Editing Crouch End (section)

==Local arts scene==
Crouch End has a long association with creativity, and most famous for the [[Hornsey College of Art]] which was regarded as one of the best art colleges in the UK in the 60s but also famous for the 1968 sit-in that challenged the government's policy on removing art schools' independence.
Since the 1970s, when it was a cheap area to love, artists, musicians, film and TV makers, animators and performers moved to the area. A 2016 article in the [[Evening Standard]] stated that estate agents liked to call the area "London's Creative Village", and that "ever since the heady days of student protests at nearby Hornsey College of Art in 1968, Crouch End has had an arty reputation".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-02-22 |title=Spotlight on Crouch End: property area guide |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/homesandproperty/where-to-live/spotlight-on-crouch-end-property-area-guide-a67771.html |access-date=2022-07-30 |website=Evening Standard |language=en}}</ref>

===Cinema===
Crouch End has two cinemas, the independent Art House and the Crouch End Picturehouse. There will be a third cinema in the Hornsey Town Hall when it is finished.

===Comedy===
Crouch End is home to the Kings Head, London's oldest comedy venue.

===Music===
Crouch End is the home of the symphonic choir, [[Crouch End Festival Chorus]]. The choir has worked with many classical and popular music artists including [[Ennio Morricone]], [[Noel Gallagher]], [[Andrea Bocelli]], [[Katherine Jenkins]]. It has recorded with [[Lesley Garrett]], [[Bryn Terfel]], [[Ray Davies]], [[Alfie Boe]], [[EMI Classics]] and [[Classic FM (UK)|Classic FM]], performed at [[The Proms]] in the [[Royal Albert Hall]] on several occasions and recorded works for film, television and sound track recording. Amongst those is the soundtrack for ''[[Doctor Who]]''. It also commissions works from modern composers on its own account.

It also has a thriving blues scene and a strong associations with famous bands, including the Kinks, Dave Stewart & Annie Lennox (Tourists/Eurythmics), Bombay Bicycle Club and Pink Floyd who lived in the area in the '60s and played at the Hornsey College of Art.

It has two notable recording studios, the Church Studios (see below) and KONK (founded by the Kinks) where many bands have recorded including the Bay City Rollers, Thin Lizzy, the Bee Gees, Bombay Bicycle Club, and The Arctic Monkeys.

===The Church Studios and Bob Dylan===
[[The Church Studios]] is a recording studio located in the former Park Chapel in Crouch End. The Chapel was turned into a studio in 1984 by [[Dave Stewart (Eurythmics)|Dave Stewart]] and [[Annie Lennox]] of [[Eurythmics]], who used it to record Eurythmics' sophomore album Sweet Dreams.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2012-08-21 |title=Bob Dylan recording studio 'could become flats' |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-19330032 |access-date=2022-07-30}}</ref> David Gray acquired ownership in 2004 before UK leading music producer Paul Epworth bought and refurbished the studio in 2013. It has since been used by notable artists such as Adele, U2, Bob Dylan, Radiohead, Annie Lennox, Depeche Mode, Robert Plant, Patti Smith, Elvis Costello, Lana Del Rey, Tom Jones, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Florence + The Machine, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Mumford and Sons, Seal, Spiritualized, The Stones Roses and many more.

In the early 1980s part of the old church on Crouch Hill was converted for use as a studio by [[Bura and Hardwick|Bob Bura and John Hardwick]], the animators who worked on [[Camberwick Green]], [[Captain Pugwash]] and [[Trumpton]]. It was named [[The Church Studios]], and in the 1990s the space was rented to [[Dave Stewart (Eurythmics)|Dave Stewart]] and [[Annie Lennox]] of the [[Eurythmics]] (but at the time was in the Tourists). Dave and Annie worked and rehearsed in the [https://www.britishrecordshoparchive.org/spanish-moon.html Spanish Moon] record shop, and lived in the flat above from 76 to 80, opposite what is now Sainsbury's (formerly the Co-op and before that a Budgens supermarket).{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}

