Jacksons Lane starts redevelopment into state-of-the-art centre for performance, participatory arts & contemporary circus

Photo credit: Citizens Design Bureau

Following the receipt of substantial funding from Arts Council England and Haringey Council, North London creative space Jacksons Lane has started its ambitious redevelopment programme, which will transform the building into a state-of-the-art centre for contemporary circus, community engagement and events.

For the last eight weeks, Jacksons Lane has welcomed circus artists to rehearse and create new work free of charge to support them during the pandemic. This has resulted in the donation of over 1,200 of in-kind time and development space and as such, 36 new contemporary works have emerged.

The building is due to reopen in September 2021 after a ten-month redevelopment. However, the venue will remain active in the community off site and will be fundraising in order to equip and fit out the new building.

Artistic Director and joint CEO, Adrian Berry, said: “It has been a thrilling and fitting way to spend the last couple of months, with a building full of world-beating circus artists creating new work, despite the world being in chaos. I am grateful to the ACE Emergency fund for helping us provide this opportunity to these artists. It was the perfect end to the building’s most recent chapter, before it embarks on the next part of its exciting journey to become the UK’s best equipped and world-renowned centre for contemporary circus. We look forward to welcoming the artists and the public back into the building in September next year.”

Executive Director and joint CEO, Monique Deletant, said: “Whilst we are truly grateful for all the funding we have managed to secure to date, we acknowledge that these are (to put it mildly) challenging times for our industry and that we are incredibly lucky to be in this position at this time. We’re closing temporarily, and for positive reasons. However we hope that good news is also welcome right now, and we will have funds to raise to complete our vision. We look forward to keeping in touch and continuing to help artists, audiences and the community throughout this period and to welcoming everyone back through our doors when the work is done.”                                 

For details of the redevelopment programme, click here