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The ability of the arts in all their manifestations to lift communities is recognised as a powerful influence, especially in inner city neighbourhoods where the shortage of housing is critical. Soho Housing, the community housing association based in the vibrant heart of the capital which now has over 800 properties across Soho, Covent Garden, Bloomsbury, Farringdon, Queen’s Park and Victoria, is opening its own art gallery for hire on Great Pulteney Street to support its mission of providing homes and commercial premises at affordable rents. Barbara Brownlee is Soho Housing’s chief executive.
What is Soho Housing and how did it begin?
Soho Housing is an organisation that provides affordable homes in the centre of London. It was founded 50 years ago by a group of locals fighting to prevent the wholesale redevelopment of the heart of London’s West End and to protect ordinary local people’s right to live and work in the area. They began by protecting their own homes and grew by buying empty and derelict properties, often with the help of Westminster Council, refurbishing them and letting them out at low rents to people working in the area.
Soho is famous as a creative centre. Has this element been a part of Soho Housing in the past?
The first properties that the association purchased were filled with makers, tailors, seamstresses, leather workers etc. Our core belief is that it remains important for hospitality and creative workers to live near their place of work, so they don’t face long and unsocial working and commuting hours, have a reasonable work-life balance, and maintain the very particular character of Soho and its origins as a living, working village.
Why did you decide to open an art gallery, and have you based the idea on a model?
Soho has always been a magnet for artists and galleries, but this seems to be growing, with spaces such as Anthony Wilkinson, Tom Rowland and Cedric Bardawil galleries around the corner from our property in Great Pulteney Street. When the lease on the previous office there ended, we realised that the premises would make a beautiful gallery. All we had to do was remove the fish tank, strip the floors, straighten out the walls and it started looking very much like a gallery.
In the gallery system, commonly 30-35% of a sale will go to the gallery. How will it work in this case, or will your income be from renting the gallery out?
Our gallery is an exhibition space for hire. We don’t take any commission and we focus on the exhibitor having a great experience, with maximum freedom to present their work as they wish. Our income comes purely from the cost of hiring the gallery.
We currently have no long-term tenant and hire out the gallery by the week. This is in line with the direction of the real estate market which is heading towards short-term rental being the “new normal”. We do want to maximise our rental income but the fact that we have some flexibility throughout the year means that we can host community and charity events connected with our core purpose there as well, which is great for a community-based organisation. All our income from this venture and every commercial property we own is used to maintain and develop more affordable housing in the heart of London.
Has Soho Housing used the arts in its mission before, and do you have a personal connection with the arts?
Throughout our 50th birthday year we used the arts to celebrate who we are and what we want to deliver. D J Roberts became our artist in residence and produced a series of posters capturing the spirit of Soho. These were fly posted throughout Soho. We also commissioned an illustrated history of Soho Housing, and a neon piece that connected the experience of our longstanding tenants with A Tale of Two Cities, partially based in 1 Greek Street. We’ve also had music in a variety of forms, including Soho Parish School Choir singing at our Christmas event. We sponsor the school’s Christmas lights, which the children design in conjunction with Antonio Capelao.
I myself came to art at a relatively late stage, although I’ve always been passionate about architecture and the Rolling Stones! My partner introduced me to contemporary art and I am an enthusiastic small collector. I do also love medieval and Renaissance painting.
What was the Grade II listed premises in Great Pulteney Street before you acquired it and what has it been used for since?
36 Great Pulteney Street was a derelict building in the 1970s, as were many buildings in Soho. The whole of the area had been earmarked for demolition by the GLA as part of the London Plan of “slum” clearance. We bought it and refurbished it, along with many other buildings in Soho. It has always had rooms for rent above two floors of commercial space, most recently offices. In true Soho style, it has also housed a corset maker and a bicycle repair shop!
What will it be called, who will curate it and when does it open?
The gallery is called Great Pulteney Street gallery. Soho Housing manages the bookings and coordinates the exhibitions. We have had a soft launch to see how the space works, followed by a few bookings, and now are booking in earnest. We were particularly keen to make sure that the exhibition space below did not disturb our residents above but the first show was a real hit with people living in the building, so hopefully we’re off to a good start!
The first exhibition, At Home in Soho, featured the work of Diana Taylor, Jost Münster and Jacob Wolff. How did you fix on them to inaugurate the venue, and will a feature of exhibitions there be that the artists live and work in Soho?
The first exhibition was designed to show off the space. Soho Housing took one of the galleries and exhibited our archive. The other two galleries featured paintings by high quality artists, all based in London, all with a track record which we felt would do justice to the possibilities of our beautiful space. Some of the work – The echoing footsteps of years by D J Roberts and Soho by Jost Munster – related directly to Soho, but our primary aim was to create word of mouth and a calling card for our gallery for hire.
What experience have you had of the influence of art on inner city communities?
My first contact with the potential of art in its wider sense was Cardboard Citizens, a theatre company of homeless people who have been working for 25 years to deliver social change. Whilst working for Hackney Council, we engaged Rachel Whiteread to work with local children on the Clapton Park Estate Demolished project in 1993. At Thurrock Council we engaged the Crafts Council as part of our regeneration project in Grays and the artist Andrew Cross to create a photographic documentation of the logistics, for which Thurrock is famous. Now, what we have found is that our residents enjoy the ability to engage with the art in the gallery in an informal and quite intimate way. We plan to keep this going.
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