Sunderland's Cultural Spring lands £333,000 more funding

The Cultural Spring has been funded through ACE’s Creative People and Places (CPP) programme since 2014. Extension funding for the year from April 2025 will provide security and stability for CPP projects until a new round of funding for 2026-29.

ACE is investing more than £11.6m for the year 2025-26 in 38 CPP programmes across 55 local authorities.

The Cultural Spring’s four partners are: University of Sunderland, Sunderland Music, Arts and Culture Trust, The Cultural Spring Charity and Young Asian Voices (YAV).

Their goal is to increase the number of people taking part in arts and culture activities in Sunderland, and it originally also worked across South Tyneside.

The Cultural Spring Charity now works in Sunderland and South Tyneside, increasing opportunities for people to engage in the arts.

Emma Horsman, Cultural Spring project director, said: “We know from research the real difference we’ve made in our communities and to individuals’ lives; and our priority will continue to be giving ownership of our creative and cultural offerings to the communities in which we work.

"Our aim is to deliver projects, programmes and workshops tailored for communities and delivered on their doorsteps.

“The extension in funding will allow us to continue to deliver our workshops, our Go and See visits, and exciting projects like Bitesize, through which brilliant live shows are currently being delivered through a range of theatre companies and artists across a range of community venues in Sunderland.

“We will also continue to work to support and develop community venues through our A Space to Create programme and work with national partners such as the National Gallery, with whom we are delivering Art Road Trip, bringing a travelling art studio programme to Sunderland and South Tyneside.

“We will continue to look for opportunities to develop large-scale commissions while helping and supporting projects such as the annual Summer Streets musical festival, which started as a Cultural Spring event.

“The extension in funding also gives us plenty of time to think and plan for what we would like to do for 2026-29 and we’re grateful to ACE for its continuing support.”

For more information, visit www.theculturalspring.org/bitesize.