East Bank residency programme for east London creatives.
East Bank SEEDED is an established, part-time, funded residency supporting creatives and creative thinkers to explore and grow ideas rooted in socially engaged practice. Delivered in collaboration with leading East Bank institutions, the programme offers time, space, and support to develop projects that engage with themes such as social justice, inclusion, accessibility, the built/natural environment, and community engagement.
Launched in 2023, SEEDED has since provided valuable opportunities for creative practitioners to collaborate with researchers, academics, and professionals from across the arts, culture, and education sectors.
Each year, 2 practitioners are selected as Creative Practitioners in Residence, one with each host institution. Over a 6-month period, residents are embedded within dynamic, interdisciplinary teams and supported in an environment that fosters collaboration, critical exchange, and mutual learning.
There is no fixed brief. Instead, residents shape their own ideas in dialogue with their host institution, guided by the programme’s core themes. Each residency concludes with a tangible creative output and a short reflective presentation on the process and experience.
East Bank is the UK’s largest cultural quarter located at the heart of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, comprising BBC Music Studios; London College of Fashion, UAL; Sadler’s Wells East; UCL (University College London) and V&A East. The SEEDED Residency is hosted by LCF and the Institute for Global Prosperity at UCL East. In the future, we hope to expand the programme to include residency places with each of the 5 East Bank partners.
LCF is one of 6 unique colleges that comprise University of the Arts London, offering over 60 undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, and 165 short courses in all things fashion, from business to design, image-making, technology, costume and curation. LCF is also home to centres of practice and research such as the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, Portal Centre for Social Impact and the Fashion Innovation Agency.
UCL East degrees and research programmes are designed to accelerate breakthroughs in areas including robotics and AI, ecology, sustainable cities, green manufacturing, decarbonised transport, assistive technology, fair finance, and global health. The Institute of Global Prosperity (IGP) at UCL is redesigning prosperity for the 21st century, changing the way we conceive and run our economies, and reworking our relationship with the planet.
2023/2024 Toyin is a multidisciplinary artist and PhD researcher, passionate about using creativity as a tool for justice and social change. Her background is in community organising and performing arts. She uses art activism in most of her work, such as writing poems about the exploitation of garment workers and waste colonialism. Find out more about Toyin’s work.
2024/2025 Kookie Blu is a vibrant extension of Cleo Thomas, a neurodivergent creative and visionary. She represents freedom of expression, boldness, and breaking the mould. Through Kookie Blu, Cleo uses storytelling, visual art, and performance to push boundaries and create space for others to see the beauty in difference.Read more about Kookie Blu’s residency.
SEEDED is open to creative practitioners and creative thinkers from any discipline – you do not need to be an artist or have a traditional creative practice to apply. Creative thinking, a desire to explore themes connecting your discipline and your community and a willingness to be inquisitive and to bring an openminded approach are equally important. It is worth noting that:
There are 3 stages to the application process:
Stage 1 - An initial written application
Stage 2 - A workshop for shortlisted applicants
Stage 3 - A final written application
Apply now
Applications opening soon.
Guidance notes
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