Bold Tendencies

BOLD TENDENCIES

Bold Tendencies is a not-for-profit arts organisation. Established in the rooftop spaces of Peckham’s Multi-Storey Car Park it has transformed a disused building in the heart of South London into an iconic, much-loved place of culture and assembly.

Bold Tendencies is for everyone. More than 1.5 million people have enjoyed our summer seasons, celebrating the free enjoyment of public space in the city and enjoying this special spectacular place.

Bold Tendencies delivers an ambitious annual artistic programme of Visual Arts, Creative Learning and Live Events. Each annual programme brings to life a major theme: a series of responses from a new generation of voices alongside acclaimed international artists in visual art, music, dance, opera, poetry and readings. This allows for multiple entry points for the public, artists and audiences, as well as placing our work in conversation with wider cultural happenings and urgent conversations.

Our year-round Creative Learning programme of free and accessible initiatives foster space for local groups and individuals to imagine, create, appreciate the arts, and exercise the right to joy.

Working closely with groups and organisations in Peckham, Southwark and beyond – schools and family/community centres, youth clubs and health/social services. Celebrating enjoyment, inspiration and experimentation, our activities centre everyday creativity and community wellbeing.

Live Events at Bold Tendencies challenge and expand established boundaries between audience and artist, stage and seat. Deliberately preserving the raw fabric of over 40,000 sq ft of space, the peculiar conditions of this unlikely “concrete concert hall” defy traditional categorisation. An alternative to the mainstream, a world-class programme of music, dance, opera and readings brings the marginal centre stage, with broad and popular appeal.

Recognised internationally for transformative contributions to the landscape of live performance in the UK and abroad, Bold Tendencies brings radical practices, new generations of talent, learning opportunities and sought-after disciplines to Peckham.

Unafraid to pursue the radical, it works with some of the most adventurous artists of the younger generation – including Caleb Femi, Jay Bernard, Davóne Tines, and Oona Doherty – bringing audiences fresh practices and sought-after disciplines at a world class level. Long-term creative partnerships include Sharon Eyal and L-E-V, The Multi-Story Orchestra, the Philhamonia Orchestra and Loud Crowd Opera.

The Live programme looks to address barriers to the enjoyment of culture through the provision of affordable tickets and empowering experiences for local residents, children and young people, including free Public Rehearsals, Community Tickets, Backstage Pass and Ask the Artist sessions.

OUR TEAM

Artistic Director & Chief Executive
Hannah Barry (she/her)

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Hannah Barry studied History of Art at the University of Cambridge and started her work in Peckham in 2006. She founded Bold Tendencies as a not for profit project in 2007. She was awarded an MBE in 2022 for Services to Contemporary Arts in London.
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Creative Director & Deputy Chief Executive
Diana Cordoba Barrios (she/her)

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Diana studied at the Universidad de las Americas Puebla, Mexico. From 2006 she worked at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice where she became an Intern Coordinator, running the prestigious Guggenheim Internship Programme. She was selected by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation to run the USA Pavilion for the 53rd and 54th Art Venice Biennale. She designed and delivered educational programmes with USA Pavilion partner museums including Indianapolis Museum of Art, Ponce Museum, Puerto Rico, Bronx Museum of Art, New York.
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Head of Operations & Production
Tom Kelly (he/him)

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A graduate of Royal Academy of Music specialising in performance (cello), Tom has always had a passion for live events whether on stage or off. Tom began freelancing in 2010 as a Stage and Production Manager for a variety of concert halls and production companies in London, including Kings Place, Roundhouse and Spitalfields Music. This led to taking on the role of Orchestral Manager for The Multi-Story Orchestra in 2015 before joining the Bold Tendencies team as Site and Production Manager in 2016. In 2020 Tom brought the responsibility of Safeguarding Officer into his role.
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Senior Curator & Producer: Visual Arts
Charlie Mills (he/him)

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Charlie Mills is a curator and writer based in London. He has worked on the Visual Arts programme at Bold Tendencies since 2017 in parallel with his role as Artist Liaison at Hannah Barry Gallery. Charlie curates and produces independent exhibitions and writes for a number of international galleries and artists, as well as conducting regular artists interviews. Charlie is a founding member of Collective Ending HQ, a collectively run gallery and studio complex in Deptford, South London. He graduated with a Bachelors in History of Art and a Masters in Cultural Studies from Goldsmiths College.
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Senior Curator & Producer: Creative Learning
Misty Ingham (she/her)

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Misty Eden Ingham graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London with a degree in Education, Culture & Society, and later earned a Master’s in Arts Education from ArtEZ University of the Arts in the Netherlands. For over nine years, she has worked as a freelance curator, producer, and facilitator, specialising in arts pedagogy and socially engaged practice. Her portfolio includes collaborations with 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Queens Collective Marrakech, University of the Arts London, Theatre Peckham, Livesey Exchange, and the London Design Festival. From 2020 to 2023, Misty was Learning Curator at Drawing Room, where she led the Rock Paper Scissors programme and co-curated the Drawing in Social Space knowledge exchange project. She currently serves on the advisory board for Drawing Room and on the steering committee for the international Artist Educator Master’s programme at ArtEZ University.
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Associate Curator: Live Events
Riccardo Pillon (they/them)

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Riccardo Pillon is a curator and art historian working at the intersection of art, fashion and identity. They are Director & Head of Exhibitions at Hannah Barry Gallery, London. At Bold Tendencies, London, they work closely with renowned dance companies and choreographers such as Sharon Eyal | Gai Behar and BULLYACHE. They have collaborated with The Venice International Art Exhibition (La Biennale di Venezia), The Venice International Film Festival, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and MoMA. They hold an MA in Fashion Curation from The UAL London College of Fashion and a BA in Contemporary Art History from Ca’ Foscari University in Venice.
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OUR BOARD

