Created in partnership with Ealing Road and Alperton Creative Enterprise Zone (ERA CEZ) and Brent London Borough of Culture 2020 (LBOC 2020), Brent Creates, is a platform which celebrates, supports and grows Brent’s Creative and Cultural Industries.
As one of the most diverse boroughs in London, with almost 2/3 of the population being from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, Brent is bursting with creative and cultural richness and is increasingly becoming a hotspot destination to access arts and culture. This platform will further position Brent as a hub of creative innovation and help boost the local creative economy by supporting Brent based talent.
In July 2023, the Mayor of London officially declared Ealing Road and Alperton (ERA) a Creative Enterprise Zone (CEZ)! Creative Enterprise Zones are areas of London with significant creative potential which aim to provide creatives with long-term, affordable workspaces, whilst supporting new businesses to start-up and grow, and local people to learn creative sector skills and access pathways to employment.
ERA Is on the path to deliver all of that!
The Creative Enterprise Zone will build on the success of the thriving South Asian fashion and jewellery scene in Ealing Road, paired with the redevelopment of nearby Alperton, the second largest growth area in Brent!
“Brent is truly a creative hub with so much talent and creativity to offer.”
Brent 2020 London Borough of Culture was a yearlong collaborative creative and cultural programme, which was a catalyst for Brent to rethink its approach to culture, ensuring all communities have access to rich cultural experiences. During the programme, a framework evolved which helped to structure the borough’s ambitions and has influenced the aims of the Brent Creatives platform. These have been broadly grouped into 4 areas:
Pride: To amplify the often unheard and under-recognised voices of Brent through platforming the rich social and cultural heritage of Brent past and present and set a more representative narrative in defining Brent’s future.
Skills: To develop the skills, capacities and capabilities of Brent’s people and communities, and especially young people, that strengthens and empowers them to make Brent the best place to live, work and study.
Infrastructures: To harness Brent’s assets in the material and social realm and breathe creativity into places and spaces that reach all corners of society, particularly for those who face barriers to engagement.
Movements: To catalyse change through empowering people and communities to have agency within and ownership of setting the vision and value systems for a culturally confident Brent that in turn creates attitudinal shifts from Council policy to community practice.
