Southbank Centre

Young people in the UK are facing a mental health crisis – and there’s no shortage of evidence that creativity and culture is a powerful intervention. After speaking at the Labour Party Conference 2025, the Southbank Centre’s Artistic Director, Mark Ball, shares his reflections and calls for an ongoing commitment to ensure culture plays a fundamental role in bolstering the health of the nation.

It is our pleasure to announce Sukhy Johal MBE as the inaugural chair of the Arts Council Collection 🎨 Sukhy is an accomplished Chair, Director and Executive with a history of leading large-scale cultural organisations, including operating as Chair of the Midlands Area for Arts Council England’s National Council. He brings his expertise to the Arts Council Collection at a pivotal time in its history, overseeing the move to its new home in Coventry following nearly 4 decades under the stewardship of the Southbank Centre. We are eager to see the collection develop under Sukhy’s leadership. His impressive experience in the cultural space ensures he is the ideal candidate to lay the foundations for a bold new future for one of the world’s most important public collections of modern and contemporary British art.

We're thrilled to announce that we're teaming up with TikTok to launch Crescendo, an accelerator programme to discover and elevate the next generation of classical music content creators 🎶 📢 With nearly a million TikTok posts under the #ClassicalMusic hashtag, an increase of 60% over the past 12 months, the genre is stepping beyond the concert hall and finding powerful new life online. From virtuoso performers and bedroom composers, to remixing DJs and superfans from non-traditional backgrounds, we're looking for fresh and diverse voices ready to unlock classical music for 21st century audiences. A panel of industry experts - celebrated violinist and TikTok star Esther Abrami, Head of Classical Music at the Southbank Centre Toks Dada, Baroness Thangam Debbonaire, and TikTok’s Head of Music Partnerships, UK & Ireland, Toyin Mustapha - will review applications before selecting a cohort of 10 successful creators to join the programme. The first-ever Crescendo cohort will receive hands-on support to develop and grow their content, a comprehensive programme of mentorship, resources and visibility. 🔗 Find out more: https://lnkd.in/e_nTanGr

Thank you to everyone who joined our Artistic Director, Mark Ball, at the Creative UK Cultural & Creative Industries Pavilion at the Labour Party Conference yesterday. In a lively panel discussion hosted by Angela Rippon, Mark was joined by Patrick Fox (Chief Executive, Heart of Glass), Nick Perchard (Director of Communities, The Premier League), Simon Opher MP (Chair, APPG on Creative Health) and Stephanie Peacock MP (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport) to discuss the power of culture and sport to improve our wellbeing. He also joined the roundtable discussion Building Tomorrow's Workforce: Creative Skills for the Future Economy. The consensus was clear: creativity and culture isn't a 'nice to have'. It has an important power as a public health intervention and can ensure we are equipped with the skills for the future. Thanks to Creative UK and creative sector partners for convening this vital policy discussion. #Lab25

This promises to be an unmissable moment in our 75th anniversary celebrations 🎉 We’re excited to welcome Goalhanger for a landmark takeover weekend in September next year. From The Rest Is Politics to The Rest Is Football, this ambitious takeover will unite some of the UK’s most popular podcasts - and their audiences - under one roof for the very first time. Expect live shows, special collaborations and a few surprises still to come!

We’ve been blown away by the incredible reaction to the announcement of our 75th anniversary programme last week. We can’t wait to share more details with you, but in the meantime you can get a little taste of what’s to come here 👇

📢 Announcing the arts centre of the future 📢 Last night, we were excited to welcome colleagues and friends from across the cultural and creative sectors, government, artists, collaborators, supporters and staff to unveil the plans for our 75th anniversary – and what a year 2026 is set to be. The Royal Festival Hall was built in 1951 as part of the Festival of Britain, bringing a message of hope after World War Two. As put by our CEO Elaine Bedell OBE, ‘our 75th anniversary season keeps the spirit of the Festival of Britain alive: hopeful, outward-looking and driven by the belief that culture belongs to everyone.’ 💬 The programming lined up is bold, joyful and forward-looking – a celebration of creativity, imagination and national reach. 🌍 We’re looking to the future: From the UK premiere of a groundbreaking immersive experience that transforms the traditional piano recital into a mixed-reality odyssey with Yuja Wang, to our spectacular site-wide You Are Here takeover which will bring together the visionary work of Danny Boyle and other collaborators – we’re reimagining ways to experience culture. 👐 Open to everyone: It’s not limited to London. Our iconic festival Meltdown hits the road and goes on tour to grassroots venues across the UK, and we’ll be touring the National Poetry Library to UK coastlines, from North Uist in the Outer Hebrides to Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, for A Poet in Every Port. 💡 Supporting young people: We’re dedicated to nurturing the next generation of cultural trailblazers. Projects like Lemn Sissay’s Imagine the Future invite young people to share their hopes and dreams through poetry and creative writing – just one of the many ways we’re platforming youth talent. 🏙️ Celebrating London’s creative pulse: We’re celebrating Southbank Centre icons who have shaped our culture over the past 75 years, and platforming talent that represents London and the UK today. We’re spotlighting cultural icons like Anish Kapoor through a landmark exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, while also showcasing the talents shaping London’s future. A new exhibition will explore 50 years of the Southbank Centre’s iconic skatespace, and expect public artworks by Quentin Blake, Lakwena Maciver and Luke Jerram. Plus we’ll be teaming up with Gary Lineker and team for the Goalhanger Southbank Centre Takeover – hosting chart-topping podcasts live across our site. This is just the beginning. Explore what’s ahead: https://lnkd.in/emBHXfVN

✨ We’re delighted to share the launch of a new policy brief on 'Embedding and Sustaining Child and Youth Social Prescribing' – developed through the Social Prescribing Youth Network, with policymakers and commissioners earlier this summer. As a proud partner in this work, we’re excited to see these outputs published and to contribute to the growing evidence base. The findings highlight that while there is already brilliant practice happening across England, more is needed in terms of commitment, leadership, training, resources, evidence and policy support to fully be able to address urgent health challenges and help young people thrive. A big thank you to the Social Biobehavioural Research Group and all partners involved in shaping and sharing this important work. Find out more below 👇

Join us at the Labour Party Conference! Our Artistic Director, Mark Ball, will be speaking as part of the Creative UK Cultural & Creative Industries Pavilion on Monday 29 September. He'll be speaking on a panel – Just the Tonic: The Power of Culture and Sport to Improve our Wellbeing at 1 – 2pm. And he'll also be participating in a roundtable discussion called Building Tomorrow's Workforce: Creative Skills for the Future Economy, from 4 – 5.30pm. If you're coming to the Labour Party Conference - we'd love to see you there!