The bowartstrust Bow Arts Trust was established in 1995. The Trust is a registered educational charity and a company limited by guarantee. It is situated by the historic St Mary Atta le Bow Church, of the famous Bow Bell, in the heart of the East End of London. The Trust presently occupies 28,000 sqft. split between two buildings; one an old factory built in 1818, the other a disused Carmelite Nunnery built around 1850. The Trust's prime ambition has been to build and manage a widely accessible art gallery - The Nunnery, and to run a borough wide educational program as a complement to its provision of 80 affordable artists' studios. Bow Arts Trust is designed to be a cultural facility for the education and enjoyment of the artists and residents of Tower Hamlets as well as people from adjoining boroughs, and to national and international audiences. It is committed to serving Tower Hamlets and the Bow area in particular. To this end it is our aim to purchase the buildings we occupy. Therefore securing safe, affordable studio space for the artist members and to establish The Nunnery as an international centre for educational creativity and the contemporary visual arts. At present The Nunnery enjoys special status, as a space established in close collaboration with the working artists. Due to the proximity of the artists' studios, and through the artists' involvement with the educational programmes, The Nunnery gives visitors a unique opportunity for informal interaction with working artists, serving to demystify contemporary art practice. While Tower Hamlets is one of the most impoverished boroughs in the country, the opportunities for growth have to be considered very seriously, with the new Millennium and the massive investment that is being resourced to the East End and the South East of London. The European links that will come through Stratford's regeneration and tunnel link all have positive implications for us. Bow Arts Trust believes investment in the cultural environment of the area to be an essential means to economic growth. It is our fundamental objective to generate a new awareness of our community's creative energy and diversity and of the contribution made by arts organisations to inward investment, economic and physical regeneration. Through the Bow Arts Trust we aim to promote synergy across the spectrum; social, political, cultural and business as we recognise this is vital for the development and growth of culture as a resource in our community.