About Us
St Margaret’s House: a home for Creative Health
St Margaret’s House (SMH) is a community Arts and Wellbeing Centre in Bethnal Green. Established in 1889, we have a long history of serving our local community through a variety of different chapters. Most recently, since April 2023, we have received annual funding from Arts Council England as a National Portfolio Organisation to deliver our Creative Health Tree approach.
We’re a site with lots of different venues: The Gallery Cafe, Ayoka Charity Boutique, a beautiful garden, offices for 30 tenant organisations and practitioners, and event and workshop spaces that are available to hire.
We believe in the transformative power of the arts and community connection to impact people’s physical and mental health and wellbeing.
Our vision of the future:
Everyone is healthier through creativity and connection.
Our mission:
To deliver affordable and sustainable creative health practices for all, and spaces to come together.
We do this by:
curating unique, meaningful, free or low-cost creative activities, rooted in social change, to support health and wellbeing;
creating spaces that are safe and open where people can take part, shop sustainably and enjoy healthy food;
offering affordable offices for organisations and practitioners who provide additional services to our community and beyond;
giving support to emerging artists to refine their work and take creative risks;
defining creative health as the means by which creativity will become the heart of public health.
Our Values
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Encouraging innovation and experimentation in everything we do.
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Open and welcoming, empowering others to thrive. Working in partnership to respond to community need.
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Leading with humility, honesty, kindness and compassion. Nurturing the wellbeing of everyone.
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Giving our time, our space and our expertise to our community.
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Reflective and adaptable, encouraging others' contribution. Striving to be transparent and accountable.