A brief History of  The Revolutionary 491 Gallery Art Squat, Vertigo  Independent Cinema, as the organic community arts catalyst for The Creativity P.art.y & The New Model Art.

Once Upon a Time, there was a row of 5 abandoned derelict buildings in a Land called Leytonstone in East London. These buildings were a dilapidated, derelict eye sore to the Community for over 10 years they  left to rot, rack and ruin by 2 private landlords and The London Undergound who collectively owned these derelict buildings, and the land they sat upon. 

Neglected, unused, abandoned, they became an haven for socially dispossed, the homeless, the outcasts and outsiders to shelter in, hidden away from Society. Although these derelict buildings did provide shelter and a sense of shared Community and togetherness in their degregaded lives amongst those alienated for Society, it inevitably became a dark derelict haven for those addicted, to engage in serious drug and alcohol abuse/misuse. This in turn had a very negative impact upon many people in the local Community. Just having to walk past these buildings on their way to or home from work was an intimidating fearful experience for local people on a daily basis.

So one day, a local homeless street artist who was doing nothing much except sleep on his girlfriend's sofa was "encouraged" by his partner to get out of HER house, and go and do something creative in the empty derelict row of buildings. 

Over the next few months more creative art-outsiders began to get word of what was happening, and more and more people began to turn up, and as they continued to work clearing all the rubbish out, discarded shopping trollies, needles and drug paraphernalia, a creative community began to organically emerge and grow into what eventually became an self-sustaining Community Art Squat.

It took 18months of hard physical effort, graft, and toil to repair and re-construct floorboards, windows, roofs; entire buildings were repaired using nothing but recycled paint and found materials, including a steady supply of furniture donations of chairs, tables, tools and equipment by local people glad of the change in their community, and more and more community volunteers from the good Land of Leytonstone and beyond came to help. Eventually, after 2 years of this organic community centred social art creative process, what emerged was one of the longest running, most successful Community run Art Squat Galleries & Independent Cinemas  London had ever seen.

Once the buildings were reasonably fit for human habitation and Community cultural engagement, albeit at the level of camping at a music and arts festival, local artists, community creatives, musicians, new age spiritualists, and more creative outsider mavericks moved in; and as you can imagine it was quite a heady mix of diverse personalities, ideas, ambitions and talents. 

Picture in your mind if you will, a small Glastonbury of 100-300 people occurring every weekend; and a variety of weekly workhops running every week from live art classes and exhibitions, to music gigs, cabarets, poetry, performance art, DJ nights, film night, birthday parties, market stalls and independent fairs occuring under one factory roof, recycled for creative community use, and a large organic garden with a huge community made fire pit for communal warmth, fireside conversations and gatherings.

Of course, the first 2 Foundational Years were not for the faint hearted, or weak of consitution; operating in semi-derelict buildings during freezing Winters with no hot water, and holes in the walls instead of windows, was a brutal test of endurance and creative survival for even the most enthusiastic person, creative, or art volunteer. It didn't really matter whether they were an artist or musician, DJ, Singer, Photograher, Activist, Caberet Entertainer Environmentalist, or random homeless person. We all united in one single goal, one creative ambition;  try and create an Community Arts space that everyone could be part of. An art gallery and cinema that they could run and manage as their own, to support and facilitate their creative dreams and art ambitions in London, but in a way that had a wider positive community and social impact around issues of recyling and community rgeneration.

Out of the initial creative chaos, gradually the 491 Gallery & Vertigo Cinema was born, and with hot water, electricity, a shower, 2 kitchens, bedrooms, art studios, and a huge fire pit within the large community garden; It eventually settled down into a more organised, creative, multi-arts community arts venue for people visit form the local community of Leytonstone and from across wider London to enjoy the events, workshops, music gigs, parties, art experiences, and just to be,....creatively free.

Legends Are Not Born, They Are Created.

The Legendary 491 Gallery - Art Squat & Vertigo Cinema.

The 491 Gallery & Vertigo Cinema which was created in the building Next Door hosted all manner of creative & community events for an astonishing 13 years; until the Government decided that self organised, and self financed Community "Art Squats" were illegal, and a profound creative threat to Government creative control over a whole Community. So to maintain creative power over Communities, and to prevent the social philosophy of Community self determination by the people rather than Govenrment central control, they decided to ban them all. Suddenly, what was deemed legal for generations, and by now had become a Community wide partnership with London Transport, with local Waltham Forest Council support, was now deemed illegal by the stroke of a bureaucratic Politicians Pen.

