SPACE

Bow Lives 2004

March 2004 In March 2004, SPACE Media Arts was commissioned by the Tower Hamlets Housing Action Trust to produce a video celebrating 10 years of its local regeneration inititiatives. The video document observed the impact of THHAT's programmes and initiatives on the local community and interviewed local residents, councillors and THHAT staff. Housing Action Trusts (HATs) were set up under the provisions of the Housing Act 1988 to regenerate some of the most deprived local authority estates in England. HATs are non-departmental public bodies, each managed by a board appointed by the Deputy Prime Minister. The boards include residents elected as representatives of the estates and members of the local authority. SPACE Media Arts anticipates future video commissions from local government partnerships and community organisations in the Bow and Hackney neighbourhoods and has been in dialogue with potential clients. As the area is coming under greater scrutiny as a consequence of London's bid for the 2012 Olympics, we would like to be able to illuminate the transformations as well as the specific character of this historic and ethnically diverse part of East London with the resources, experience and creative network available to us at SPACE.