What Core Arts does

Core Arts is a registered charity and not-for-profit social business (Charity no: 1043588, Company no: 2985939) founded in 1992 in Hackney, London, that promotes positive mental health and wellbeing through creative learning. The organization operates from a single physical center at 1 St Barnabas Terrace, Homerton, London E9 6DJ, delivering 85+ creative classes per week across five departments: Arts, Music, Multimedia, Horticulture, and Sport. Classes are taught by 65+ professional PGCE trained tutors, supported by 120+ creative volunteers providing one-to-one assistance, with access to open studios, recording studios, exhibition spaces, art studios, workshops, and an ICT Suite.

The organization does not operate a technology platform; its service delivery is fundamentally in-person, with supplementary online lessons distributed via Vimeo. Core Arts operates five wholly-owned social enterprise arms: Core Design (graphic design services), Core Landscapes (horticultural services and garden design), Core Sport (GP-referred exercise classes at Olympic Park venues), Core Publishing (poetry and radio broadcasting), and Core Arts Brokerage (Personal Health Budget brokerage service).

Core Arts generates revenue through a hybrid model combining membership fees (Full Day Access £95/day quarterly £1,235; Half Day £55/day quarterly £715; PHB membership £715 for 13 weeks), charitable grants from trusts and foundations (Big Lottery Fund, Sport England, Mayor of London, Hackney Council, London Marathon Foundation), NHS commissioning via ELFT and City & Hackney CCG, direct payments and personal budgets, and venue hire of its facilities. GTM is primarily sales-led through clinical referral pathways from NHS mental health clinicians, GPs, occupational therapists, social workers, and care coordinators, supplemented by self-referrals and digital marketing across social channels.

Name

Core Arts

Legal name

Core Arts

Website

https://corearts.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Core Arts is a Hackney-based charity founded in 1992 that delivers 85+ weekly creative classes across five disciplines to adults experiencing mental health issues, funded through membership fees, NHS commissioning, charitable grants, and social enterprises including Core Sport and Core Landscapes.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Mental Health Creative Education

NAICS

Educational Support Services (61171), Fine Arts Schools (611610), Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers (713940)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Misc Health & Allied Services, Nec (8090)

akta.pro primary industry

Mind-Body Wellness Coaching (Holistic/Integrative) (HSADAGAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Mindfulness, Stress Management & Resilience Training (EDAMAIAD), Mindfulness-Based Coaching & Training (MBSR/MBCT-style) (HSADAJAB)

Keywords

• Creative arts education
• Mental health services
• Social enterprise
• Community arts programs
• Arts therapy

Headquarters

HQ city

Hamerton

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership fees: Members pay for access to classes and workshops. Full day access costs £95/day (quarterly £1235) and half day costs £55/day (quarterly £715). Personal Health Budget (PHB) membership costs £715 for 13 weeks.
2. Personal budgets and direct payments: Core Arts receives payment through personal budgets and direct payments for individuals with mental health support needs, arranged via their social workers or mental health support teams.
3. Personal Health Budgets (PHB): Non-notional PHBs from ELFT fund Core Arts membership at £715 for 13 weeks, supporting mental health recovery goals.
4. Charitable grants and trusts: Core Arts receives funding from trusts and foundations including Big Lottery Fund, Sport England, and numerous other grant-making organizations listed as funders.
5. NHS and clinical commissioning: Services are commissioned through NHS bodies including East London Foundation Trust (ELFT), City and Hackney CCG, and related NHS partnerships.
6. Venue hire: Core Arts generates revenue by hiring out its facilities including Core Arts Eastway Turbine and Core Arts Flag-Ship venues.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Core Arts is a not-for-profit social business and registered charity operating a mental health creative education center in Hackney, London. It delivers 85+ weekly creative classes across five departments (Arts, Music, Multimedia, Horticulture, Sport) to members experiencing mental health issues, supported by 65+ professional PGCE-trained tutors and 120+ creative volunteers. The organization supplements its core membership programme with social enterprises (Core Design, Core Landscapes, Core Publishing), Core Sport GP-referred exercise, Personal Health Budget brokerage, and venue hire.

