Riverside Studios enters administration process

Image above: Riverside Studios at Hammersmith

Hit by a post Covid reduction in revenue streams and the cost of living crisis

The Riverside Studios in Hammersmith has begun the process of entering administration. The famous arts centre beside Hammersmith Bridge was only opened in December 2019, having been relocated from the historic site on Crisp Road where David Bowie and the Sex Pistols performed and TV series such as Dixon of Dock Green and Hancock’s Half Hour were recorded before that.

The new centre boasted “the most modern, state of the art TV studio there is”, with flexible spaces for theatre and exhibitions and two cinemas, opening with Ingmar Bergman’s Persona, with Olivier award winner Alice Krige and Nobuhle Ketelo, but it opened its doors just as Covid emerged to shut everything down.

The board of the Riverside Trust said it had filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators, saying they faced “eye-watering” energy bills and crippling debt.

The new building was not funded on the old model of local authority and Arts Council funding, but on the new developer-led model, whereby Mount Anvil. working with A2 Dominion, built an entirely new venue with 165 residential flats in addition to the five studios and two cinemas.

Image above: Anatol Yusef and Elizabeth McGovern in ‘AVA: The Secret Conversations’ at Riverside Studios; photograph Marc Brenner

Weighed down with debt from the outset

It started life with £25 million of debt to pay off, on the eve of a series of lockdowns, with the closure of public spaces, leading into a cost of living crisis.

The Riverside Trust have received some help from public funds: three grants, totalling £1,875,000, from the government’s culture recovery fund. and £927,000  “emergency resource support” from the Arts Council England, as a culturally significant organisation considered to be “at imminent risk of failure”.

The Trust has said opening when it did, it has been hard to rebuild revenue streams. The nail in the coffin has been a 300% increase in energy costs.

At the beginning of the year Riverside Studios launched a campaign for donations, ‘Rally for the Riverside’ saying:

‘2023 is our 40th anniversary as a charity and we’re aiming to raise £500,000 by the end of next year’ so they could deliver their planned artistic programme and their community programme.

“We Need Cash Now.” This was our fundraising campaign ‘strapline’ from the early 80’s when we launched an urgent appeal to keep Riverside afloat. Now, nearly 40 years later, we once again need you to Rally for Riverside.

‘With the cost-of-living crisis, our Covid Relief Funding running out by the end of the year and the ongoing impact of the pandemic, we urgently need your support so that we can continue serving our community with a bold, iconic artistic programme which is accessible to everyone.’

Lucinda MacPherson

Heritage and arts communications consultant Lucinda MacPherson, who lives within walking distance of the Studios and goes there a lot, told us she was “gutted to hear this important multimedia arts centre is at risk.

“I was there just last night for a screening of Little English, a South Asian RomCom, followed by an enlightening question and answer session with the director Pravesh Kumar and  cast and crew – all South Asian, a rare, if not unique, spectacle due to the reluctance to fund these sort of feature films.

“Riverside Studios have always been at the vanguard of supporting low budget, highly creative arts and international films.  I’ve been going there for decades, enjoying an eclectic, but always thought provoking, range of cultural activities including international festivals, and seminal theatre stagings with our greatest actors as well as international productions shaking up well worn classics.

Image above: Screening of Little English, with panel discussion after, at Riverside Studios on the day of the announcement

“Recently they have introduced one hour theatre at reasonable rates, attracting new audiences to sparkling young talent.

“As for  art exhibitions – Yoko Ono’s exhibition in 1990 still holds a place in my heart for her memorable bottoms – having a photographic memory can be a blessing and a curse –  and whimsically inviting visitors to climb a stepladder from which to view clouds framed by a skylight.

“I do hope someone steps in and saves this treasure – maybe Dr Who (who filmed there) could put his vast temporal powers and problem solving skills to save them?”

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See also: Pitchblack Playback at Riverside Studios

See also: Elizabeth McGovern on Ava Gardner

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