Bow Arts 30th Anniversary
In 2025, we’re celebrating 30 years of Bow Arts. For the last three decades Bow Arts has worked to keep creative activity sustainable within our local communities, providing artists in London with stability and long-lasting artist support. The charity champions a model that is reciprocal, working to participate in better local communities through partnerships and collaboration.
30 years of Studios & Creative Places
From a single, flagship studio site in east London, Bow Arts now spans 17 buildings across London. Stretching from our iconic Lakeside Centre in Thamesmead, our artist studios and cultural hubs include permanent workspaces at Three Waters, a thriving hub of artists at Royal Albert Wharf, and the largest artist studio offering in central London in Camden. Delivering nearly £4.8 million worth of subsidised services to artists across our live work spaces, Bow Arts aims to provide vital support to enable nearly 1000 artists to practice their craft.
27 Years of the Nunnery Gallery
The Nunnery Gallery works to broaden the definition of a gallery in new and creative ways. From exhibitions exploring the rich industrial history of the River Lea Valley, to the East London Art Prize, which supports the incredible talent and breadth of art in east London, our free public exhibitions at the Nunnery Gallery have remained keenly attuned to local stories, and to championing contemporary art. Our public programmes
27 Years of Creative Education
Across 17 boroughs, our Learning team delivers an innovative programme of workshops, working with talented artist educators to create impactful learning experiences that improve attainment, confidence and wellbeing for all students. In 2024 alone, Bow Arts supported artist educators to deliver 1319 artist-led projects, and supported 8,500 children and young people. We worked to support innovative, creative arts education in 78 schools, with projects ranging from bespoke installations of permanent artwork, to creative workshops for teachers and artists to continue their professional development.
Looking to the future, Bow Arts will continue to work to provide sustainable, ongoing support to artists from entry level, and beyond, creating the opportunity to work, learn and enjoy affordable, lifelong access to the arts.
This year, look out for:
- Two exciting announcements about buildings, including good news about the Lakeside Centre
- Our annual Bowfest: Bow Road Open Studios this year
- Celebrating 10 Years of the Poplar Consortia
- Our new Nunnery Gallery Archive, now live on our website
- The upcoming Bow Open, curated by three artists from Bow Arts’ past & present
- More stories from Bow Arts’ past & present
