Margate Creative Land Trust

Margate is home to a burgeoning creative community and has been identified as a key production hub within the Thames Estuary Production Corridor. Whilst creative businesses have grown by 158% since 2009, Margate has lost 11% of its commercial spaces in the last 20 years. When coupled with rising rents for the remaining eligible spaces and a lack of appropriate venues for the variety of artistic pursuits, there is a vital and urgent need to provide space to creative practitioners in order to protect and grow the creative industries in Margate. Taking inspiration from the model developed in London for a Creative Land Trust to protect creative space in central London when property values are rising, the role of the Trust in Margate is ensuring that creative space and programming is inclusive and supports underserved communities to access opportunities within the creative industries of leadership, jobs, training and enterprise development.