Chats Palace is an arts centre and theatre in Hackney and part of the vibrant creative landscape of east London. The venue is the striking former Homerton Library building, taken over and developed by an engaged group of local artists and activists in 1970s, and a registered charity since 1981.

Chats Palace currently comprises a flexible performance space (capacity 250), a theatre bar and cafe, a rehearsal studio, a meeting / study room as well as workshop and office space. The resident photography project, PhotoChats, manages three on-site dark rooms and runs printing and photography classes year-round, curating Chats exhibition programme drawn from the Chats Palace Archive.

Chats has a longstanding reputation combining excellence and inclusivity for the people of Hackney and the wider artistic community, many of whom started their careers fostered by Chats open-access approach to creativity. Chats’ vision has always been that where there is poverty, deprivation and social isolation and exclusion the need for a means by which creative expression and assisting people to get their voices heard is paramount.