Making sure art doesn't go down the tubes...
Cultural Spring's million pound grant to continue work for another three years
The director of an awardwinning arts project has predicted an exciting three years ahead as the initiative starts its second phase.
The Cultural Spring was established in 2013 to raise engagement in arts and culture in Sunderland and on South Tyneside.
The project was given £2m to increase participation in the arts in five wards on Wearside and five in South Tyneside. The grant came from Arts Council England’s (ACE) Creative People and Places (CPP) programme.
Late last year ACE announced The Cultural Spring was to receive a further £1m to fund three more years.
Project Director Emma Horsman said: “We were thrilled to get funding for a further three years and since the announcement we’ve been talking to local communities and planning what we will deliver.
“We’ll still be commissioning and delivering large-scale events and regular workshop programmes, but we’ll also be trying some new things out too. It’s going to be an exciting three years ahead.
“We’re well established now and because of what we’ve done and produced over the past three years, thereis a trust both with communities and artists. We’re seen as a successful CPP project and we’re grateful to have won regional, national and international awards for our work to date,” she added.
The Cultural Spring’s launch event was The Great North Passion, a co-commission with the BBC’s Religious and Ethics department, which took place on Good Friday 2014 and was the BBC’s flagship Easter programme. More than 1.3m people watched the show, hosted by Fern Britton in Bents Park, South Shields.
“We were fortunate to have such a high-profile event to launch the project. It showed what we could achieve from the very start and brought us to the attention of so many people.
“It also showed how well we could work collaboratively as the Great North Passion was a partnership that involved many others such as South Tyneside Council, Tees Valley Arts and Sage Gateshead,” added Emma. “The Great North Passion was a particular highlight, but then so were other largescale events. RUSH in South Shields was an amazing piece of dance that inspired and excited dozens of participants who’d never done anything like it before. “Many of those dancers went on to perform in A Great Night Out at The Point in Sunderland, and in WordPlay!” The latter was a co-commision with South Tyneside Council which helped open The Word, National Centre for the Written Word, in November last year. Dance company Southpaw Dance and events company Event International were the creative team behind both RUSH and WordPlay! Emma said: “Our largescale events have been successful and popular, with our free Summer Streets Music Festival attracting 8,000 people into Thompson Park, Southwick, last summer. “They’ve given people an opportunity to take part in a major performance, but also given audiences a taste of something new, something different. “But I think our community workshops and support for grass-root organisations and performers have been just as important. I’m particularly proud of the opportunities that our workshop programmes have provided. “Last year alone we had more than 550 people attend- ing the 63 workshops that we held in our communities.
“These are workshops that people living on our wards have asked for and range from glass fusing to storytelling to photography and everything in between.
“And another thing they’ve done is open up spaces for artistic activity – the Community Glass Shop and the workingmen’s club in Hylton Castle were both used as venues, for instance, as was the Number 4 Bistro in East Boldon.
“And the fact that some of these sessions have turned into self-sustaining clubs is hugely important to us. Hylton Ukes started as a workshop session and now meet twice a week, and there’s the Whitburn Singers and the GUB Club (guitar, ukulele and bass) who are both also self-sustaining clubs in their own right.”
One of the original ambitions for the project was for ‘excellent art’ to be delivered into the ten wards.
“We’ve worked closely with ‘Community Champions’, our selection panels (which have included community representatives) and artists to ensure what we have delivered, or commissioned, has been of the highest quality,” said Emma.
“Companies like WildWorks who delivered A Great Night Out have international reputations as do many of the artists we worked with in Street Art Heroes.
“We’ve been delighted with all of the artists we’ve worked with so far, and with the work they’ve produced or delivered with us.”
So the engagement has been successful, participation has increased and the art has been of the highest calibre – what’s next in phase two?
“Well, first of all we’ll be working in ten new wards - over the next three years, we’ll be working in Hendon, Millfield, Pallion, Sandhill and St Anne’s in Sunderland and Horsley Hill, Beacon and Bents, Simonside and Rekendyke, Monkton and Bede in South Tyneside,” said Emma.
“So we need to get to know these communities and ask them what sort of arts activities they’d like us to deliver in their wards. And of course we’ll be looking for new venues to host workshops and other activities, and new local artists to work with.
“We’ll also be introducing a new project to these communities, The Guest List, where we will be asking people what sort of performance,
show or art form they’d like to experience, and then enabling them to attend such an event.
“We’ll also be extending our Go and See programme and our Your Art initiatives that so far has invested more than £52,000 supporting community groups to shape, lead or programme arts events. These programmes will be open to everyone in the two boroughs, not just within our ten new wards.
“We’ll still be commissioning two large-scale projects a year, one in Sunderland and one in South Tyneside.
“If we can raise enough through sponsorship and other sources, we may be able to look at more larger commissions. We’d like to change our £1m into £1.6m and will be working hard to do so.
“Over our first three years we’ve supported and developed eight Research and Development projects, one of which, Putting the Band Back Together, has taken on a life of its own after great success at the Edinburgh Festival. We’ll continue to offer these opportunities for artists to work with our local communities.”
A new aspect to the next three years will be an accreditation programme, run by the University of Sunderland, for adults taking part in the project’s activities.
Despite the level of activity and reach of the project, the Cultural Spring team is small, but perfectly formed: “There are five of us working full-time or part-time and that includes a University of Sunderland graduate intern,” Emma said.
Another change for the project is the number of Cultural Spring consortium partners. The founding three partners of The Cultural Spring were the University of Sunderland, the Sunderland Music, Arts and Culture (MAC) Trust and The Customs House in South Shields. Sangini, a women’s health organisation, has now joined as a consortium partner for the second phase of the project.
What won’t be changing is the project’s commitment to community consultation, as Emma explained: “This is absolutely what we’re still about and is fundamental to the project. “We will continue to talk to people to find out what arts and culture they’re interested in and what we deliver and commission will be based on what we are told.
“We’re about delivering what our communities want – giving them the opportunity to get involved in arts and culture on their own terms and in their own communities.”
For more, log on to www. theculturalspring.org.uk