Product overview

Core Arts is a not-for-profit social business promoting positive mental health and wellbeing through creative learning. The organisation operates as a single integrated centre offering a unified portfolio of creative education services rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The core offering comprises an 85+ weekly creative classes programme across five departments (Arts, Music, Multimedia, Horticulture, Sport), supplemented by social enterprises including Core Design (graphic design), Core Landscapes (horticultural services), Core Publishing (story and poetry distribution with radio programming), and venue hire facilities. Supporting services include Core Sport (GP-referred exercise classes), a Personal Health Budget Brokerage Service, and online learning delivered via Vimeo. The departments work together to provide members with holistic creative education supporting mental health recovery, with open studios, recording facilities, exhibition spaces, and specialist tutors facilitating cross-disciplinary creative development.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Core Design: Graphic design services including brochures, flyers, posters, logos, websites and annual reports.
• Core Landscapes
• Core Sport
• Core Publishing
• Core Arts Brokerage

Products and services

• Core Arts Creative Classes Programme A mental health creative education programme offering 85+ weekly classes across five departments (Arts, Music, Multimedia, Horticulture, Sport) for adults with mental health issues, providing a college-like environment with open studios, recording studios, exhibition spaces, art studios, art workshops, and an ICT Suite.
• Core Sport A sport and exercise programme offering swimming, gym, tennis, cycling, boxing, yoga, and table tennis classes, free with GP referral, delivered at London Olympic Park venues.
• Core Landscapes Horticultural social enterprise providing professional garden design and horticultural support services for public, community, and private spaces, including community gardens, food growing, plant sales, and gardening workshops.
• Core Design Graphic design social enterprise providing brochures, flyers, posters, logos, websites, and annual reports for external clients.
• Core Publishing Publishing service distributing member stories and publishing poetry, including a radio show broadcasting members' original music tracks and poetry.
• Core Arts PHB Brokerage Service Personal Health Budget brokerage service helping individuals access funding for Core Arts membership as part of their mental health recovery plan, working in partnership with East London Foundation Trust (ELFT).
• Online Lessons (Vimeo) Remote learning content delivered via Vimeo video platform across Art, Music, Sport, Multimedia, and Landscapes categories, including chair-based aerobics offered online only.
• Venue Hire Hire of Core Arts facilities including Eastway Turbine and Flag-Ship venues for events and external activities.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduced NHS service use and hospital readmissions through creative engagement
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• East London Foundation Trust (ELFT)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership through Recovery Alliance supporting Hackney residents with severe and enduring mental health needs as part of their care plan or discharge from hospital. The aim is to reduce re-admission and use of NHS services. Referrals are prioritized with flexible access to membership.
• City & Hackney Wellbeing NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership of Hackney-based voluntary sector specialist mental health providers managed by Mind CHWF. Members referred via this route access Core Arts courses alongside other network providers for one year.
• Mind HackneycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMental health charity partner in the City & Hackney Wellbeing Network
• NHS EnglandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCase study featured in NHS guidance for integrated care systems on improving physical health of people living with severe mental illness (published January 2024)
• RHS (Royal Horticultural Society)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner through RHS Flourish Fund for horticulture careers and Chelsea Flower Show participation

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• Helium Arts: Ireland-based charity supporting children and young people with chronic illness or disability through arts programmes — comparable creative-arts-as-health-intervention model serving a different national jurisdiction.

Direct peers

• Bethlem Gallery: South London gallery and artist-development space connected to South London and Maudsley (SLAM) NHS Trust, showcasing work by artists with mental health experience — comparable art-and-mental-health model anchored in clinical commissioning relationships.
• Arts 4 Dementia: Charity using creative arts to support people with dementia and their carers — overlaps in the arts-and-neurological-condition funding landscape and competed-for trust/NHS funding pools relevant to Core Arts.
• Create (arts for wellbeing charity): Charity delivering creative-arts workshops for people in vulnerable circumstances including those with mental health needs — comparable workshop-based delivery model and emphasis on creative education as a recovery intervention.
• Outside In: UK charity creating opportunities for artists facing barriers including mental health issues to exhibit and sell work — directly comparable arts-for-mental-health beneficiary profile and progression-to-employment pathway.
• Mosaic Clubhouse: London-based mental health recovery model providing structured creative, educational and vocational activities to adults with mental illness — overlapping beneficiary population and recovery-through-activity framework.
• Cooltan Arts: London-based mental health charity delivering creative arts programmes for people with mental health issues — directly comparable mission, beneficiary profile, and member-led ethos to Core Arts.

Emerging players

• Breathe Arts Health Research: Arts-in-health research and delivery organization embedding creative activity in clinical pathways — comparable applied-arts-and-medicine positioning, though with a research-led rather than direct-service model.

Others

• London Arts in Health Forum: London-wide network for arts-in-health practitioners and commissioners — not a direct provider but the convening body shaping commissioning frameworks that determine Core Arts' NHS and borough funding.

Broad incumbents

• Mind (City and Hackney / national): UK mental health charity that operates the City & Hackney Wellbeing Network referenced by Core Arts. Provides overlapping advocacy and creative-arts activity at much larger scale; functions as both a partner and a competing commissioner-funded entity.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/coreartshackney
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/coreartshackney
• Facebookfacebook.com/coreartshackney
• Instagraminstagram.com/coreartshackney
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/core-arts

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles18 records

Subsidiaries5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Core Arts