Celebrating the launch of our new artist studios as we kick off multi-million pound redevelopment
Justine Simons OBE, Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries, cut the ribbon to officially launch Chiswick House & Gardens Trust’s brand-new affordable artist Studios, part of our wider Community & Creative Campus, at an event with our Director, Xanthe Arvanitakis, on May 22nd.
Other speakers at the event included Chiswick House & Gardens Trust member of the Board of Trustees Taz Virdee and Councillor Tom Bruce, of the London Borough of Hounslow.
Twenty new artist and maker studios have been created in historic outbuildings set around the tranquil beauty of the site’s Kitchen Garden, with the first artists and makers due to take up up residence later this summer.
Developed in partnership with the charity Artist Studio Company, the studios will provide affordable creative workspace for up to 50 London-based artists and makers.
The Creative Campus is part of our wider £6.4million redevelopment project, which will see the transformation of previously underused areas of our estate into new indoor and outdoor spaces for the whole community, cementing our place as a thriving hub for engagement, education, and creative enterprise.
Future plans include the launch of a new Schools Programme and Learning Hub and, in 2026, the transformation of a disused 17th century walled garden into a Community Fruit Garden.
We have already secured over £4.4million of the £6.4million budget for the Community & Creative Campus, including £180,000 from the Mayor’s £1.2m Creative Enterprise Zone Sustainability Capital Grant. This funding has been used to support greater energy efficiency and long-term sustainability for the studios, with one key element of this the installation of an Air Source Heat Pump, which will also be used to heat other key buildings in the full campus.
The project also directly responds to a growing demand for accessible workspaces across London, where 67% of affordable creative spaces have closed since 2014.
In addition to providing much needed affordable workspaces for local and London-based artist-makers, fostering a new creative community, income from the studios will also help us secure our own future, allowing us to continue our vital community work and keep this beautiful green space open for all for decades to come.
The studios, and the wider Community and Creative Campus of which they form a part, have been made possible by generous support from funders including the Mayor of London’s Creative Enterprise Zone, London Borough of Hounslow, The Linbury Trust, Wolfson Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, Kusuma Trust, Clore Duffield Foundation, Foyle Foundation, the Swire Charitable Trust, Bernard Sunley Foundation, the Architectural Heritage Fund and many generous individuals.
Justine Simons OBE, Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries, said:
“I am delighted to open these wonderful new studios at Chiswick House & Gardens. They will provide much-needed affordable creative workspace to local artists and help to foster a new creative community as these historic outbuildings come alive with excitement and inspiration. It’s an important milestone in the delivery of the Mayor’s Creative Enterprise Zones which are helping to build a better London for everyone.”
Xanthe Arvanitakis, Director of Chiswick House & Gardens Trust, said:
“We’re incredibly excited to have today launched our Creative Campus, supporting the next generation of artists in the uniquely beautiful grounds here at Chiswick House and Gardens. As artists begin moving into these new studios, we hope to cultivate a vibrant, inclusive creative community that fully reflects the diversity of the local area, with planned open studio days and community events ensuring that this historically significant space will remain welcoming to all for generations to come.
“Through it, we will also generate new income streams that will help secure the future of our much-loved gardens, allowing us to continue to keep them open for every one, every day.
“Finally, I would like to gratefully acknowledge that these Studios, and the wider Community and Creative campus they form part of, have only been made possible by generous support from our funders.”
Taz Virdee, Chief Executive of C-Change West London and Member of the Board of Trustees of Chiswick House & Gardens Trust, said:
“As a trustee of Chiswick House and Gardens Trust, and as Chief Executive of C-Change West London, a charity dedicated to transforming the lives of those facing social disadvantages, I am pleased and proud to witness the opening of these new Artist and Maker Studios. Both the Studios, and the wider Community and Creative Campus they form a part of, will open up fresh opportunities for creativity, skill-building, and social connection – and will allow the Trust, and its community partners, to continue to collaborate, share, and grow together in the years ahead.”
Councillor Salman Shaheen, Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure & Public Spaces, said:
“We’re delighted to support these new artist studios. They will play an important role in helping emerging artists and further developing our borough’s rich arts and culture.
“The creative arts play a central role in enriching lives, bringing people together and fostering community pride, but they also create jobs and bring visitors to the borough, boosting our local economy and showcasing the best of Hounslow.
“We encourage local artists in need of a workspace to check out these new studios, in their stunning surroundings.”
About the Mayor of London’s Creative Enterprise Zones
The Creative Enterprise Zone programme is one of the Mayor of London’s flagship cultural programmes dedicated to ensuring artists and creatives – particularly from under-represented backgrounds – are supported to put down roots in their local area with access to affordable creative workspace and artist studios, to develop their careers, and also support local people to learn creative sector skills and find new jobs.
A report published in 2023 into the original six zones revealed creative businesses in these zones recovered faster (22% growth in the Zones versus -4% for London as a whole) than the rest of London despite the challenges of Brexit, the pandemic and cost of living crisis.
There are now 12 Creative Enterprise Zones across the capital, and in the next few years the programme will have increased new, permanent, affordable workspace by more than 71,000sqm (the equivalent of ten football pitches).