VISION
“Cohesive, creative communities thriving in Euston together”
We are on a journey of change at ODAC, building from our radical artistic history, the present needs of our local communities, and the fantastic potential of our centre.
Under new leadership and management since April 2021, we have been reiterating and redefining what ODAC can be, who we are and what we are aiming for.
The following is the work-in-progress of that, which we’ve agreed to look at again in 2023, as we make longer-term plans. Please have a read and let us know what you think, and if you’d like to be part of it!
Photograph of the Regent’s Park Estate Community Festival 2022, credit Zbigniew Kotkiewicz
MISSION
Old Diorama Arts Centre is a charity nurturing creative ecosystems.
Working in and around Euston, we’re an arts creation and community centre where the local, international and interdisciplinary intertwine. We produce the conditions needed for new collaborations to form, ideas to be brought to life and communities to thrive through creativity.
Our intertwining strands of programme are focussed on:
Affordable space for the live arts, creative industries and local communities to make, explore and meet.
Arts and social action projects for our local communities of Regent’s Park ward.
Interdisciplinary artistic development, as part of London’s Knowledge Quarter.
Photograph of the Regent’s Park Estate Community Festival 2022, credit Zbigniew Kotkiewicz
VALUES
WE CELEBRATE:
COLLABORATION
We believe that ideas are enhanced through exchange. Our activities and programmes are led and delivered in tandem with other organisations and individuals, ensuring they are led by and impact the people who need them most.
We are excited by collaborations across seemingly disparate disciplines, and believe the point of intersection between forms is the most fertile for new ideas.
We believe that multiple people’s brains, skills and experiences working together will always create the most innovative and impactful outcomes.
Photograph of 'We Too Shall See’ by Milk Presents, photo credit Zbigniew Kotkiewicz
EXPLORATION
Through all of our charity’s former buildings, we have always supported the creative process, and the current ODAC is a studios centre rather than a performance space.
We are a home for creation: for making, for the early stages of ideas, for taking risks and for seeing what happens without pressure.
We are a place where ideas are generated, and want to be a part of making those ideas become realities.
We challenge ourselves to do things differently and to learn through doing.
Photograph of ‘WITH ECHOES FILLING UP THE ORBIT, BUT DAMAGED by An* Neely and Moa Johansson, produced by Becky Plotnek, photo credit Matt Mahmood-Ogston
MULTIPLICITY
Across multiple sites, buildings and reinventions, ODAC has always been a home for lots of different people, projects, communities, art forms and practices.
We embrace and nurture variety in our users, our projects, our team, our collaborators. We love differences in opinion, experience, interests, forms, artistic tastes and community needs.
ODAC is a melting pot, a place to call one’s own for creative pursuits and where a new project might grow from a chance meeting.
We are different things to different people, in rooms next door to each other, and at different times of the day - and we celebrate that multiplicity and the diversity that it brings.
Photograph of the Highgate Black Women’s Wellness Group, photo credit Zbigniew Kotkiewicz
WE ARE:
COMMUNAL
We are a shared resource for the arts and Camden local communities that has been supporting London’s creative ecology since the 1970s.
We are central, but local: always located in the Regent’s Park ward of the London Borough of Camden, we exist for and because of this area and the people who live and work here.
We are open, flexible, adaptive, and led by the changing needs of our communities.
Photograph of ‘The Extinction Trilogy’ by Hester Stefan Chillingworth , photo credit Zbigniew Kotkiewicz
INDEPENDENT
We are an independent organisation that exists to support other independents – and we’re independently minded, supportive of others forging their own path.
Originally founded by a collective of artists occupying an under-used building, we exist through and encourage a Do-It-Yourself attitude to creativity, how we manage ourselves, and making the world we want to see.
We operate a social enterprise business model and are proud to be financially self-sustaining throughout our history.
Photograph of the Regent’s Park Estate Community Festival 2022, photo credit Zbigniew Kotkiewicz
INCLUSIVE
We want everyone, from all backgrounds and life experiences, to feel comfortable and supported at our centre - in our spaces, with our staff, and with our visitors.
We aim for our programmes, activities and their participants to attract, reflect, represent the diverse population of our local communities and vibrant city.
We have a long history of supporting marginalised artists and art forms, which we continue in our programmes today.
ODAC is a purpose-built flat floor centre, and we’re working towards being fully accessible for everyone’s needs.
