The Newcastle UNION participants hosted the fourth weekend. They decided to open up proceedings in different ways. On the Friday evening the weekend started on the streets of Blaydon outside Slack’s Studios, a community arts-base being developed by Jon Cornbill, one of the UNION 19 cohort.

It was a lovely evening with everyone making pizzas and sharing food and stories with people from the surrounding streets…proper community!

Open Space

On the Saturday, the group hosted an Open Space event at Newbridge Project The theme was “Arts and Activism in the North. What Now?” It was an invigorating day with everything from a group attending a rally in town to a non-verbal session; zine making to time for quiet contemplation. As one of the people who came from Sheffield fed back afterwards:

“This is to say a big thank you to everyone involved in making today happen; the hosts at the New Bridge Project, yourselves at Heads Together, and not least the Union participants themselves who gave those of us who have not been part of the programme such a warm welcome. Unusual to experience a programme that gives so much space for the artists to shape it and not jump through hoops or produce an ‘output’.  I felt both fed and nurtured.”

You can see the full report created on the day.

Kids Kabin

On the Sunday the group went off to the Kids Kabin in Walker, again an example of a fantastic community-based project with creativity at the heart of it’s offer to young people in the area to talk, skill-share, make, and cook together…