Hackney Council has announced that it intends to develop several publicly-owned sites around Arcola, creating a new ‘Dalston Quarter’. They are running a public consultation, which closes this Sunday, to determine the principles which should guide the development.
This is an unprecedented opportunity to help shape the future of Dalston, and to secure a place for arts and culture for many years to come. Will you take 5-10 minutes to champion the difference it makes to have organisations like Arcola in the centre of Dalston?
Add your voice to the consultation
Read our draft submission
One of the proposed development sites was previously the home of our pop-up Arcola Tent, where we staged dozens of shows from 2011 to 2014. Now it provides vital space for rehearsals, community workshops, research and development, a clean energy incubator and more.
You can help us to secure and extend Arcola’s future by emphasising the value of our work – to you, and as a legacy for future generations in the Dalston Quarter.
Arcola will be contributing to the consultation (you can read our latest thoughts here). We hope you will add your voice too.
You cannot think of Dalston and the vibrant cultural hub it has become without thinking of the Arcola Theatre.
Any development of a Dalston Quarter must put the theatre and its need to function well , expand and flourish at its centre.
The importance of the theatre and the work done there ( which is invaluable to the community) far extends the boundaries of the borough , the city, and indeed the county.
I would happily add my signature to any document that would help save the Arcola in it’s present situation – but I feel incapable of multiple comment.
I hope that whatever happens doesn’t adversely affect the excellent Arcola Theatre, which has given some of the most interesting productions that I’ve seen in the last few years and will surely be one of the main features of any redevelopment. The views of its management (e.g. about the inevitability of some noise and traffic in the area around the theatre) should be taken seriously in any planning that goes forward.
The Arcola is a magical space in the heart of Dalston. It is a stellar addition to the diversity of the area, please please do not disturb it in any way that would have a negative impact on everyone who uses it for artistic and social life enhancing purposes.
If this is a creative and vibrant area, it is the Arcola Theatre that makes it so and losing the theatre woul rip out its heart.
I fell in love at the Arcola, and as a result love the place with a deserved sentimentality. I therefore urge those with power to preserve the space, so that others may experience the same as me. Who but only the most bitter would be at peace with destroying a space where lovers fall?