Today 15th February 2024 New Town Culture, the pioneering curatorial programme based within Barking and Dagenham Council announces an ambitious new artistic programme for 2024, including the new Women’s Museum opening with its first exhibition on International Women’s Day, Friday 8 March 2024. 

Built on a radical vision to bring contemporary art practice into the heart of local government services, the New Town Culture programme has led to changes in how social work is done in Barking and Dagenham. 

After 5 years of critical art programmes in social care, which began with a Cultural Impact Award as part of the Mayor of London’s London Borough of Culture, New Town Culture will now set its sights to focus on Youth Justice Services.

The dynamic new programme will include the launch of the Women’s Museum, a new public cultural space built on deep networks spanning art, local communities and services in the heart of Barking Town Centre. The museum will be an inclusive place, platforming the ideas, issues and histories relating to women, girls, transgender and non-binary communities through art and culture from the local area and beyond. Funding for the programme is made possible by the Mayor of London, National Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council England, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and Community Infrastructure Levy funds.

The Museum opens with the exhibition An Idea of a Life, curated by Nephertiti Oboshie Schandorf opening on International Women’s Day, Friday 8 March 2024. An Idea of a Life will explore the everyday histories of the women-led communities run by the Abbess and nuns who lived in nearby Barking Abbey from c.666AD to the early 16th Century. Across the duration of the exhibition, new art works will emerge by artists Meera Shakti Osborne, Lesley Asare and Sarina Mantle alongside depictions of archaeological objects excavated from the surrounding area, highlighting the connections between this significant historic place and the stories of contemporary women, femmes and folk.

Other new programmes curated by New Town Culture, launching across 2024 will include:

• A national conference Hopeful Disruption: Art and Social Work taking place on March 13 and 14 in collaboration with South London Gallery. It will reflect on 5 years of work in the spaces of social work with artists Helen Cammock, Andrea Franke, Gayle Chong Kwan, academic Siddhesh Mukerji and curator Rachel Anderson from Idle Women amongst others. 
• A corresponding public programme led by New Town Culture and running from the Women’s Museum to include residencies by Arc Theatre’s Raised Voices and council-run Go Girls! bothsupporting vulnerable women and girls, poetry nights with Belinda Zhawi, weaving nights with Yemi Awosile, and celebrations of the equinox with Lesley Asare.
• An ongoing partnership with Goldsmiths, University of London will see a radical training programme for social workers through the Creative Social Work MA course. Here artists such as India Harvey will teach alongside renowned social work academics such as Professor Claudia Bernard.

Cllr Saima Ashraf, Deputy Leader of Barking and Dagenham Council, said:

"Our borough gave rise to the Equality Pay Act through the Dagenham Ford strike and has led the way with major initiatives including the 2021 Barking and Dagenham Domestic Violence Commission report, New Town Culture remains a critically acclaimed platform for artists to develop social art practice." 

“I am delighted to see it go from strength to strength, as it continues to provide fantastic opportunities to engage and empower residents in Barking and Dagenham through the arts.

“And, with the Women’s Museum launch just around the corner, this is yet another brilliant addition to the arts and culture offer here in the borough.

Justine Simons OBE, Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries, said: 

“New Town Culture is a brilliant example of the transformative power of art and culture. With funding from City Hall, it has changed the lives of many people in social care and I’m delighted that it’s now focusing on youth justice services and launching the Women’s Museum. By using creativity to support young people, we are helping to build a better London for all.”

To date New Town Culture has led major new art commissions with artists including  Rory Pilgrim (Turner Prize nominated), Sonia Boyce, Gayle Chong Kwan and Amy Leung amongst many others, through collaborations with Serpentine Galleries, South London Gallery, Tate, Wigmore Hall and many community-based organisations in Barking and Dagenham including Greenshoes Arts and Arc Theatre.  For more information please visit the New Town Culture website.