About us

Stanley Arts is one of South London’s premiere arts and performance venues, providing our local community with a vital home for cultural expression and discovery. As a radically inclusive space we seek to foreground under-represented voices, providing artists of colour and LGBTQ+ creatives with a platform to reach out to audiences across South London and beyond.

Our Vision

Our Vision

Stanley Arts welcomes all audiences and all artists, but is particularly welcoming to communities that have previously been excluded from creative spaces.

Our artistic family includes the widest range of artists working in dance, music, theatre, performance, visual arts, and crafts. We seek to give emerging artists across all these art forms the opportunity to grow through innovation, collaboration and participation.

With a particular eye on the creative technologies of the future, we embrace opportunities to create and share work through digital media.

  • We stand up for our family.
  • We stand out from the crowd.
  • We stand proud of our heritage.
  • We stand together with our community.
  • We stand for Stanley.

 

Two male dancers embrace

Our History

Our History

Stanley Arts started life as a charity in 2013, named Stanley People’s Initiative. The organisation was established by the local community to take over management from Croydon Council of the two thirds of the historic Stanley Halls complex that was left behind when the Stanley Upper Hall and Clocktower were absorbed into the new Harris Academy. Since 2015 Stanley Arts has sought to revitalise, reimagine and restore the remaining parts of the Stanley Halls complex, staying true to the original vision of William Stanley; whilst reinterpreting it for a new century.

Stanley wished to promote Justice, Liberty and Science through the sharing of culture and art with the widest possible cross-section of local people. Stanley Arts aims to do the same, whilst preserving our unique buildings for future generations.

Read our full history
A photograph of the Stanley Halls complex from the 1920s

Our Board

Stanley Arts is a registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation and is led by its Board of Trustees. Our trustees are responsible for ensuring that Stanley Arts carries out its activities in line with its charitable objects. They are drawn from both the local community as well as further across London. Trustees are appointed for a three year term and the Board regularly reviews its skill profile against the skills needed for the charity’s good governance and the development of Stanley Arts as a leading arts organisation for South London. Trustee vacancies are advertised on the Get Involved page.

Cameron McLeod – Chair
Orlene Allen – Treasurer
Judith Burden – Secretary
Sharon Ballard
Richard Coopey
Sabrina D’Anjou

Claire Evans
Alex Green
Kimberley Thomas-Currie
Graham Whitlock
EM Williams

 

 

 

© 2023 Stanley Arts Charity No: 1155680