This momentous milestone for the Highgate-based arts centre will be marked with a dynamic programme of heritage activities, community engagement and restoration projects throughout 2025.
The ‘50 Years of Jacksons Lane’ celebrations will include the completion of crucial restoration work on the building’s roof, along with the continued retrofit of their LED lighting rig in the theatre, furthering an ongoing commitment to sustainability by reducing their environmental impact and carbon footprint.
The Grade II-listed status of the building will be honoured through the reinstatement of a stone cross above the entrance and a permanent, publicly accessible archive will be developed in collaboration with Bruce Castle Museum & Archive, making Jacksons Lane’s history — and its role in Haringey's broader history — accessible to all.
Jacksons Lane will also celebrate the many communities that have shaped that history through a large-scale ‘Memory Collection' project and the creation of a new Oral History Collection, which will tour Haringey Libraries as part of a pop-up exhibition.
Haringey Council’s Cabinet Member for Culture and Libraries, Cllr Emily Arkell, said:
I’m delighted that Haringey residents and visitors to our borough will benefit from this ambitious and dynamic programme of community engagement activities and heritage events as part of Jacksons Lane’s 50th anniversary celebrations next year.
It’s great news that one of our leading venues has been able to secure this key support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which will further enhance our cultural and heritage offer as Haringey gears up to be the London Borough of Culture in 2027.
I’m very much looking forward to the permanent and publicly accessible archive of Jacksons Lane’s history and the new Oral History Collection touring Haringey libraries, as well as the street party on 27 June 2025. It promises to be a year-round, 50th birthday celebration to remember at Jacksons Lane!
Jacksons Lane Executive Director & Joint CEO, Hannah Cox, and Artistic Director & Joint CEO, Adrian Berry, said
We are incredibly grateful to The National Lottery Heritage Fund for this investment, which will enable us to deliver a year of ambitious and inspiring engagement, heritage activities and celebrations.
With our communities at the heart of this initiative, this funding will allow us to share our unique history with thousands of people across Haringey and beyond.
It will also provide training and volunteering opportunities, improve our environmental sustainability and support vital roof and restoration work on our Grade II listed building.
Stuart McLeod, Director of England - London & South at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said:
We are delighted to support this project, which thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, will mean that more people will be able to get involved with, protect and learn about the exciting heritage right on their doorstep.
Heritage has a huge role to play in instilling pride in communities and boosting local economies, and this project is a fantastic example of achieving those aims.
Additionally, in an effort to spark interest from new audiences, there will be an enhancement of Jacksons Lane’s already established creative engagement programmes for older adults, schools and communities with Heritage Socials, Explore Heritage Workshops and Open Heritage Days.
Their Young Heritage Producers Programme will offer training and development opportunities for young people from Haringey and surrounding areas, particularly those facing cultural and financial barriers to entering the heritage and cultural sectors.
This programme will also include the curation of an exciting public events series, culminating in a Birthday Street Party on 27 June 2025 at Jacksons Lane on the anniversary of their first-ever performance in 1975.
Finally, Jacksons Lane invites its communities — past and present — to join in to look ahead. Through a series of ‘think-ins' and community gatherings, ideas for Jacksons Lane's future will be explored, helping to shape the next chapter of the story.
