This summer, East Bank invites local residents, Londoners and visitors to discover a programme of events celebrating creativity and innovation. Taking place across Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the summer programme brings together East Bank’s cultural institutions, world leading universities and residents of east London, with music, dance, sport, art and more.
Activity includes:
East Bank is made up of UCL East and London College of Fashion, UAL (both opened Autumn 2023), Sadler’s Wells East (opening 2024), V&A East Museum and Storehouse and BBC Music Studios (opening 2025). This collaborative partnership is rooted in the diverse communities of east London, connecting people through immersive and interactive cross programming, activities, and career opportunities. It represents the biggest cultural investment from the Mayor of London and is supported by Foundation for Future London, the connecting charity of East Bank, along with Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the communities of the Olympic Boroughs.
Tamsin Ace, Director of East Bank, says:
“As we continue to celebrate London’s Olympic legacy, twelve years on from the Olympic and Paralympic Games, East Bank will continue to be a place for people to come together and enjoy the transformative power of culture, the arts, and innovation. For this very reason we are especially proud of the inaugural Summer Programme at East Bank. East Bank is all about collaboration, and for our first summer programme we are experimenting with all that is on offer in the area for an array of activity that truly reflects the East Bank spirit.”
Justine Simons OBE, Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries, says:
“It’s exciting to announce a vibrant summer of music, dance, sport and art, brought together by our capital’s leading cultural institutions at East Bank. With the Paris Olympics taking place across the Channel this summer, it’s a fantastic opportunity to celebrate our Olympic legacy at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Enriched by stunning new artworks reflecting our diverse creative talent, East Bank will be buzzing with entertainment for families, visitors and locals alike, as we build a better and more prosperous London for everyone.”
In celebration of its ten-year anniversary, the annual Great Get Together returns to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on Saturday 15 June. This free community event brings together local residents, families, and friends through entertaining activities across music, dance, arts, sports, and food. Main stage performances, activities and workshops will be provided from all five East Bank partners alongside the Park’s community partners. From electrifying performances to interactive workshops and different cuisines, there is something for everyone. Friends and families are invited to celebrate East London, East Bank, and honour London’s Olympic legacy as the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games approach. The Great Get Together is supported by Foundation for Future London’s Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund, funded by Westfield Stratford City.
Explore technologies and breakthroughs in popular culture that will inspire the next generation of creators and problem solvers, as UCL’s celebration of 150 years of advancements in engineering at the university comes to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
London College of Fashion (LCF), UAL, a global leader in fashion education, will host its annual undergraduate presentation and exhibition, LCF Undergraduate Class of 2024 (LCF24), this July. Featuring work from LCF’s design, communication and business schools, LCF designers will demonstrate how they look beyond the traditional notions of fashion to imagine a new and exciting future. Visitors will have an unparalleled glimpse into the future of fashion through the mediums of design, film, photography and more.
In July, new Made in east London commissioned artworks will go on display across V&A East Museum’s exterior, created by artists 18-year-old Marley Robson and 20-year-old Dani Novis. The artworks are the winning commissions from a collaborative programme between V&A East and BeauBeaus, a community-first café in Whitechapel owned by artist Slawn and his family. V&A East invited BeauBeaus Art Club to respond to the theme Made in east London, and V&A East curatorial, brand and campaigns teams worked together with artist Teoni Hinds to support the art club’s members to develop their responses to be considered for the paid commissions. This is both Marley and Dani’s first public artwork commission.
Sadler’s Wells presents the Hip Hop Games on Stratford Waterfront this summer. On Saturday 3 August, 8 east London dancers will compete across two teams in a hip hop dance improvisation game with a series of different creative challenges. BBC 1Xtra will present a range of DJs for this interactive event which sees audiences have their say on the winning team.
Academy Breakin’ Convention (ABC), located at East Bank partner Sadler’s Wells East, will offer a free full-time further education programme for creative and talented 16-19 year olds, covering the foundations of hip hop theatre. ABC is running ‘Summer Sessions’ where audiences can learn the foundations of hip hop theatre for free. Across 4 high impact days, ABC will break down the basics of Breaking, DJing, Emceeing, Graffiti, Music Production, Popping and Hip Hop Social Dance, exploring these elements through a theatrical lens. Suitable for ages 14-17.
As Breaking makes its debut in this year’s Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Sadler’s Wells is inviting visitors to watch the Breaking Olympic Programme at a live watching party, accompanied by DJs from BBC 1Xtra. Breaking is a dance form which is celebrated across East Bank, driven by Academy Breakin’ Convention at East Bank partner Sadler’s Wells East.
East Bank partner BBC Music Studios will be present at All Points East Festival in Victoria Park. On 21st August, BBC 1Xtra will programme the ultimate 'Amplify Your Music Career' seminar, just before its mainstage takeover. Young attendees will discover the power of social media for musicians, artists, producers, and more - learning how to skyrocket their career and online presence with TikTok, Instagram, and X. Then the 1Xtra DJs take over the main stage with nostalgic beats and black music hits with a potential surprise guest or two.
This year, East Bank is proud to partner with Greenwich+Docklands International Festival (GDIF) on their iconic annual programme of outdoor dance, Dancing City. TOUCH will be presented as part of Dancing City and combines the use of a theatrical flight of stairs and gravity-defying trampoline choreography, for which French dancer and choreographer Yoann Bourgeois has become renowned following viral performances and recent choreographic collaborations with Harry Styles, P!nk and Missy Elliott. This UK premiere will be performed to an extraordinary electro-synth Daft Punk soundtrack at Stratford Cross.
As new Stratford residents, Sadler’s Wells joins Greenwich+Docklands International Festival's Dancing City as a regular programming partner, this year co-presenting Out of the Box by The Netherlands-based company 100Hands. Out of the Box is a raw, physical and acrobatic performance for audiences of all ages, which sees a group of performers jostling for space in a human-size box. The performance is a light-hearted reflection on times of adaptation, keeping our distance and, above all, an ode to the creativity you can find within limitations.
The full programme of free Dancing City events across the Park will also be announced shortly.
This summer, visitors can enjoy three public art commissions across East Bank which will be unveiled across the summer:
UCL East (University College London) also have three publicly accessible artworks in their new UCL East Marshgate campus and One Pool Street:
These works are also part of a wider public art offering at UCL East, the UCL East Public Art Collection which is a permanent art collection with a range of work from UCL Slade Art School graduate students both past and present. Exhibitions include:
The inaugural exhibition in the UCL Culture Lab in the Marshgate building on the new UCL East campus has been made by a team of curators, researchers, students and community partners to explore the meaning of power through the divers collections at University College London alongside everyday objects from our homes and communities. Explore the exhibition and plan your visit using this link.