Southbank Centre

We’re thrilled to announce that the Southbank Centre has remained the 5th most visited attraction in the UK, with an 17% increase to 3,734,075 visitors (ALVA) 🎉 We look forward to welcoming many more new and returning visitors in the coming months as we prepare to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Royal Festival Hall and the Festival of Britain. 👉 ALVA’s 2024 visitor figures are available here: https://lnkd.in/dCXgWsUr 📷 Takis Zontiros Association of Leading Visitor Attractions

Are you interested in being one of our Food & Drink partners for Winter 2025? 🍻 Get in touch with our team to find out more about how to get involved: 📧 Send us an email: hellotraders@southbankcentre.co.uk 💻 Find out more about our Food & Drink Pop-ups: https://lnkd.in/dV_nFTrr

Happy Social Prescribing Day 2025! 💚 Today the Southbank Centre joins a wide range of voices in celebrating the individuals, organisations and communities that make social prescribing happen. To mark Social Prescribing Day, London Plus has launched a new set of tools to support arts and cultural organisations to understand, evidence and communicate their impact to potential health partners. We are thrilled to support this new Creative Health Impact Framework, ensuring that as many organisations as possible can access this free resource. 👉 Find out more about the Creative Health Impact Framework here: https://lnkd.in/ekSYAykx 👉 Find out more about our Arts & Wellbeing programme here: https://lnkd.in/diMJnkuh #SocialPrescribingDay #CreativeHealth

📣 The Southbank Centre has joined over 30 performing arts organisations to express our concern about the government’s plans to diminish creative copyright by giving an exemption to AI companies. “Our community of highly skilled creative workers depend on a fragile ecosystem of freelance creatives, many of whom rely on copyright to sustain their practice, and most of whom have spent many decades honing their craft.” “As leaders of creative institutions, we embrace advances in technology. We are not separate from innovation but rather participants in its practical applications and the philosophical and moral questions it raises. We are concerned that the government proposals risk undermining agency and participation in the new world of AI rather than supporting the moral and economic rights of our creative community to their work.” 👉 Read more about the statement here: https://lnkd.in/eKVNDTga 

Warmer weather got you dreaming of summer parties? ☀️ Host yours at one of Southbank Centre’s breathtaking rooftop venues. Choose from a lush outdoor garden with space for 300 standing, or stylish indoor spaces with panoramic skyline views. 👉 Get in touch with our team to start planning:  https://lnkd.in/dUm4XPtu

Last week 215 children joined us for our secondary schools’ Come and Sing Day 🎤 Our Come and Sing Days aim to boost young people's confidence and enthusiasm for singing, while also encouraging participation in singing groups at school and beyond. Throughout the day, local school children and their teachers attend singing sessions, workshops and inspiring discussions in our Clore Ballroom. By supporting and encouraging young people to develop a love of singing, we hope to help them see singing as a potential part of their lifelong learning and wellbeing. 👉 If you’re a teacher interested in participating in our next Come and Sing Day with your students, get in touch with our Schools teams (schools@southbankcentre.co.uk)

Earlier this month, over 200 people from across south east London came together at the Southbank Centre to explore how creativity can help to reduce health inequalities 💚 Organised by NHS South East London and the Greater London Authority, the event saw the NHS, local councils, voluntary and community groups, arts organisations, local people and freelance creatives come together for a morning of conversation and collaboration. Discussions focused on the power of cross-sector collaboration and the need for long-term funding to tackle health inequalities. People with lived experience shared why creativity matters to them and how it supports their wellbeing. Attendees also explored how creativity can be embedded into the health system and how communities can use it to stay well. 📷 Jemima Wong South East London Integrated Care System | Greater London Authority

This morning our CEO Elaine Bedell OBE welcomed our local MP Florence Eshalomi to the Southbank Centre for the first edition of our Breakfast Series ‘In Conversation’👏 Florence discussed her experience as a young carer, the importance of having access to free events in Lambeth as a child, and what life looks like in Parliament. She also talked about the link between wellbeing and having access to arts and culture, and described the Southbank Centre as 'a massive wonderland for kids' where there is always something going on. Thanks again to Florence for joining us! 🌟 Our Breakfast Series is a new initiative for Southbank Centre staff where members of our Executive Leadership Team invite a guest speaker for a discussion followed by a Q&A. 

Responding to today’s announcement of new funding from the Government, Mark Ball, Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre said: "This is a very welcome and urgently needed injection of funding into a sector that, with smart investment, can meaningfully contribute to the government’s Growth Plan. The performing arts in particular have been calling for capital funding for essential upgrades to our buildings to enable us to continue to deliver world-class performances for our audiences and communities. The Government has listened and this funding is an important first step in shoring up our cultural infrastructure and will help to support engagement, jobs, skills and wellbeing up and down the country."

Imagine Festival, London’s leading arts festival for families, returns to the Southbank Centre this week for the February half-term 🎨✨ Described by Time Out as ‘the biggest annual event in the London kids’ calendar’, the 23rd edition of Imagine includes cultural events, participatory activities and vibrant shows for young people and their families to enjoy. The festival aims to inspire children from 0 – 11 years to express their creativity, explore their artistic potential and celebrate their unique talents. With the aim of creating an inclusive and welcoming environment for all, Imagine is a relaxed festival, with a relaxed approach to noise and movement as well as a number of specific BSL-interpreted, captioned and audio-described performances. 👉 Find the full Imagine (18 – 23 Feb) programme here: https://lnkd.in/dwhJXDPq 📷 Victor Frankowski