About us.

Creative Mile is planning its third year, a celebration of the creativity that, like the mighty River Thames, flows right through the heart of Brentford, West London combining Artists, Museums and Art Centres.

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The trail will start with an opening event on the 1st September 6-9pm. Venues will be open 11am-5pm on the 2nd and 3rd September 2023.

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Led by locally based artists and creatives the Creative Mile is a not for profit, Community Interest Company.

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The weekend includes artists and makers from Brentford and across the borough of Hounslow for a weekend of open studios and exhibitions.

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And we don’t just talk the talk. We walk the walk, too – as you’ll see when you stroll along the Brentford Art Trail, a sign-posted one-mile pedestrian route that connects a variety of venues exhibiting artists, creatives and makers including painters, ceramicists, printmakers, hat makers, mosaic artists, jewellery makers, poets, musicians and sculptors.

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As it meanders alongside the Thames, the Creative Mile not only offers visitors inspiration (and the opportunity to make a shrewd acquisition), it also affords them a rare glimpse of Brentford’s industrial past as well as a snapshot of today’s vibrant, creative riverside community.

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The truth is, if you threw a stick out of a window in Brentford, the chances are you’d hit an artist (or a musician, or a designer, or a performer). But for too long it’s been London’s hidden secret. And we think it’s high time that changed.

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In recognition of the success of the launch event that saw more than 3000 visitors over the weekend, Creative Mile was nominated in the One Hounslow Community Awards 2021 in the Community Together Category "for the outstanding contribution to galvanising people and organisations to work in partnership, particularly across diversity of communities (e.g. of ethnicity, age, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender) to overcome a challenge or create something positive for the wider benefit of others".

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we've made it

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Creative Director for Creative Mile Mr Mr Pearce says, “One of the things I noticed as an artist involved in organising open studio events during my time at Johnsons Island was how many people would say that they had lived in the area for years and never knew we were there. This got me thinking about how we could increase awareness and I thought maybe the best way would be by joining forces with other artists, museums and art centres so we did something together. Brentford has a great creative community, and I hope that this event will give artists working in the area a chance to showcase their work to a wider audience and has the potential to become an annual event that will grow year by year.”

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vision

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Creative Mile is a free event for the community that provides artists and makers an opportunity to exhibit their work to a large audience.  It is open to all forms of art and creativity

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Aims

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Support Brentford's community of independent artists and creatives providing them with an opportunity to promote their work to a wider audience and to sell their work.

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To  provide an annual arts event held over three days to engage and inspire residents to engage in the creative cultural offer in Brentford.

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To produce and deliver a local event that connects residents and the creative community during this time when the area is undergoing major regeneration and recovering from a national lockdown.

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To build Brentford's identity as an arts and cultural destination

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Values

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Make it Happen

Working together

Keep it real

Everybody Welcome

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WHO ARE WE?

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Mr Mr Pearce

Creative Director

Also known as Mark, is a Brentford based artist who is responsible for the creative direction, building relationships with creatives and partners and raising awareness of the event.  Mark has been involved in Creative Mile since the first event in 2021.  He is also a Company Director for Creative Mile Community Interest Company.

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Adrian Shaw

‍Event Producer

Adrian brings more than 20 years of experience working with Tate, including launching and running their very successful evening events, Tate Lates.  He is responsible for the smooth running of the event.

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Suzette Llewellyn

Fundraiser

Suzette is responsible for building relationships with local businesses and finding sponsors for the event.

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Margaret Kirby

Grant Writer 

Margaret has over 20 years experience of managing libraries, arts, heritage and visual collections and is focussed on grant writing to help fund the event.

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Jess Woolcock

Administrator

Jess keeps everything organised and updated and deals with day to day queries from artists and venues.  She will be studying a BA in Fine Art later in 2023.

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thank you's

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Creative Mile would like to thank all the wonderful artists, makers, venues and volunteers that have made the event happen. We would like to acknowledge the funding from the Creative Enterprise West, itself a part of the Mayor of London Creative Enterprise Zone scheme, along with grants and sponsorship from Hounslow Council, and The Brentford Project. Creative Mile also acknowledges the support of Creative People and Places (Arts Council England), Screen Stories and JCDecaux.