East London’s dynamic home for creativity, grassroots music and independent film, Rich Mix announces the transformation of its building in the heart of Tower Hamlets with a £2.2 million capital investment from Arts Council England and lead support from the Aldgate & Allhallows Foundation of £100,000 and from City Bridge Foundation of £150,000.
A new leadership approach will carry the charity into its next chapter with a twentieth anniversary programme to celebrate the sounds, stories and communities that have defined Rich Mix since it opened its doors in 2006. Together, these announcements signal Rich Mix’s ambition to be at the heart of East London’s vibrant cultural community for future generations.
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Left: Architect’s visualisation of the new entrance on Redchurch Street, and right: the new lower ground floor on Bethnal Green Road
Over £2M in investment to transform its East London building
Rich Mix has been awarded £2.2 million in capital funding from Arts Council England Creative Foundations Fund, to transform its Shoreditch building into a more welcoming, accessible cultural space. Additional funding is received from the Aldgate & Allhallows Foundation, City Bridge Foundation, The Clothworkers Foundation and Cockayne.
The investment will fund a major ground-floor redevelopment, creating a new entrance onto Redchurch Street alongside the existing Bethnal Green Road access, physically connecting Rich Mix’s local and diverse communities with the wider city. Essential upgrading of building works will address longstanding infrastructure needs, improving energy efficiency and long-term financial sustainability.
The transformed ground floor will offer greater flexibility across café, bar, events and hireable spaces, unlocking new income streams to support its programme. This will be a new, more open, welcoming space that local communities can walk into, see themselves reflected in, and feel they belong to.
Flexible foyer and exhibition spaces will provide a platform for Creative Engagement and Artist Development programmes, turning the building into a vibrant, visible showcase for the creativity and ambitions of East London. Accessibility is central to the design, with improvements including a Changing Places WC, acoustic and visual enhancements and improved signage.
A design and project management team have been appointed to carry out the works, and planning will now begin to coordinate the works, which will take place over 18 months.
Rich Mix CEO Judith Kilvington said: “This funding is a vote of confidence in what Rich Mix represents and what it can become for its next 20 years. We are rooted in one of London’s most ethnically diverse communities, and this transformation will ensure that even more people can create, share and experience culture here.”
New leadership structure to shape Rich Mix’s next chapter
Rich Mix is announcing a new leadership structure representing the communities it serves. This includes supporting new generations of artistic leaders to succeed and introducing a new artistic leadership model, guided by an Artistic Advisory Board, a Youth Board, and its Board of Trustees.
As part of this, Rich Mix will appoint a new role of Creative Director to develop their creative vision for Rich Mix, alongside a new Executive Director, as it enters an exciting period and looks ahead to its next twenty years. These appointments mark a key moment in its 20th year, coinciding with the physical transformation of the building and a renewed sense of ambition for what Rich Mix can be.
Current Rich Mix CEO Judith Kilvington will step down later this year after a smooth transition process. Kilvington has led Rich Mix since 2019, bringing visionary leadership to the organisation and expanding its ambition well beyond its role as a multi-arts venue. During her tenure, Rich Mix has grown its Creative Engagement programme for young people in East London, widened its audiences, developed future creative leaders from the Global Majority, and driven the successful capital campaign.
Judith Kilvington, CEO, said: “It’s been a privilege to serve as CEO of Rich Mix for seven years and to work with so many talented artists, leaders and community members. Rich Mix is so much more than an arts centre; it is a free, shared, democratic public space for anyone passionate about how we build bridges between the many cultures and communities of East London, and London as a whole. With the capital development secured, I feel now is the right time to pass on the baton so that this representative leadership model can fly.”
Rich Mix at Twenty: celebrating the past, shaping the future
As Rich Mix turns twenty in 2026, this milestone arrives at a moment of transformation for the organisation, its building and its community.
Rich Mix – 20 years in numbers
2.5 million+ Audiences
62,000+ film screenings
10,000 live events
150,000 Artists supported
120,000 Children, young people and community groups have taken part in Creative Engagement projects
Incubated 200+ creative organisations that have called Rich Mix home
Left: Credit Nigel Wooding Photography Right: Credit William Adoasi
Rich Mix was conceived in the early 1990s as a direct response to cultural and racial polarisation in East London, established by a group of local councillors, activists and artists. Rich Mix opened its doors in 2006 to bring communities together through arts and culture. Over two decades, Rich Mix has been a creative home for East London’s most innovative businesses and a launchpad for emerging Global Majority talent.
To mark the anniversary, Rich Mix will deliver a co-curated programme of music, film, exhibitions and talks exploring the connections between its own history and the underground cultures that have defined East London and continue to shape activism and identity in the community today.
A new documentary, drawing on oral history portraits of key early stakeholders and co-created with young people, will premiere in Autumn 2026 with funding support of £50,000 from the Aldgate & Allhallows Foundation. A permanent multimedia exhibition will open alongside the transformed building, a lasting legacy of where Rich Mix has come from, and a bold statement of where it is going.
Kate McLaughlin and Sangna Chauhan, Co-Chairs, said: “The architectural transformation of this iconic building and the evolution of its leadership are key to Rich Mix’s future. Under Judith’s strategic leadership, Rich Mix has reached wider audiences and deepened its impact in East London, nurturing creative talent amongst so many young people living in our local communities. She has steered the charity through significant challenges, including the pandemic and inflationary pressure and at the same time sown the seeds for a new creative direction, as we look ahead to the next twenty years. The charity is a significant asset to the local community, and we will continue to shape and develop its vision, mission, values, artistic direction and sustainable business model, to be creatively bold and genuinely transformative.”