In the 1990s [[Bob Dylan]] worked on an album in the studio, and became so fond of the area he looked for a property in Crouch End. He was a regular at the now-closed Shamrat Indian restaurant.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Walker |first1=Nick |last2=Bennetto |first2=Jason |title=No direction home? Dylan tries Crouch End |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/no-direction-home-dylan-tries-crouch-end-1461221.html |website=The Independent |access-date=1 August 2018 |date=15 August 1993}}</ref>

===Crouch End Festival===
The [https://www.crouchendfestival.org/ Crouch End Festival] was launched in May 2012 by Chris Arnold, Robin Stevenson and Marice Cumber.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.crouchendfestival.org/ |title=Creative Festival of over 160 events |publisher=Crouch End Festival |date=2013-09-15 |access-date=2013-11-07}}</ref> It originally started as a Facebook site, [https://www.facebook.com/groups/crouchendcratives Crouch End Creatives] but is now run by London Community Arts CIC, a not for profit organisation that is staffed by volunteers (Directors Chris Arnold, Chris Currer, Amanda Carrara). 
It covers Crouch End, Hornsey and Stroud Green and includes art exhibitions, drama, dance, film, poetry, photography, fringe, music of all kinds, an outdoor cinema, (introduced by [https://www.theguardian.com/profile/peterbradshaw Peter Bradshaw]). The festival is one of London's biggest community arts festivals and features over 200 artists, plus 14 schools, 6 churches and numerous community groups across over 60 venues and was described in the ''[[Ham & High Broadway]]'' as "London's own mini Edinburgh Festival".{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}} The next festival is June 12-18th, 2025. 

The Festival team also runs the Crouch End Literary Festival (with Dave Cohen) and numerous events at Halloween, Easter and Christmas.  They also manage two venues, '[https://www.intimatespace.co.uk/ The Intmate Space]' in St Mary's Tower, and the Holy Eye in Holy Innocents church and organise üF-Beat Fringe Music Club and the Tower Music Festival.
[https://www.linkedin.com/company/london-community-arts-cic/?viewAsMember=true London Community Arts] also acts as a consultancy and advises community groups, other festival organisers, commercial organisations and councils.

===Arts scene urban legends===
* According to legend, in the 1990s Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics invited Bob Dylan to drop into his [[Crouch Hill]] recording studio any time he wanted to. It is said that Dylan took him up on his offer, but the taxi driver dropped him off on the adjacent [[Crouch End Hill]]. Dylan knocked on the door of the supposed home of Dave Stewart and asked for "Dave". By coincidence, the plumber who lived there was also called Dave. He was told that Dave was out, and would he like to wait and have some tea? Twenty minutes later the plumber returned and asked his wife whether there were any messages. "No," she said, "but Bob Dylan's in the living room having a cup of coffee".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.expectingrain.com/dok/div/crouchend.html |title=Bob Dylan in Crouch End |publisher=expectingrain.com |date=1997-06-08 |access-date=7 October 2020}}</ref>
* The area gives its name to and is the setting for a short story of the supernatural by [[Stephen King]]. The writer and his wife, Tabitha, were invited to dinner by his friend [[Peter Straub]], whose house is in Crouch End.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bookbanter.wordpress.com/2010/04/15/an-interview-with-peter-straub-march-2010/ |title=An Interview with Peter Straub (March, 2010) |publisher=Bookbanter |date=April 15, 2010 |access-date=7 October 2020}}</ref> En route to Straub's house, they got lost, which was the inspiration for "[[Crouch End (short story)|Crouch End]]".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Beahm|first1=George|title=Stephen King from A to Z: An Encyclopedia of His Life and Work|date=1 September 1998|publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing|isbn=0836269144|page=[https://archive.org/details/stephenkingfromt00beah/page/47 47]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/stephenkingfromt00beah/page/47}}</ref> The story was later adapted as an episode of ''[[Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King]]''.
* In claim seen only on local estate agents' websites, it is said that [[Stan Laurel]] and [[Oliver Hardy]] once performed at the [[Crouch End Hippodrome]] and that they stayed at the Queen's Hotel (now the Queen's Pub).{{Dubious|date=February 2023}}
* Artist Richard Hamilton is said to have taken visitor [[Marcel Duchamp]] to the Queen's Pub. {{Dubious|date=August 2018}}