Ultimately after prolonged discussions, debates, and legal battles, the Artists, Creatives, Community Volunteers and good People of the Land of Leytonstone were eventually legally evicted after 13 years from one of the most successful Creative Community Centred Social Art Enterprises ever to have risen in London from the decaying derelict dirt and desolate dust of nothingness.

The 491 Gallery & Vertigo Independent Cinema buildings were demolished, and the Land sold to developers for £1 Million,  who built another boring block of prison-like commuter flats for the gentrified 9-5 escalator robots to move into. 13 years of Community Creativity demolished in favour of a few small overly expensive prison cell like flats for those who follow the right way of conformist thinking and conventional living. The opportunities for  spontaneous self-organised Community Centred Creativity is sadly increasingly lacking, becoming ever smaller and limited, except that which is controlled by the Powers that be, and managed in a good orderly fashion through very expensive music and alcohol Licences, mountains of form filling, bureaucratic red tape, and a  thousand pounds to the Government via Council Licenses before you can organise any creative event, unless of course it's organised and controlled by Government Councils, and Policed by The State Apparatus or financed and branded by Corporate capitalist greed, even the once spontaneous musical festival that "was" Glastonbury has become victim to a Musical Branding process of avaricous corpoarate greed.

So the 13 years of Self-Organised Free Creative Community events, music gigs, art exhibitions, Cinema nights, Circus Nights, Community Café, Weekend Trade Fairs, Organic Kitchen, Community Garden, Large Community Fire Pit, Artists Studios, Home made Music Recording Studio, and temporary rooms for homeless people was no more. 

All of these weekly /weekend events and Creative Community Open Resources were free (except for voluntary donations or a small fee of a few pounds for special charitable causes events. They were creatively self organised by a diverse ever-changing cycle of thousands of creative community volunteers, both artists and those who didn't identify as such. At its peak people visited and enjoyed the events at the 491 Gallery & Inside Vertigo Cinema Film & Arts Venue from all across London, the UK, and Europe. There are stories and memories from local people who tell stories of people they met there from France, Germany, Australia, and I personally met two people who had arrived from Tasmania on a Eurpean Tour and lived in the 491 Gallery for months before travelling onto Scotland to take a part in an Activist Campaign for against a Nuclear Arms base. The last I heard was that these two brave, young, fearless Tasmanian Titans, had glued themselves to a truck carrying a Nuclear bombs into the base! who amongst US would risk the safe repose of our conventional, safe orderly lives, to risk arrest, imprisonment, or even worse in the service of ALL humanity, to highlight and try to prevent the slow ticking down of the Nuclear Armegeddon Clock. THEY are the real heroes for me, not Celebrities or Media personalities. Virtually no money, no fashionable trendy clothing brands, yet still travelling and hitchhiking halfway around the World on an adventure to explore the World, but also to make a postive social human impact upon it. just two unknown young people amongst thousands who passed through the 491 Gallery, standing up to power for a cause they believed is profoundly right and just for all humanity like Modern Suffragettes...."The Tasmanian Two"......Legends amongst so many other unheralded Heroes of The 491. 

Now in Leytonstone, their stands a grim brownish prison type block for people to look at, and ask themselves, is this really better for Leytonstone, or any given area, in any given Town or City, than a Community led and self organised Community Art Gallery, Cinema, and Garden, where people could meet, relax, meet and interact with others? 

Is this block of a few commuter flats really better than all the creativity, community events, and cherished social - art memories the people of Leytonstone and thousands of others from across London AND Europe created over 13 years with hundreds of volunteers and thousands of people coming together to socialise and be entertained by music, DJs, bands, art, cabarets, singers, performers, comedy, and to dance, create, or just hang out with others having a great, fun, safe, community centred, creatively inexpensive time?  Well, I suppose there are still a few Pubs left! If you can afford £7-£14 pint of beer in East London! Otherwise, I guess it's the reality of The Wetherspoons Walnut Pub.