Helen Newman (she/her)

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Helen is a lawyer with a city background and reputation for advising clients in the luxury, fashion and art sectors on the creation, protection, exploitation, monetisation of and international deals centred on intellectual property rights. Previously international head of IP, Competition and Projects at Simmons & Simmons, partner at CMS Cameron McKenna Navarro Olswang and director of Stella McCartney Limited since its foundation.
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Linda Hewson (she/her)

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Linda Hewson is a Co-Founder, Creative Strategist and Professional Coach who has a rich experience in all aspects of creative retailing and supporting businesses on their future vision and purpose systems. Linda worked at Selfridges and Selfridges Group for over 20 years where she was responsible for the initiation of many globally recognised initiatives and campaigns. Prior to her professional career she studied Fine Art in a Community Context, and is now the Co-Founder of a Creative and Strategy network called Vividus London.
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Ronojoy Dam (he/him)

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Ronojoy is the Senior Vice President, Creative at Burberry. He has spent his career growing luxury and culture businesses through transformative stages, holding creative and brand marketing leadership roles at Dazed, Farfetch and Nike. British-Bengali, born and raised in East London, he graduated from Cambridge University in English. He has attended Bold Tendencies every year since it began.
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Zia Zareem-Slade (she/her)

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Formerly the Chief Creative Officer at Hauser & Wirth, Zia led the global creative, marketing and digital teams, overseeing the brand identity, online presence, and guest engagement. Zia has over 18 years extensive experience in the luxury and retail sectors, having worked as the Customer Experience Director at Fortnum & Mason and Head of Online at Selfridges. She is an Ambassador for Rooprai Spinal Trust.
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OUR BUILDING

Peckham Multi-Storey Car Park was commissioned in 1980 by Sainsbury’s Supermarkets. Designed and eventually built in 1982 by their internal Architect and Engineers Department, the 700-space car park stood with exposed concrete frame and brick cladding, very much the brutal style of its day.

The car park was built to cater for customers of a brand new style of self-service supermarket located at the front of the building, replacing the traditional counter-store branch that had operated on their Peckham site since 1931 (now Clark’s Shoe Shop, Rye Lane), the last ever Sainsbury’s counter service.

In November 1982 the counter shop closed. On the last day of the same month, its replacement supermarket opened its doors to the public. With a sales area of 17,094 sq ft, it was eight times the size of the old store.

After 10 years operating on this site, Sainsbury’s moved to its present site on Dog Kennel Hill in 1992. Two years later in 1994, the original site was transformed into a cinema – Peckhamplex – which has occupied the space of the former Peckham supermarket ever since.

From that moment on, the adjoining car park fell into underuse, if not complete disuse and the top four floors were eventually closed to public access.

Derelict until 2007, Bold Tendencies was founded in spring of that year. Established on the top 4 floors of the car park, the not-for-profit organisation has since developed a full summer season of site-specific visual art commissions and new architecture, and produces an ambitious live events programme of music, opera, dance and literature from May to September every year.

In 2009 Bold Tendencies commissioned Frank’s Cafe as its first architectural project, designed and built by Practice Architecture(founded by Paloma Gormley and Lettice Drake who were still students at the time). Conceived as a place to sit and refresh on site it was run by local bartender Frank Boxer and chef Michael Davies (who met working at the Anchor & Hope in Waterloo).

Since 2009 Frank’s Cafe – with its iconic retractable red tarpaulin roof – has been an integral part of the Bold Tendencies summer season. It offers brunch, lunch and dinner, all made to order on-site and focussed on simplicity and seasonality.

Following the success of Bold Tendencies, in 2015 Southwark Council made the decision to repurpose the remaining levels of the car park and tendered for proposals for the space. Peckham Levels were appointed to operate Floors 1 – 6 of the car park, providing creative workspaces and a public floor for independent food and beverage vendors.

In 2017, in consultation with Bold Tendencies and following a 5,000-strong community petition Southwark Council reached an agreement to take the car park off their core borough redevelopment plan, confirming the changed use and long-term cultural purpose of the building. Bold Tendencies was guaranteed a life-time lease for the top four floors of the former car park.

Bold Tendencies continues to operate an annual summer programme of visual art and live events on Levels 7 – 10 of the car park with Frank’s Cafe providing refreshments for visitors.

ENVIRONMENT POLICY

We have reached a defining moment in the history of our planet. Bold Tendencies acknowledges the climate and ecological emergency is one of the greatest challenges of our time. We are a public institution committed to supporting artists to create bold, radical new work for a broad and diverse cross-section of communities, and as a result environmental thinking must play a key role in who we are and what we do.

We are determined to understand our position and the actions we can take – both immediately and in the long term – to address the organisation’s impact on the environment. This includes but is not limited to increasing the sustainability of our work, reducing our emissions and carbon footprint, improving green infrastructure and reviewing ways of working, in particular how we programme and produce our annual summer season.

Bold Tendencies has reviewed Southwark Council’s Climate Strategy and Action Plan, and is a member of the Gallery Climate Coalition, an international community of arts organisations working to reduce our sector’s environmental impacts. Our environmental policy takes a prominent place in all our operations and we pledge to continually examine our systems, values and programmes to find ways to become more adaptive, more responsible and greener organisation.

☞ Bold Tendencies Environment Policy.

BOLD TENDENCIES

OUR TEAM

SUMMER TEAM

OUR BOARD

OUR BUILDING

ENVIRONMENT POLICY