The meeting was scheduled to include a presentation on the Woolwich Creative District and a discussion on the agenda for the next meeting.

Woolwich Creative District

Punchdrunk was scheduled to give a presentation to the meeting on their work in Woolwich.

Founded in 2000 by artistic director, Felix Barrett MBE, Punchdrunk began as a site-sympathetic theatre company, creating experiential shows in unusual spaces.

The report pack included for the meeting a presentation prepared by Punchdrunk that listed their achievements since being invited by the council to become an anchor tenant in the Woolwich Creative District.

The presentation stated that:

• Punchdrunk had invested over £1m in renovating buildings in Woolwich to make them suitable for use as an immersive arts venue.
• The company had created 538 jobs, of which an average of 25% were held by borough residents.
• 70% of the audiences for Punchdrunk's productions in Woolwich had not been to the area before.
• Punchdrunk had offered discounted tickets to all borough residents on all of their events, subsidising the cost by over £200,000.
• The company had provided 160 placements across its departments, and an average of 53% of these were taken by people living or studying in the borough.

Punchdrunk's presentation argued that the company's presence had benefited local businesses, stating that businesses such as the Dial Arch extended their opening hours on Punchdrunk performance days.

Commissioning of Future Reports

The meeting was scheduled to discuss the agenda for its next meeting, which was scheduled to take place on 27 March 2025.

The meeting was scheduled to consider whether it wanted to make any changes to the list of topics that had already been scheduled for discussion:

• Small and medium size arts and cultural organisations

The meeting was scheduled to consider a report on the environment in Greenwich for small and medium size arts and culture organisations.

• Community Wealth building 2022 – Evaluation

The meeting was scheduled to be provided with a report on the impact of the Community Wealth Building strategy that the council adopted in 2022.

• Culture Strategy

The meeting was scheduled to receive an update on the council's Culture Strategy

• Cabinet Member Update (Equality, Culture & Communities)

The meeting was scheduled to receive an update from the Cabinet Member for Equality, Culture and Communities on their portfolio priorities for the year ahead.