How arts partnerships in Sunderland are helping to transform communities

Sunderland Culture, The Cultural Spring, Culture House Sunderland, Minerva Arts & Wellbeing and Sunderland Heritage Partnership have joined forces with Sunderland City Council to deliver a programme of inspiring community-led projects funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).

A quarterly report just published shows the range of projects and activities delivered by the Connecting and Catalysing Our Culture, Creativity and Engagement Project (CCCCEP) partners between October and December 2025.

Throughout the Autumn, Sunderland Culture delivered a range of activities across its venues – Arts Centre Washington (ACW), National Glass Centre (NGC), Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art and Sunderland Museum &Winter Gardens.

These included Creepy Creatures, Spooky Glass Fusing and teenage craft clubs at NGC and a Special Interests Club for autistic young people at ACW.

This club was part of Sunderland Culture’s Autonomy project, which was shortlisted for Volunteering Project of the Year at the Good for Me, Good for FE Awards, for its work with autistic young people.

Cultural Spring

The Cultural Spring, an Arts Council England funded project working in Sunderland and South Tyneside to increase engagement with the arts, delivered activities and events through its A Space to Create programme.

This initiative supports Wearside venues to run creative activities, which during Autumn included working with the International Community Organisation of Sunderland (ICOS) on workshops and a creative retreat exploring Eastern European women’s heritage.

Between October and December, The Cultural Spring’s A Space to Create programme delivered more than 130 activities and engaged with more than 1,000 participants.

Other organisations and venues the project worked with included Sunderland Training and Education Farm; Box Youth and Community Project; Washington Millennium Centre; Grace House; Active Families; Grindon Church Community Project; Young Asian Voices and Sunderland Headlight, a mental health charity that delivered a series of artistic workshops which culminated in a showcase exhibition of participants’ work.

Sunderland Heritage Partnership

The Sunderland Heritage Partnership, which brings together more than 30 organisations, venues, societies and individuals, delivered a pop-up heritage information point within Keel Square’s Pavilion in October.

Representatives of the Partnership were on hand to talk and give information about the wealth of heritage attractions across Sunderland. 

Partnership activity also included outreach workshops run by the Heritage Partnership Officer and a collaboration with Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens to tell the stories of artefacts and objects in the Museum’s collection.

Culture House

CCCCEP projects delivered by Culture House Sunderland continued to have a focus on children, older adults and families, with the aim of reducing isolation and building community connectivity.

Highlights between October and December included weekly sessions for the over 65s delivered at libraries across the area which attracted more than 400 attendees.

Sessions delivered included computing, researching family trees and the WEAR friends’ sessions which combined crafts, local history and board games.

Other highlights included Rhyme and Shine sessions for children, holiday programmes, new creative opportunities for young people and adults at Washington Library, and film festival activity at Arts Centre Washington.

Minerva Arts & Wellbeing

Meanwhile, Minerva Arts & Wellbeing, delivered a programme of seasonal ceramics, soap making, and fused glass workshops during the same time period.

The organisation works to deliver arts programmes that build confidence and reduce isolation and engaged 27 new learners alongside 18 existing participants in the workshops, run from a Sunniside studio.

Minerva widened its reach by working with community partners, including ICOS, and individuals in Houghton-le-Spring, Washington and Hendon. Alongside creative activity, participants were offered advice and guidance to access a wider range of cultural and community provision.

UKSPF Support

Nick Malyan, Chief Executive at Sunderland Culture, said: “We’re very grateful for the generous UKSPF support which has helped this powerful partnership transform Wearside communities through a range of quality events, workshops and activities.

“The funding has also helped improve partnership working across creative organisations across Wearside. The feedback we’ve had from the activities the partnership has delivered has been particularly impressive.”