which can also be found on the site.
Speaking at the launch today (held at Laban, Deptford, the leading conservatoire for music and dance), Mark O’Grady of Lane Castle said: “We are enormously proud to be launching the p&b cultural showcase today – the culmination of much hard work by a lot of people – and believe that it will have a really positive impact on the local creative community. By showcasing local talent through the website, we hope to stimulate more interaction between commerce and the arts, and help to highlight the strong, and growing, cultural identity in the area.”

Lane Castle recently won planning approval for a mixed-use development at Paynes & Borthwick Wharves, in Deptford’s riverside area. Their vision for the site is to create a new cultural destination with residential apartments, art galleries, a restaurant and retail space, providing a focus for the area’s thriving artistic and creative community. The aim is to open up Deptford’s historic waterfront area and provide local people with renewed access to landscaped areas overlooking the Thames. In addition, commercial units will be available to creative industries in the area, and during the development, a show space of approximately 11,000 sq ft will be available for shows, events, performances and presentations for local and visiting art organisations. The p&b cultural showcase website, with its three-times a year competitions, is designed to become a permanent feature in the local arts scene.

Colin Tweedy, Chief Executive of Arts & Business, who provided financial backing for the scheme, added: “This represents an important investment for us, as our first investment this year into the regeneration zone around the 2012 Olympic site. There is tremendous creative energy in this part of South East London, which we believe the p&b cultural showcase will begin to help harness for real and sustainable benefit to the community.”

Deptford and Greenwich has one of the largest concentrations of creative industries in the capital and has been designated a Cultural Hub by the London Development Agency.

Ends

For further information, please contact Dominic Morgan or Natalie Payne at FD Tamesis: 0207 269 9343 or 0207 269 9352.
www.pandbshowcase.com" target="_blank">www.pandbshowcase.com



Notes to editors:

Who’s who in the p&b cultural showcase

1. The selection panel
2. Lane Castle
3. Arts & Business (A&B)
4. Future City Arts

1. The selection panel
The p&b cultural showcase selection panel comprises:

Anthony Bowne
Anthony Bowne is Director of Laban and has been instrumental in realising the new Laban building at Deptford Creekside. Anthony is a graduate of University College London, Bartlett School of Architecture with an MSc in Architecture. As a lighting designer for dance and theatre he has worked with, amongst others, Fin Walker, Adventures in Motion Pictures, The Cholmondeleys, Rosemary Butcher Hong Kong Ballet and the National Theatre of Taiwan.
www.laban.org

Julia Alvarez
Julia Alvarez is a curator & gallerist based in Deptford, South East London. Over 6 years Julia has been establishing BEARSPACE, a contemporary art gallery also in Deptford and initiating ‘The Bear Café’ alongside the gallery. Having had experience of working with Hales Gallery (Deptford) and Matt's Gallery (Hackney) Julia was attracted by both the curatorial, and the business focus present in the different galleries, leading her to combine the two in her own gallery. Julia is best known for curating a diverse and exciting programme of emerging artists also known as a place that discovers and promotes emerging artistic talent.
www.thebear.tv/gallery.html

Vanessa Swann
Vanessa was appointed Chief Executive of Cockpit Arts, London, in 2002. Since then she has transformed the organisation from a managed workspace to a creative business incubator, actively supporting and promoting over 150 artist designer-makers and product designers through all stages of their business development – from first beginnings through to international commercial success. She has considerable experience of working with, and for, designers and designer-makers having previously been Deputy Director of the Design Museum, and Director of the Commissioning Service at Contemporary Applied Arts. Prior to this she headed the RSA Art for Architecture scheme on behalf of the Department of National Heritage (now DCMS) promoting artist and architect collaborations on building projects and major property developments.
www.cockpitarts.com




Lee Cheshire
Lee Cheshire is the editor of The Guide, the local magazine for south-east London, which means he gets to eat at the area's many fantastic restaurants and get paid for it. Lee originally came to the area to study at Goldsmiths College and has never managed to leave. After stints in Deptford and Brockley, he now lives in Greenwich.

Andrew Carmichael
Andrew, Director of the Creative Lewisham Agency, deals with artists and creative businesses. He holds a degree in Fine Art from Goldsmiths and an MA from the Royal college of Art he has also spent many years working as a an artist, a consultant, a project initiator and fundraiser. CLA also currently managing public art commissions of over £300K in value.
www.creativelewishamagency.org.uk

Michael Smith
Michael is a director of Cog Design. He started using the name Cog as a way of avoiding having to get a proper job. Sixteen years on, Cog has become one of the most successful arts-based design agencies in the UK, with an unrivalled client list and specialist teams in print (Cog Design) and digital design (Dotcog).
www.cogdesign.com
www.dotcog.com

2. Lane Castle

Lane Castle is a residential mixed-use developer, which creates new urban schemes that fully integrate with the local community. The company was set up in 2006 with the intention of making a significant contribution to local residents through their urban renewal projects, an ethos which sets them apart from other residential developers. Paynes and Borthwick Wharves, where the developer intends to work closely with the community to create a sense of “place” and a cultural hub for local residents, is illustrative of this vision.

3. Arts & Business (A&B)

A&B is a national charity dedicated to creating sustainable relationships between the cultural and the commercial sectors. With the aim of becoming the world’s most successful and widespread creative network, it helps business people to support the arts, and the arts to inspire business people, in the belief that good business and great art together create a richer society.

4. Futurecity
Based in South East London, Futurecity is a leading public arts consultancy which helps to bring contemporary arts and culture together with commerce, as a way of creating a culture-led, community-focused, developer-driven approach to regeneration.