London to create new art quarter

The City of London Corporation and major arts organizations in the Square Mile announced on Friday ambitious plans to create a new art quarter for the historic city. The northern border of the city of London will be the home to a new Culture Mile, according to CLC, the local municipal authority.

The Culture Mile will feature a new museum covering London and its history and a new music center that will have the capacity to be a major venue for visiting orchestras. The area is already home to the Barbican Arts Center with two concert halls, two theaters, an art gallery and cinemas, as well as the Museum of London, the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and London Symphony Orchestra's St Luke's venue.

In addition, the area has a rich heritage ranging from the Roman period through medieval churches and ancient crafts groups to distinguished contemporary buildings by leading architects.

"Now is the time to draw all this history, innovation and achievement together in a major initiative, as the arts, heritage and culture organizations in the northwest of the City ... come together to launch Culture Mile, a major destination for the culture of today in the heart of London's financial district," says Nicholas Kenyon, managing director of the Barbican Arts Center.

"With the exciting major development of the new Museum of London in West Smithfield, and the ambitious vision to create a new Center for Music ... we have the potential to work with stakeholders and partners to redefine the role of the City for future generations," Kenyon adds.

The area has traditionally been the home of offices of major financial institutions such as the Stock Exchange and of global financial giants like Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank.

CLC policy chairman Catherine McGuinness says the aim is to make London "admired as much for being a world-class cultural destination as for its position as a leading global financial center".

"There is no doubt that Culture Mile will transform the area and in the face of Brexit send a signal to the world that London is... a welcoming, open and resolutely internationalist city."