It all starts Here
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How does creativity shape urban design and placemaking? Not just the look and feel of a neighbourhood, but the kind of energy that draws major institutions to a place.
Recorded live at Here East’s It all starts Here event during SXSW London, Georgina Godwin chairs a conversation with three people at the forefront of that question: Gus Casely-Hayford, Director of V&A East, fresh from the museum's triumphant opening in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park; Tamsin Ace, Director of East Bank, the organisation coordinating one of Europe's most ambitious cultural districts; and Richard Broom of Jason Bruges Studio, whose immersive public installations — from Wembley underpasses to international stages — turn data and code into experiences that stop people in their tracks.
Together they explore what it means to build institutions that don't just serve their communities but genuinely reflect them. Casely-Hayford speaks candidly about publicly funded spaces whose benefits flow almost exclusively to those who need them least — and how V&A East was shaped, from its earliest conversations with over 30,000 young people, to be different. Ace makes the case for cultural ecosystems over standalone institutions, pointing to East Bank's joint programming around black British music as proof that collaboration produces something none of them could achieve alone. Broom asks the question that underpins all public art: what happens when you remove the barriers between creativity and the people it was always meant for?
In this episode, you’ll learn:
How a major publicly funded museum — V&A East — was designed from the ground up to serve communities that cultural institutions have historically ignored, and what that process actually looked like in practice.
Why individual flagship buildings are no longer enough, and how East Bank's model of collaborative programming is redefining what a cultural district can achieve.
What it takes to make public art that genuinely belongs to everyone — and how designers like Jason Bruges Studio are using technology to dissolve the invisible barriers between creativity and public life.
Watch the episode on YouTube below, or listen via your preferred podcast app.
