As a women-led venue, we are thrilled to be working with so many amazing women across our team and to be supporting a range of women-led works in our Spring programme this year. To celebrate Women’s History Month, we’re highlighting this team of fantastic women. Next up is Ellie Browning, our Head of Cultural Programme.

Can you introduce yourself, and tell us a little about your role at Shoreditch Town Hall? 

I’m Ellie, the Head of Cultural Programme at Shoreditch Town Hall. I lead on the programming of all artistic activity in the building from artist residencies, workshop programmes and history tours to cabaret nights, comedy festivals and theatre shows. I work closely with my brilliant colleague Susannah Bramwell and together we make up the cultural programming team.

What’s something people don’t realise about your job?

A lot of people are surprised to find out the Shoreditch Town Hall doesn’t receive any regular financial subsidy. We subsidise our cultural, community and artist support activities through the income we make on artistic and rehearsal room hires. It’s a constant juggle of space in the building and the capacity of our small team, but we are fortunate to host some fantastic hires and rehearsals which all feel part of the bigger picture of what we do. 

Describe a project or event you’ve worked on at Shoreditch Town Hall that means a lot to you.

The events and projects that mean a lot to me are the ones that are most memorable for our audiences and participants. We pride ourselves on presenting a programme that surprises and entertains… experiences that you might not find in a black box studio space. As well as that we programme for our local audiences in Hackney and Tower Hamlets.

Some that I am particularly proud of include the celebratory event that we hosted in 2023 to mark ten years of our monthly Town Hall Tea Dance; LUNG’s incredible and moving verbatim dance piece, WOODHILL, about HM Prison Woodhill; partnering with the newly formed Ballet Queer to offer workshops to local residents; Clod Ensemble‘s Black Saint & The Sinner Lady filling the Assembly Hall with dance and music and bodies!; Oliver Sim’s (The XX) beautiful inaugural solo gig; and Haggerston School students projecting their work onto the huge Shoreditch Church down the road and as part of More Light More Power, an exhibition which was housed in The Ditch.

It’s an immense privilege and responsibility to programme the artistic activity at Shoreditch Town Hall and I hope to do the building, the talented artists that bring their work to us, and our generous audiences justice.

What do you like to do when you’re not at work?

I returned from maternity leave six months ago so when I’m not working I’m spending time with my baby daughter and my wife. We moved from Hackney to South-East London a few years ago and have discovered some fantastic SE venues that we go to a lot; including the Horniman Museum, Dulwich Picture Gallery and Stanley Arts.

What are you most looking forward to in our Spring Season?

I missed Queer Noise‘s performance in our Summer in the Ditch series last year so I’m really looking forward to hosting them for Queer Noise 2025. They’ve been fantastic to work with and I know will bring a warm and joyful energy to the building along with an abundance of talented artists to enjoy.

Thanks so much Ellie! To read our other Women’s History Month blogs, click here.