North East Culture Social - Working together is success
Reflections from Elijah Young on the most recent North East Culture Social held on Alphabetti Theatre on Wednesday 18th July 2025
“Art is perfect for posing questions, making statements and offering a place for belonging” Though the context of these words from CEO of Projects4Change, Kelly Coates, is in relation to art, I think the same statement could be said in relation to our most recent North East Culture Social hosted at Alphabetti Theatre. This event created a space perfect for posing those important questions, making brave and poignant statements and starting from a place of “equal footing” where both creative freelancers and bigger organisations alike belonged in the room. The key questions posed at the heart of the session, what are the ingredients for a good creative project in the community? What matters to your communities right now? How might this inspire or shape cultural projects we might want to develop together?
A clear commitment to these conversations was demonstrated by a big turn out of people packed into Alphabetti’s main theatre space, despite the glorious weather outside. That many bodies on a hot day meant those with pockets of wisdom to share and provocations to voice had to simply fight against the hum of the industrial floor fan in the corner of the room, but were listened to intently by a room full of people who were keen to be a part of the dialogue.
And that’s exactly where we started, with insightful provocations for the room from three people doing the work on the ground. We kicked things off with Natasha Haws (independant theatre maker & Mustard Stories Arts CIC co-director) who talked passionately about how she has developed her own practice in community arts with adaptability, openness and trust as a cornerstone. Something that came up in Natasha’s time that resonated with other creatives, since it appeared to be a recurring point of conversation for the rest of the session, was artists' relationship to funding applications. This session identified how support and accessibility surrounding applications is a potential gap to be filled. That side of the work we do is a constant hurdle whether that’s down to the nature of writing applications not being a strong string in the community artists’ bow, or how in Natasha’s words often it’s a “struggle to translate (the work) into funding bids”. That leads us to the challenge she presented to the room, “What would it look like to commission artists based on proof of practice, not paperwork?” A reality of working with communities is the uncertainty of what a full picture of a project looks like until you are with that community and able to identify “what people need us to be in that moment”. Natasha spoke on the importance of having belief in the people doing the work on the ground and left the room with a thought which I believe to be a key takeaway from the day as a whole, “Trust, built through open communication, is the real currency of co-creation”.
The next excellent provocation was delivered by, Kelly Coates (CEO of Projects4Change). From detached youth work to establishing an organisation designed to uplift young people in Newcastle, Kelly spoke with vigor on the integral role that curiosity plays when working with communities. Creative arts are “woven into the fabric” of the work Projects4Change continues to do with young people. With that comes debunking the school-taught myths of the binary of art that you’re “either good or bad,” but the message P4C promotes is that in the community, art is not only for everyone but it should be “for the joy of it” and be about “expression”. We get to that place by figuring out what’s important to them and what it is they want to express. But as Kelly put it, it’s always “little steps towards a bigger goal” as we can only get there if we go into those communities with a “deep interest”. Projects4Change have built so much with their work in the community so naturally my ears perked up when Kelly posed the question “How do you build?”. Her instruction was simple, “Start from a place of curiosity and compassion”.
The final provocation was from Unfolding Theatre’s community champion, and another member of the Projects4Change team, Pao Fresnillo. It is ironic and slightly poetic that Pao bravely endured pain from her wisdom tooth as wisdom is exactly what she brought to this event’s opening of provocations. With an event centred around developing good community work together, it was encouraging to hear how “collaborating with creative practitioners and in creative settings has been very beneficial to (Pao’s) life.” She spoke beautifully on how exposure to community arts “unveiled new paths to (her) future” and she left us with the ever poignant and very applicable Henry Ford quote “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success”. The perfect note to finish on before beginning to unpack the key questions posed to the room.
Our emcee, Annie Rigby, then got the room to explore what is needed to develop brilliant creative community collaboration. After some time for discussion, we shared back and we ended with a rich list of ingredients:
Going into something with the belief and attitude that it will work but also having the confidence to say when things aren’t working
Being flexible and adaptive
Clear communication where expectations are set on both sides and roles are delegated
Creating the optimum environment for success - a room that’s fun, encouraging and comfortable (the importance of several cup of tea in community arts)
Recognising that “what success looks like” is different for everyone
Recognising the distance travelled is just as important as the proposed outcome
Openness and transparency
Allowing time for relationships to build
Following the community’s lead and providing a platform for them to have a say in the work
Trust in the artists
Trust in the process
Up next was our next question to tackle, what are the key issues affecting communities you work with. Some thoughts shared included:
The economy at large and its effect on the communities we work with. So often people's priorities, especially for the most vulnerable communities, don’t necessarily align with that of an artist who’s purpose is to come in and make art with that community. For example: one person’s priority might be I need to feed my kids and/or myself. So how do we ensure art can be/should be for everyone? How can we help in facilitating someone’s needs to be able to engage with art?
Access to a project is a major issue for so many - whether that’s travel to workshops, childcare issues or an accessible space that meets their needs.
Tackling people’s sometimes complicated relationship to art and needing to debunk the myths and misconceptions (relating back Kelly Coates’ provocation)
The practical part of this session was in some ways clearly therapeutic for so many in the room who’ve experienced first hand the complexities and nuances of community arts work. What was even better was the organic discussion of solutions to these issues that followed.
The North East Culture Social makes space for these conversations and this event wouldn’t be possible without the partnership between Unfolding Theatre, Community Foundation North East, and Newcastle City Council. After hearing from Annie, it only makes sense that we got to hear from Jo Cundall (Community Foundation, Senior Advisor for Culture) and Alison Flanagan-Wood (Newcastle Arts Development Team, Arts Development Officer) and the exciting opportunities they have for community-led arts projects in Newcastle.
As well as sharing a bit about her role, Jo focused her time on sharing about the fantastic opportunity that is the Newcastle Culture Investment Fund - funding available to Newcastle-based organisations looking to engage residents in culture and creative activities. NCIF is open to applications all year round for projects and programmes with grants up to £12,000. More information around specific criteria and further information can be found here.
Alison followed with announcing even more opportunities for community arts work in Newcastle in the form of artist residencies. As a part of her role, Alison develops 3-5 residencies per year alongside community based organisations and potential participants specifically targeting areas of least provision and access to the arts, always asking the questions “Where are the gaps?” and “What do people want?”. The residencies take place from September 2025 - March 2026 and the application deadline for all is Midday 31st July. The three residencies on offer this year and the communities they will engage with include:
Residency 1 - Newcastle Carers working with adult carers
Residency 2 - Arcadea working with disabled young women based
Residency 3 - Walker Park engaging young people in the local area
For full artist briefs please email alison.flanaganwood@newcastle.gov.uk and state which artist residency brief you require.
As two decision makers alongside others in the room providing opportunity for community arts projects, it was refreshing to see how open and transparent both Jo and Alison are. To echo what Natasha brought forward in her provocation, how we are living in a time where “finding the funding to do the work feels harder than ever”, it’s encouraging to see Jo and Alison who not only understand the importance of community arts but are champions of it.
Finally Annie brought the event to a gentle close before we all queued up for some delicious grub prepared by The Seven Bridges, a collaboration between Dance City and West End Refugee Service. But before we all scrambled to the bar we received a date for the diaries - the announcement of the next North East Culture Social on Wednesday 10th September which looks to focus on cultural partnerships and developing strategies, but sets to achieve the very heart of every NECS, “bringing together organisations and creatives to share ambitions for this brilliant and beautiful city”.
Images: Von Fox Promotions