The story so far

The Creative Foundation was launched in 2002.

Although it is closely involved with many of the other regeneration activities in the town, its focus is on the transformation of the run down Old Town area of Folkestone around the harbour.

The Chairman of The Creative Foundation is Roger De Haan. Until 2004, Roger De Haan was chairman of the town’s largest private sector employer, Saga.

De Haan, a lifelong resident in the area, had become chairman of the Metropole Arts Centre Trust, itself established in the 1960s under the patronage of Lord Clark. By the 1990s this once-important gallery was facing closure. De Haan appointed a new board of trustees and headhunted a new director, Nick Ewbank, who already had successful experience with arts and regeneration in the Midlands, North London and Exeter. The new team moved quickly to create a revitalised 'Metropole Galleries'.

Beyond this they brought together influential local figures and developed a radical new vision for Folkestone, which goes further than many previous models of arts-led regeneration in placing the arts squarely at the heart of every aspect of the regeneration process. The Creative Foundation's vision is to draw together economic growth, educational tranformation and significant enhancements to the built environment and thus to deliver dramatic increases in quality of life for local people. The Creative Foundation has been working since it was founded to turn that vision into reality.

Already 200,000 square feet of property is under the control of the Creative Foundation spread across more than 80 individual buildings. Around half of these have been refurbished and some 200 creative individuals have been attracted to the area. A new university centre has been founded, a £4.4m performing arts centre opened and many other initiatives are in the pipeline.

The arrival of passenger services on the high speed rail link in December
2009 and the plans for the sympathetic regeneration of the 25 acre harbour
and seafront site will transform Folkestone forever.