Dalston has always been a centre for creativity, enterprise and culture, with community at its heart. Now a number of the organisations located in and around Ashwin Street have come together as the ‘Dalston Cultural Quarter’ to ensure that the much-loved character of the area is retained and nurtured.
We, the founding partners, including the Dalston Curve Garden, Bootstrap Charity, V22, Cafe Oto and the Dusty Knuckle are committed to enhancing Dalston’s cultural diversity. Together, we bring over a century of experience in local campaigning, arts programming, building community resilience, entrepreneurship, creating employment and shaping spaces that make people feel good.
We all share a profound commitment to social justice and to making Dalston an even better place. Our first campaign will focus on securing 2 - 8 Ashwin Street for permanent community and cultural use. If the site is sold to a developer for luxury flats, it would put further pressure on the Dalston Curve Garden, damage the character of Ashwin Street, and undermine the night time economy that venues such as Cafe Oto help sustain.
We want to ensure that the site remains a cultural asset, used by and for the community for Dalston, and continues to contribute to the area’s creative, social and economic life for the long term.
Only ONE WEEK to go!
Over 90 events over the month..
Tickets selling fast so get yours now..
And join us..
#hackney #london #history #culture #walks #film
@riocinema@suttonhousent
Thursday 21st May, Printhouse Gallery will be open late, with map-maker Charlie Peel to talk about and answer any questions on the new "This Place Then" series of Hackney maps. 5pm-9pm. Hope you can make it. 18 Ashwin Street, E8 3DL. Drop me a note and let me know if you are coming.
Great start to the @hackneyhistoryfest at The Print House Gallery & Dalston Curve Garden.
This Place Then Exhibition by @mapeditions followed by an introduction to the festival and speakers for the upcoming programme.
Follow @hackneyhistoryfest to join in on the walks, talks & tours
📹 @mediorite
‘Brushes With Reality’ is a group art exhibition bringing together art works made by studio members and staff. This exhibition celebrates the rich diversity of artistic practice that takes place at Studio Upstairs.
‘Brushes With Reality’ will be featured in Hackney Art Week, celebrating local art, culture, and community with exhibitions, performances, and events across Hackney this June.
‘Brushes With Reality’ opens on Thursday 4th June until Thursday 25th June (Monday to Friday, 9 til 5pm).
Private view: Thursday 4th June, 6pm til 8pm. Special Weekend Opening for Hackney Art Week: Saturday 6 and Sunday 7th June, 11am til 5pm.
#studioupstairs
#artexhibition
#dalston
#hackneyartweek
Thank you to everyone who came to our launch last night!
If you missed it you can see these amazing maps of Hackney for the rest of the month at @bootstrapcharity and check out the other 90+ events on our website..
#hackney #maps #history #london
A new exhibition of twelve detailed maps of Hackney will launch on Friday 1 May 2026, marking both the public exhibition opening of “Hackney: This Place Then” and the launch night of Hackney History Festival 2026.
Created by map-maker Charlie Peel under the imprint Map-Editions, This Place Then is a new series of limited-edition maps that place contemporary Hackney neighbourhoods alongside the extraordinary detail of historic 25-inch Ordnance Survey mapping. For the first time in print, the maps bring the borough’s past and present together in a single image: streets, buildings, yards, railways, gardens, factories, churches, schools, public houses and lost fragments of the urban landscape layered with the city as it is today.
A centrepiece of the exhibition will be a large wall of tiled maps, joined together to create a striking snapshot of Hackney in 1916. At approximately 2 metres high and 2 metres wide, the installation will allow visitors to read the borough at an unusually immersive scale - exploring the Hackney of just over a century ago with the Hackney of today.
The launch event will include cold drinks, bold maps and short upbeat talks from festival speakers, including Charlie Peel, David Williams of Bootstrap, and Janet Chapman, Chair of The Hackney Society. Tickets are £3, including a first drink and snacks, with a paid bar after that.
Hackney History Festival Launch / This Place Then Exhibtion
Friday 1 May 2026, 6-8pm
Bootstrap, 18 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London E8 3DL
Tickets in link in bio
The free exhibition continues throughout May, Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm
🌈🎤 QUEER MIXER FUNDRAISER 🎬✨ We’re raising funds for a queer short film about county lines from a female perspective… and throwing a party while we’re at it! 💥
🃏 Tarot readers | 🎤 Open Mic | 🍔 Hot Food (vegan and gluten free options available) 🛍️ Queer market Stalls | 🎨 Badge Making with @badgecafe 👗 £2 Vintage Rack | 🍹Drinks
📍 Dalston, East London 📅 24.11.2025 | ⏰ 5:30-10pm 💸 Entry by donation – all funds go to the film! Link in bio for tickets 🎟️🎟️🎟️
Line up announced soon! 🎥 Follow the project: @blurredlinesshortfilm_
Come thru, bring your besties & support queer storytelling 💖 #QueerMixer #QueerFilm #Fundraiser #LGBTQEvents #CountyLines #SupportQueerArt #thingstodoinlondon #queerlondon
Poetry inspires connection, empathy and therefore hope, even across diverse communities.
That’s why Steps to Togetherness has launched our Togetherness Poetry Challenge for its second year.
This year’s theme is decolonising minds and shared identities; an opportunity to question how colonialism has shaped how we think, speak and see the world.
Check the Steps to Togetherness bio for a link to submit your poem and be in with a chance to win £500!
#poetryfortogethermess
#decolonisingminds
Ashwin Street art studios secured for the future
Art studios based in Dalston’s Ashwin Street are set to remain at the heart of the local creative community following an agreement that will see operator V22 take ownership of the building from Hackney Council and create a permanent cultural hub.
V22 has run the studios at 10–16 Ashwin Street for nearly two decades, providing affordable workspace for artists and creative practitioners at the centre of Dalston’s vibrant cultural scene.
V22 has purchased the building from the Council at the market value. The agreement includes provisions to protect its long-term future as a home for Dalston’s creative and cultural life.
Caroline Woodley, Mayor of Hackney, said: “Over the last 20 years Dalston has become an exciting creative hub, with Ashwin Street at its centre. The Council’s relationship with organisations like V22 and the artists, actors, architects, musicians and historians who come together at venues along Ashwin Street have been at the heart of that journey.
“We fully support and share the creative vision for art and nature presented by V22 and neighbouring Dalston Eastern Curve Garden. This agreement for V22 to take ownership of the building and create a permanent creative hub is therefore really good news, offering a bright future for this locally listed building.”
Edward Benyon, Chairperson of V22, said: “We are thrilled to have reached this agreement with Hackney Council. V22 has been part of the Ashwin Street community for nearly 20 years, and we’re proud to have supported so many artists and grassroots organisations during that time. This marks the beginning of a new chapter for Ashwin Street, one in which affordable creative space is protected for the long term.
We would also like to thank our neighbours, Bootstrap, Café OTO and the Dalston Eastern Curve Garden, as well as the Mayor of London's Culture at Risk team, the Mayor of Hackney, and the Hackney Councillors, who endorsed our bid, and of course our incredible studio holders for their commitment, creativity and support throughout this process.”
