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Our Impact
Sunderland Culture Annual Review 2023-24
Chair’s Welcome
Welcome to our annual update on Sunderland Culture’s activity during 2023-24. I hope that the report of some of the amazing projects which have been carried out across the city and in our venues gives you as much pleasure as it does me! Whether it’s in Arts Centre Washington, National Glass Centre, Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens, local communities or places and spaces run by our partners, I’m delighted with the quality and range of work we have made available to the people of Sunderland.
As you will read, we’ve had inspirational items brought to Sunderland from national partners, and we’ve also taken our work out into other parts of the country. It’s been a huge opportunity to celebrate the cultural resilience of the city and its people, and we have ambitious plans to do even more in the future.
Like all arts and public sector bodies, one of our challenges is to make the most of every pound we have available. This year, we were delighted to take part in the Big Give Arts for Impact challenge in March. In a week, thanks to the incredible generosity of individuals and businesses in Sunderland and beyond, we raised almost £30,000, with gifts ranging from £5 to £5000. The number of local people who contributed was inspiring, and it was also great to be able to make some new funding relationships for the future. We will be doing it again!
None of this would have been possible without the sterling support from our founding partners, the University of Sunderland, Sunderland City Council, and the Sunderland MAC Trust. My thanks to them and to the people they nominate to serve as board members. Similarly, I’m grateful to all of our independent members who give up their time freely and generously to help guide the organisation toward the future.
We have a fantastic team of artists and staff in our organisation – thanks to all of them for their tireless and top quality work. It’s hard to single out individuals but it would be remiss not to express our huge thanks to Rebecca Ball, our Chief Executive for the last three years. Whilst we are sorry to lose her, it’s great for Sunderland that she’s going onto an even bigger job for the future, and we look forward to her continued support from afar.
Jane Earl,
Independent Chair
Delivering change through culture
Sunderland Culture brings together some of Wearside’s most cherished and important cultural venues and activities, and works to realise the ambition of a city brimming with creative potential. We deliver a programme of events and participatory activities in communities across Sunderland, including the creative programmes in Arts Centre Washington, National Glass Centre, Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art and Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens.
Sunderland Culture comprises the three main funders of arts provision in the city, Sunderland City Council, University of Sunderland and Sunderland Music, Arts and Culture (MAC) Trust into a single, independent, and resilient delivery model. We are a not for profit, limited company and registered Charity in England and Wales. We are funded by Arts Council England through the National Portfolio, and with support from public funding schemes and charitable trusts and foundations.
Our mission is to improve life for everyone in Sunderland through culture. To do so, we are driving five step changes through our work: improved profile and reputation of the city; more vibrant creative economy; increased confidence and aspiration of children and young people; improved health and wellbeing; and a more socially cohesive city.
Achieving our mission
Our year in figures
Our Partnerships
We work across the city with communities and local partners to ensure the power of great art, culture and creativity is harnessed for the benefit of Sunderland, its residents and visitors. Our approach to working in partnership with our core partners, local and national partners is widely recognised as an exemplar model of place-based working.
A spotlight on…
A Greener Future
World Class Connections
A Creative City
In our venues
Arts Centre Washington
National Glass Centre
Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art
Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens
Performance, Film & Music
Beyond the venues
As usual, many of our projects and events with local communities took place beyond the walls of our venues this year. Check out some of our highlights.
Final Thoughts
From fused glass to creative writing, filmmaking to pottery; the range of creative activities for people to enjoy across the Sunderland Culture programmes last year was astounding, and it is thrilling that over 20,000 people got involved.
There were so many highlights in programmes that spanned over 3000 years of history and travelled across 6 continents: from an exquisite Bronze Age sun pendant in the British Museum’s Gathering Light exhibition at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens, to the exceptional international artistry displayed in Glass World at National Glass Centre.
We were delighted to welcome almost 600,000 people to see the exhibitions, performances and events across the venues. Equally, we were proud to see so many activities taking place in surprising spaces across the city, for example Chad McCail’s fantastic mural at Millfield Metro Station developed with Nexus, Young Asian Voices and Pallion Action Group.
As ever, we were very lucky to work with inspiring cultural and community organisations from Sunderland and beyond. This year, in particular, it was wonderful to work again with Arts Council Collection to bring Mike Nelson’s Taylor to NGCA, as well as being part of the National Theatre’s epically ambitious retelling of The Odyssey, which saw performers from Sunderland joining a cast of hundreds from across the Nation in two unforgettable performances at the National Theatre in August.
And while National Glass Centre sadly suffered significant storm damage in October which resulted in the ongoing closure of the front of the building, it was heartening to see Sunderland’s proud glass pedigree celebrated so prominently in the centre of London through the Glass Heart exhibition at Two Temple Place.
Closer to home, I am really proud that this year Sunderland Culture, joined other city partners and became an accredited Real Living Wage Employer to champion fairer pay within the city.
As always, all of this is made possible by the commitment and dedication of our Board, the hard work of our wonderful teams and the generous support of our partners and funders. And this year, I wanted to say an extra special thank you to the 224 individuals and businesses who generously supported our Big Give campaign.
This will be my last Annual Review epilogue for Sunderland Culture, as in August I am moving on to a new role with Arts Council England. I have been incredibly fortunate to have spent the last decade working in this amazing city and to have been part of such an inspiring time, with partners coming together with energy and ambition to develop new cultural opportunities for residents and visitors.
The momentum continues to grow with new developments like Culture House and Crown Works on the horizon. And there is much to look forward to, with projects like Culture Start, an ambitious partnership between Sunderland Culture, Sunderland MAC Trust, Together for Children, Children North East, Gentoo, InspirED, North East Youth, Sunderland College and the University of Sunderland to ensure children who face the greatest barriers to accessing arts and culture, can enjoy more creative activities in their lives.
Partnerships such as these will ensure this city remains brimming with creative possibilities, enabling organisations, artists and communities to work together to demonstrate the difference that arts and culture can make to everyone’s lives.
And so, in that spirit, I wanted to finish saying a huge thank you to everyone who I have worked with over the past 10 years. I wish you all the very best for the future and I can’t wait to see all the incredible things that Sunderland designs, creates and invents next.
Rebecca Ball
Chief Executive
