In mid August, an Arts Council Collection National Partners Programme (NPP) Exhibition called Where we are now will open at Sunderland Musuem & Winter Gardens. The exhibition explores the experiences of the last year through artwork, community response and photographs taken by Sunderland residents.
The exhibition has been developed by a range of community groups working with the team at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens. Together, they selected and interpreted artworks from the Arts Council Collection, opening discussion on themes including isolation, community, family, nature, systems of care, self care, illness and loss.
Also on display are community-sourced photographs from Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens Collecting Covid-19 project and artworks produced during, and in response to, the pandemic.
Where We Are Now is at the Museum between August 21 and November 14.
Another Sunderland Culture NPP project will launch early next year and involves the Celebrate Different Collective, Sunderland Culture’s Young Ambassadors aged between 13-25.
Working with young people’s groups from Firstsite and Newlyn, Celebrate Different is collating an exhibition prompted by inequalities heightened and highlighted by the Covid pandemic. Celebrate Different has been exploring ideas around representation and diversity, asking the questions – who isn’t represented in Sunderland Museum’s stories? Can art change the world for the better? Who has the power to decide what art is?
The Celebrate Different exhibition will be at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens between January 10 and March 13, 2022.
Meanwhile, another Sunderland Culture NPP project is about to open at the city’s Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art (NGCA).
Sunderland Culture’s Creative Director, Rebecca Ball, explained: “Our Art Champions travelled to Yorkshire and London to explore the Arts Council Collection and had the opportunity to handle figures from Antony Gormley’s Field for the British Isles.
“Our Champions then asked if the artwork could be brought back to the North East as part of the National Partners Programme. It is because of their determination and ambition that the figures are coming to Sunderland next month (July).
“The figures were originally created by volunteers, and it is an integral part of the work that the ‘Field’ is installed by volunteers local to the installation venue. So our Art Champions are going to be a key part of installing the work at NGCA over the coming weeks.”
Field for the British Isles will be at NGCA for nine weeks from July 9.