Bold Tendencies

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ID: a number of young school children are jumping between silver curved lines painted directly onto a concrete rooftop. In the background there are a number of colour artworks installed on the rooftop.

CREATIVE LEARNING

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

We work closely with groups and organisations in Peckham, Southwark and beyond, including schools and families, community centres, youth clubs, health and social services.

Designed in direct response to local needs and interests, we aim to maximise the degree to which groups and individuals access, inform and participate in our work, centring everyday creativity and community wellbeing.

☞ Sign up for Creative Learning updates.

☞ Fill out our Expression of Interest to book.

2026 CREATIVE LEARNING PROGRAMME

Creative Learning channels euphoria as a practice — an invitation to discover the extraordinary in learning together.

Backstage Pass sessions explore resilience and renewal with Oona Doherty and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Dance; synaesthesia and sound inspired by Olivier Messiaen with Trinity Laban Animate Artists Project; performance opportunities for local young people alongside Ben Okri; and SEND percussion workshops with The Colin Currie Group.

Ask the Artist sessions accompany all Visual Arts commissions, from robot building to love letters for Rye Lane.

A fourth year of the Creative Partnership with Groundwork London’s wellbeing hub, The Nest delivers a free summer programme for young people aged 11–16; our third Community Coffee Morning returns with Peckham charity Pecan; and the Bold Chorus performs a second year as part of Garland.

Collective gathering, self-initiated groups, play and discussion continues in Echoes of…, where visionary creatives and community organisers such as India Chambers, Casual Readers Book Club, interdisciplinary media artist and composer of Audio Visual Ensemble, Daniel Oduntan, and Headmaster of Freedom and Balance, Andre Anderson host space to test ideas, spark conversation, and respond creatively to the theme.

Bold Family Days take over the site on Sundays with creative activities from sculpture building to large mural making in collaboration with Frank Bowling Studio, and include free ice cream from Frank’s Cafe.

SEND family sessions and Public Rehearsals create spaces where discovery happens in real time and euphoria is experienced together, and new Creative Workshops revisit annual themes from across the 20 years.

For more information on our activities, please scroll down.

To get involved with our programme, please fill out the above form.

ACTIVITIES

Creative Workshops: bookable workshops for all ages that bring our site and artworks to life.

Ask the Artist: in person and online conversations with leading visual artists. 

Artist Placements: multi-session programmes led by contemporary artists in partner organisations.

Creative Partnerships: co-designed, cross-sector, summer-long creative programmes with Bold Tendencies.

Backstage Pass: one-of-a-kind creative sessions with live performers.

Public Rehearsals: behind-the-scenes access to world-class live performance. 

Community Coffee Morning: a social space for coming together over free tea, coffee and refreshments, followed by a tour of the Visual Arts Commissions.

Educators Curator Tour & Recce: insight and entry points into the art works content and site before bringing a group.

Echoes of…: holds space for testing ideas, sharing practice and activating the themes, ideas and materials within our Live Events programme.

It’s a fantastic opportunity for us to work with local community groups and organisations as well as world-class musicians and artists that enhance the cultural capital of our students exposing them to new music and ideas that they wouldn’t otherwise experience. For our students it also allows them to see people who look like them and represent them in creative fields.

– Secondary School Teacher, Harris Academy Peckham, 2025

It was more than just a cultural outing; it was a lively testament to music’s power as a universal language. For neurodiverse individuals and all of us, it was a joyful reminder of how music can connect, communicate, and inspire us all.

– Staff member, The Neurodiversity Family Hub, Backstage Pass: Mediterranean Youth Orchestra,  July 2024

I learnt that art comes in all different shapes and sizes and that there isn’t such a thing as good or bad art. Art doesn’t have to be something you can see clearly. It can be the way you interpret it.

– Coin Street Youth Group August, 2023

CREATIVE WORKSHOPS

Creative Workshops are available on and off site, and provide opportunities to explore Bold Tendencies through hands-on, site-specific creative activities.

We adapt each workshop, planning it according to the needs and interests of the participating group. Examples include:

Skyline Stories is a workshop rooted in imagination, comprising creative writing and observational drawing.

All Around Agora centres play: a series of trust and guidance exercises leads into participants coming up with their own games. 

Making Miniatures is based in the Derek Jarman Garden at Bold Tendencies. It focuses on nature, habitat vs. made-homes, and botany.

