Mark Williams, Deputy Chief Executive at HOLBA, highlights their Art of London initiative's success in revitalising West End’s as featured on the Public London Publication.

Heart of London Business Alliance (HOLBA) represents 600 businesses and property owners in London’s West End. We understand that championing cultural, artistic, and economic contributions is important not only to our members, but also to those who live, work, and visit the areas we represent.

Central to our mission of creating a world-class destination is how we activate public spaces. We continually strive to improve our approach, ensuring that the right voices are heard and that our projects reflect the needs of the area. We achieve this through extensive engagement with businesses, stakeholders, and communities, aligning diverse interests under a unified vision. One example of our efforts is our focus on cultivating cultural partnerships.

In 2021, we launched Art of London, a consumer initiative aimed at bringing the Heart of London’s leading cultural strategy to life. By bringing together artists, creatives, businesses, and some of the UK’s biggest cultural institutions, Art of London gathers the wonderful cultural activity across the West End and showcases a creative district brimming with inspiration at the epicentre of the global city of culture. The initiative celebrates art in all its forms, from what is created behind the legendary doors of our area’s institutions to the outdoor spaces, creating an exceptional ‘Gallery without Walls’.

Art of London became a primary driver post-pandemic, attracting new audiences back into the West End while highlighting our fantastic cultural institutions and brightening up our city.

As the UK emerged from lockdown, our first activation, the ‘Augmented Reality Gallery’, brought together the Royal Academy,National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, and Sky Arts to transform the West End into a giant open-air gallery trail, utilising groundbreaking technology to encourage visitors back into the area and enjoy art outdoors at a time when entering public buildings had to be cautiously managed.

Since then, we have delivered three summer seasons of public art. In our first season, we collaborated with established artists from the Royal Academy who painted vibrant street crossings, provided colourful flags, and transformed Piccadilly Circus into a giant open-air cinema. Moving on to our second season, we challenged emerging artists to respond to their idea of a ‘Brighter Future’, selecting three artists to display their works across the West End.

Last year, we launched our ‘Art After Dark’ event, combining activities both within our world-class galleries, including ‘Gallery Hop tours,’ and with public art activations. The initiative showcased some of the incredible cultural experiences that the Heart of London has to offer around the clock.

However, the power of Art of London lies in its partnerships. Over the past three years, we have worked to bring together arts institutions, artists, pop stars, brands, charities, and businesses to create a continuous program of activity that presents and complements the world-class area we represent.