About us



Our purpose is to provide meaningful opportunities to the local creative community and ensure regeneration meets the needs of and creates lasting impact for all living and working in Hackney Wick & Fish Island including the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park area. 

We focus on supporting the local creative sector to demonstrate that creative placemaking leads to a stronger, more resilient and better-connected community.


There are 3 key issues that have driven the work we do:

  1. The rapid regeneration of Hackney Wick and Fish Island (HWFI) is not seeing the protection of the grassroots art communities that already live and work here. The land value is increasing quicker than local residents’ wages, resulting in them often being displaced from their homes and/or business spaces.

  1. HWFI is rich in art and culture, however, its value is often overlooked by developers, local authorities and commercial/corporate companies, who do not know how to engage with the creative community that exists here.

  1. There are not enough meaningful paid opportunities or recognition for local creatives operating within HWFI

Our Vision is for Hackney Wick, Fish Island and the wider Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (HWFIQEOP) area to thrive as an inclusive, self-sufficient, permanent creative economy that engages the local community and is actively supported by key stakeholders.

Our Purpose is to provide meaningful opportunities to the local creative community and ensure regeneration meets the needs of and creates lasting impact for all living and working in HWFIQEOP.

William Chamberlain is founding director of Creative Wick and the founder and chairman of the Cultural Interest Group, a local business to business innovation network established in 2010.

He is co-founder of the Hackney Wick & Fish Island Community Development Trust set up to engage local stakeholders to secure ownership of buildings and spaces in the community interest.
William is also a solicitor and partner at Counterculture LLP where he advises creative and cultural organisations on social enterprise and urban regeneration.

He is currently working towards a part-time practice-based PhD on the role of the creative economy and social enterprise in urban regeneration after being awarded a scholarship by the Institute of Media and Creative Industries at Loughborough University London. William is a founding member of Collective Community Action, a campaign group advocating for greater community engagement in all London development and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
William Chamberlain
Founder

Abbie is our Project Assistant and works across all of Creative Wick's initiatives.

Abbie has a desire to widen access to the arts, which she carried through to the Courtauld Institute of Art, where she studied Art History and researched social injustice in relation to the creative industry.

Alongside her work at Creative Wick, Abbie also works with our supporters, Footwork Trust, an independent charity that identifies and supports social innovators to create positive change for people and places.
Abbie Hedaux
Programme Assistant

Josephine Chime is Creative Producer for Creative Wick and a Hackney Wick resident and artist. Chime is a past contributor to the Hackney Wicked Art Festival via open studios, group shows and a collaborative events. 

A mix media artist her creative practice sees her move between art and design, teaming with industry clients creating installations, products and illustrations for Gilles Peterson, Boiler Room, Havana Club and British Council to working with a diverse range of schools using art workshops as an expressive healing tool.
Josephine Chime
Creative Producer
Aidan Bailey is an experienced chartered accountant and joined the board of Creative Wick as a Non-Exec Director in 2018. His experience ranges from FTSE 100 to start-up companies and charities and he brings industry sector knowledge in online retail, property and investment management.

Aidan also brings audit, financial and management accounting and reporting experience as well as significant project experience.












 Aidan Bailey
Director
Cindy joined the board of Creative Wick as a Non-Executive Director in 2019.
Cindy heads up EquityChair, a niche recruitment business focused on placing Non-Executive Chairs and Directors predominantly into SMEs, both privately owned and with VC/PE funding. She also works closely with social investment funds and their portfolios across the UK through a long-standing partnership with Big Society Capital.

Prior to joining the Equity family of businesses (EquityFD, EquityFC and EquityInterim), Cindy spent 10 years at 3i plc as a Director of the Business Leaders Network.
She was also a Trustee of the Rio Cinema between 2016-2020. The Rio Cinema is a Grade II listed independent Art Deco cinema in Dalston. A charity, the Rio offers a range of services to the community, including special screenings for the over-60’s and those suffering from dementia.

In 2017 the cinema successfully raised £125,000 to restore the art deco exterior and build a second screen in the large basement space. The second screen seating 28 opened in December 2017. In 2019, The Daily Telegraph named the Rio one of the best cinemas in London.
Cindy Casciani
Director