ASK THE ARTIST

Ask the Artist sessions mobilise the wide ranging and inspiring artists Bold Tendencies commission as part of their summer programme.

The sessions give local groups and individuals a chance to tour the site and engage in an informal and generative conversation with a visual artist.

Creating a space for critical thinking and exchange, the sessions are suited to a variety of audiences.

Photography by Jed Welland

ARTIST PLACEMENTS

Artist Placements partner leading contemporary artists with local community organisations and schools.

These multi-session programmes explore a particular subject relevant to the partner organisation and are designed to foster a space for collaboration and skills development.

For example, in 2023 Year 10 GCSE students at Harris Boys Academy East Dulwich were partnered with artist Jeremy Deller, exploring what art might look and feel like beyond the curriculum.

Workshops included household artistic interventions, debates, presentations and off-site visits to alternative art spaces.

 

Photography by Deniz Guzel

Rarely do students and teachers have the privilege of collaborating with artists of Jeremy Deller’s calibre. Thanks to the tireless efforts of Bold Tendencies and the invaluable contributions of Misty in her role as the Creative Learning Producer, the Art students I teach were granted an extraordinary opportunity. The impact of this project, though executed within a brief timeframe, has been profound and enduring. The students’ encounters with Jeremy Deller and the resulting discussions have ignited a newfound passion for the visual arts, a career path previously foreign to them. We are immensely grateful for the transformative experience of working with Bold Tendencies.

— Joseph Murrary, Head of Art, Harris Boys Academy East Dulwich

Creative Partnerships

Creative Partnerships expand and build upon our relationships with local organisations and community members.

In collaboration with the partner organisation, we work together to co-design summer-long programme of creative activity, incorporating workshops, activities and talks.

For 2026, we partner for the fourth year with The Nest – a wellbeing hub in Peckham for young people and families in Southwark.

Over 5 weeks, we will run weekly workshops with up to 20 young people between the ages of 11 – 16 years, from local Southwark schools.

Photography by Erez Molinas

BACKSTAGE PASS

Backstage Pass sessions offer the chance to gain behind the scenes access to world-class performing artists, working across a variety of disciplines.

Sessions are a unique opportunity to gain a deeper understanding and insight into the journey, ideas and lived experience of performers.

Each Backstage Pass consists of an element of live performance, followed by a facilitated Q&A and/or participatory workshop.

Usually, I am very apprehensive about attending events like this due to the fact I never feel they engage with both parents and young people equally. I was pleasantly surprised, as i found that both parents and young people including myself and my daughter were actively involved in the conversation and able to ask questions and take part in activities throughout.

— Parent, Backstage Pass with Caleb Femi, 2023

Community Coffee Mornings

Our Community Coffee Mornings are a social space for coming together with free tea, coffee and refreshments, followed by a tour of the Visual Arts Commissions. 

In 2024 we piloted two Community Coffee Mornings, partnering with the Parent Action Group and with Pecan who gave alongside refreshments, kindly provided by Franks Cafe.

This year we will be hosting a Community Coffee Morning in collaboration with Pecan on Thursday 4 June.

Echoes of…

Echoes of… is an expanded, multi‑session project that holds space for collective enquiry, gathering, and experimentation. Tethered to our Live Events programme and its accompanying Listening Room, each edition invites participants to engage critically and creatively with our annual theme – exploring the ideas, cultural figures, and discourses that shape the programme.

Each edition acts as an incubator for testing ideas and sharing practice – a live rehearsal of thought that culminates in a recorded sound montage, contributing to an evolving archive of response and reinterpretation.


PUBLIC REHEARSALS

Public Rehearsals are open invitations to see live performers in action.

Breaking down the barrier between audience and artist, community members are invited to witness the rehearsal process of world-renowned artists in a relaxed setting.

During rehearsals, audience members are free to move around as they need, allowing those with access requirements or those who may feel less at ease in traditional performance settings to experience and enjoy the arts in a comfortable space.

Photography by Dan John Lloyd

OUR 2026 CREATIVE LEARNING PROGRAMME IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY

Site by ON Bold Tendencies CIC is registered in England and Wales. Company No: 07662828. Vat No: 114047945.
Registered Office: 4 Holly Grove, London SE15 5DF
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