Stanley Arts aims to be 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.
The buildings of Stanley Halls were donated and designed for the local community by William Ford Robinson Stanley (1829-1909); a prominent local inventor, industrialist and philanthropist. Located in South Norwood, and adjacent to the school the red building offers a striking contrast to the local architecture, and has retained the original mission of providing a space for music, arts and performance for the local residents.
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.
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.