I’ve lived here nearly 20 years and I've never spoken to the shopkeepers and they told me about the history of the area that I never knew.
Bancroft Estate: Connecting a community through colour
Connecting residents of all ages through a new mural on the Bancroft Estate in Bethnal Green
A five-storey “bouquet of love”
Bancroft Tenant Management Co-operative told us that residents of the estate needed more opportunities to come together after the Covid lockdowns, and that they wanted their surroundings brightening up. Working with artist ATMA, and an intergenerational group of resident-consultants, we created a five storey high mural, celebrating diversity and the natural world.
Community engagement
Local ownership of projects is very important to us: we combined structured consultation with potential participants, and lighter-touch outreach activities to fully engage the mural’s neighbours.
- 80 residents attended the first community consultation event
- 17 local businesses consulted
- 105 people engaged through outreach
- 300 residents attended the mural reveal fun day
- 6,436 people watched the mural reveal online
A project highlight for me has been other committee members taking more of an active role talking to the community as well as taking ownership of the issues that were important to residents - I would highly encourage all members to be part of future projects
Learning for legacy
Key findings from the project were as follows:
1. The importance of authentic community representation to instill ownership (the bouquet in the mural is made from flowers from residents’ heritage countries).
2. Community advocacy – essential local support including providing a place for the artist to wash their brushes during the installation.
3. Celebrating community contribution – we deliberately showcased the contributions residents of all ages were already making. The bouquet contains the Khodu plant (a Bengali vegetable) which is grown in the estate’s community garden.
The Bancroft Estate Project took place in 2022 and was developed and supported through partnership working and the National Lottery Community Fund. Learn more about how to support our work below.