I digress! My apologies! Back to the main story: The 491 Gallery was responsible for hosting some of the most varied and iconic community art events in London such as one of the first and largest Transgender Party events in London Social-Art history, a Ukrainian Culture & Media-Arts Night (many years even before the current diabolical War), that welcomed over 200 Ukrainian people and artists to share their creativity and culture, and The European Cycle Courier Championships which led to over 100+ bikes being hung from the Gallery ceiling due a to lack of space, that resulted in one of the greatest spontaneous community art installations ever seen in London.

The Future-Present

So once again we set out on another Great Art Adventure of Conscious Community Creativity to see what it is possible. to create, to be, to help make a better, safer, more positive Creative Future World for next generations to grow up in, and create their own sense of artistic identity and creative being in the World.

But, as the days of simply turning empty, derelict buildings that have been left empty to rot and ruin into  Vibrant Community Art Centes are now over, and made illegal by The Government, unless you can afford to invest about £1M, we will have to find other ways, means and methods, to draw upon the Creativity of the Community, as well as draw upon, and share our own. But fear not, for we humans are an infinite organic creative resource who constantly adapt to our environment and the ever shifting sands of the social, economic, and political matrix around us, and within which we are faced with the very real difficult challenge in life of simply trying to become that person who you feel you are and who you were mean "To Be".

We are all born with our own various unique creative ability,  some are lucky enough to be driven by this inner creative urge alone to express themselves through a life in the arts, others are fortunate to be born into a creatively nourishing environment of family surrroundings that encourages thier creativity to flourish from an early age, and they may go on to achieve great artistic or cultural accomplishements in any manner of ways, whether 'tis the arts, the sciences, or any and all areas of life; Creativity of Mind & Being..........

So, if you would like help this Creative Social-Art Mission, or have ideas to help the social-art process, please feel free to contact us to arrange an informal telephone chat, or coffee meet up; and if you are feeling particularly art adventurous, you can arrange a visit to "The Creativity-Cell" for a relaxed lookabout,  informal chat,  or even try an art video / interview chat about anything creative or community art related, maybe about your own creative-art ideas - ambitions, stories, memories, or struggles. Alternatively, you can show arrange to show videos or films, hang art, or just visit to explore and chat about all things across the whole spectrum of Creativity, Community, and Consciousness.

Tea & Coffee, soft drinks, biscuits, cake and snacks available

PLEASE feel free to bring your own food, snacks or refreshments, because to be honest my Fridge and Kitchen Cupboards are always nearly empty due to the rising cost of living, and food prices going through the roof.

Yours, Creatively & Faithfully,

Creative Dave / Blue Dave
 

Membership Guide Notes

There are no set membership fees. The ethos and philosophy of The Creativity Party is based solely on Voluntary Creativity,  P.art.cipation, and spare time available to help out. But, for those who can afford it, voluntary donations are welcome. For those who wish to take a more active membership role. All is fluid, All is posssible, All is Air.

Please note: 100% of ALL fees and donations are expressively for the development of The Creativity Party aims, structures, organisation, publicity, promotional activities, social-art philosophy, activities, and events, to be agreed and voted upon at any event that holds a quorum of not less than 3 - 7 persons.

The Chair P.art.cipant is a fluid, open, flexible role at event, at any time, and is open to any person, artist, or volunteer who wishes to be the Chair/Catalyst of that event, of that month. No experience of leadership or art, or facilitating a group discussion, or event, is necessary.  Anyone wishing to be the Creative Chair of a meeting, gathering, or event will be given full hands on support by Creative Dave, and will be fully supported and encouraged to be themselves and express their own unique sense of creativity and being. 

A real creative democracy should not allow for the power and decision-making process to lie in the hands and whims of a single autocratic leader, nor should creative power be held by a fixed permanent core group of individuals. Whether in a voluntary art organisation, politics, or Government itself, The Creativity Party operates processes and practices that ensure this will never happen. Each creative participant and each volunteer will be as creatively important and valued as anyone else in terms of ideas, experiences, skills, abilities, enthusiasm, motivations, and reasons for being involved with The Creativity Party. 

"It is the infinite well of collective creativity, and community social -art consciousness that is our most valuable resource from which to draw upon, and in this regard, all are considered equal."

(Creative Dave 2025)

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